Excerpted from Christopher Lowell's Seven Layers of Design

Don't buy on your first trip
Choosing paint requires two trips to the store. If you know in advance that you're not actually going to be choosing colors on your first trip, you can relax and get inspired. Stop by the store on a Monday evening after work to avoid the weekend crowd. Turn your fear into excitement and pull color swatches to which you're immediately drawn. Take as many paint swatches home as you want. I've been known to take 50 or 60 at a time -- that's why they're there.

Also available for about $20 is an entire fan deck, which represents the complete line of a manufacturer's colors. These decks come organized and indexed for easy reference, but you have to ask for one. Designers carry a fan deck with them at all times, and I've used mine many times on my show.

Watch Video: Color Your Home

Know your shades
Perhaps the biggest mistake people make in choosing color is not knowing the difference between a background color and an accent color. In cosmetic terms, the background is the foundation and the accent is the lipstick, eye shadow, and blush. If we understand that wall color is designed to show off the accessories in a room, then we can understand why choosing accent colors for the walls instead of appropriate background shades is a mistake.