Things that can affect your paint colour

Sometimes a paint colour that you love just doesn't seem right when you apply it to the wall.  

A few things that can really affect colour are:

• The direction which your natural light is coming from: North light tends to be cooler and can make colours seem dull, while South light can wash subtle colours out with it's overpowering strength.
• The colour of your flooring, cabinets, or countertops: we've all seen that pinkish tile or carpet, or very yellow oak cabinets. The right paint colour can neutralize an offensive fixed element, while the wrong one could make them exponentially worse!
• Whether or not you have trim (around windows, doors, along the ceiling), and what colour the trim is compared to your wall colour.
• Your light bulbs - sometimes changing the source of the light makes all the difference!
• Your decor: major players such as couches, area rugs, window coverings, or bed linens can really dictate the colours that will work in a room
• The past: big colour changes don't always feel right immediately! Give it a little time, and if it's still not feeling right, give me a call!

Digital Colour Overlay

A few paint companies provide free tools designed for previewing their paint colours on a digital photo of your project. In my experience, these can be handy (though a bit tedious) for making a choice between two or three very different options, such as: Should I paint my exterior trim light, or dark? Or: Do I want my house to be gray, or red?

For subtle colour choices, these tools will not provide enough clarity to be worth the trouble. If you've already decided you'd like to paint your house a shade of taupe, skip the digital colour overlay, and head straight for testing your paint colour with actual paint samples!

See next: Testing your paint colour

Testing your paint colour

Colour chips and paint samples exist to save you from getting it really wrong. It may seem extravagant to spend the time and money on renting a fan deck or buying a real sample of paint, but I prefer to think of it as purchasing an insurance policy on your colour. It could save you the time and expense of re-painting the room when you discover half way through that the gentle shade of green you have chosen are making those tiles you can't change look an awful shade of pink! 

Once you have some ideas about the direction you want to go, start the testing process by collecting a variety of colour chips in that ball park. It's important to see the colours in the correct context, so hold them next to those elements which will be staying in the space.  Once you've narrowed it down to 2 or 3 options, it's never a bad idea to try sample right on your wall! 

See next: Things that can affect your paint colour