How to choose a paint colour you will not regret

Paint is the cheapest way to change a room and the easiest to get wrong. The colour on the chip is not the colour you will live with, and the reason is light.

The sample chip is lying, and it is not its fault

A paint chip is a few centimetres of colour surrounded by white card, held in shop lighting. Your wall is several square metres of the same colour, surrounded by your floor, your furniture and your light. Those are different enough that the same paint genuinely looks like a different colour.

Large areas of colour also intensify. A gentle grey green on a chip can read distinctly green across a whole wall. As a rule, whatever the chip shows, the wall will show more of it.

Light direction changes everything

• North facing rooms get cool, even, indirect light all day. Cool colours go colder and greys can turn blue. Warmer shades hold up better.
• South facing rooms get strong warm light for most of the day, which flatters almost everything and can make warm colours feel heavy.
• East facing rooms are warm in the morning and cool by afternoon, so a colour you chose at breakfast may not be the one you live with at dinner.
• West facing rooms do the reverse, cool early and strongly warm in the evening.

This is why a colour that looked right in a friend's flat can look wrong in yours. You are not choosing a colour, you are choosing a colour in a particular light.

Undertones are what actually go wrong

Very few colours are pure. Most whites lean yellow, pink, green or blue, and most greys lean warm or cool. The undertone is usually invisible on the chip and obvious once it is on the wall next to your floor.

The quickest way to find an undertone is comparison. Put three similar whites side by side and the one that leans yellow becomes obvious immediately. Alone, it just looks white.

A testing method that works

• Buy sample pots of your final two or three, not your final ten.
• Paint a large patch, at least A3 size. Small patches tell you very little.
• Paint two coats, exactly as you would the real wall.
• Paint on at least two different walls, including the darkest corner.
• Do not paint directly onto the existing colour if you can help it. Use a sheet of white card so the old colour does not bias what you see.
• Look at it in the morning, the afternoon and at night under your own lights. Then decide.

Where digital previews fit

Previewing colour digitally is good for the early stage, when you are trying to go from a wall of options down to a shortlist. Seeing a colour on your actual wall, in your actual room, rules things out quickly.

It is not good for the final decision, because a screen emits light and a wall reflects it. Use the preview to shortlist, then test physically before you buy ten litres.

Ouda can show paint colours on your own room alongside an estimate of what the job would cost, which is useful for narrowing down. Treat the estimate as a starting figure and confirm with the retailer.

Common questions

Why does my paint look different from the sample card?

Three reasons. The card is tiny and surrounded by white, your wall is large and surrounded by your furniture. Your light is a different colour temperature from the shop's. And paint shifts as it dries and cures.

How many coats should I test?

Two, the same as the real job. A single coat reads lighter and patchier and will mislead you.

Can I preview a colour digitally before painting?

You can get the direction right digitally, which is genuinely useful for narrowing from twenty options to three. Do not make the final choice on a screen, because screens are backlit and walls are not.

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