Colour, and how to choose it

Choosing colour from a small sample is the most common decorating error, and understanding why it fails makes it avoidable.

Why samples mislead

Scale. A colour covering four walls reads as substantially more intense than the same colour on a card.

Which is why so many rooms turn out stronger than intended.

Light. The colour of the light falling on a surface changes what you see.

North-facing rooms receive cooler light, which makes colours read greyer and cooler.

South-facing rooms receive warmer light, which intensifies warm colours.

Artificial light varies enormously in colour temperature, and a colour chosen in daylight can look entirely different in the evening.

Reflection. Surfaces reflect colour onto each other — a green garden through a window, a red carpet, a wooden floor — which tints everything.

Adjacent colours. The same colour appears different depending on what surrounds it, which is a well-documented perceptual effect.

Testing properly

The method that works.

Paint a large sample — at least a square metre — rather than a small patch.

Better: paint two coats onto a large piece of card, which can be moved around the room and held against different walls and next to furnishings.

Observe it at several times of day, including in the evening under the lighting you actually use.

Observe it on more than one wall, since the wall facing the window and the wall beside it receive entirely different light.

Live with it for several days before deciding, which is longer than anyone wants and which prevents most mistakes.

Undertones

The concept that explains why colours clash.

Almost no paint colour is pure. Whites have warm or cool undertones; greys lean green, blue or purple; beiges lean pink or yellow.

Two colours that clash generally have conflicting undertones even where the hue appears similar.

Comparing samples side by side against a sheet of pure white paper reveals undertones that are invisible in isolation.

Which is the single most useful technique for anyone choosing neutrals, where the differences are subtle and the consequences of getting it wrong are noticeable.

Finishes

Which affect the appearance as much as the colour.

Flat and matt finishes absorb light, hide surface imperfections and read as softer, and are less washable.

Eggshell and satin reflect more, are more durable and washable, and show imperfections.

Gloss reflects most, is most durable, and shows every flaw in the surface beneath.

The same colour in different finishes reads as a different colour, which surprises people.

Practical allocation: matt on ceilings and on walls in low-traffic rooms, more durable finishes in kitchens, bathrooms and hallways, and eggshell or satin on woodwork.

Building a scheme

An approach that works without expertise.

Start from something you already have and cannot change — a floor, a large piece of furniture, a rug, a view.

Choose colours that relate to it rather than choosing in the abstract.

Use a limited number: a dominant colour, a secondary one, and an accent is a workable structure.

Repeat colours around a room, so that nothing sits in isolation.

And consider how rooms are seen from one another, since a hallway visible from several rooms needs to work with all of them.

The dark room question

Where conventional advice is frequently wrong.

A dark room painted white does not become bright; it becomes a grey room, since white shows the lack of light most clearly.

A dark room painted a deep saturated colour frequently reads as deliberate and comfortable, with the boundaries becoming less defined.

Which is why the fashion for dark small rooms exists and works, and it requires committing rather than compromising with a mid-tone.

The practical points

Buy the paint from one batch where possible, since batches vary slightly.

Keep the details of what was used in each room, which makes touching up possible years later.

And accept that repainting is comparatively cheap and reversible, which makes it the lowest-risk decorating decision available and worth being braver about than most people are.