Matching Paint Color Undertones:
Why It's Important

The secret to matching paint color successfully is all in the details. Learn why you need to pay attention to color undertones when matching and coordinating home painting colors...

NOTE: If you are wondering what we mean by undertones, you need to read "Interior Paint Color Undertones" to understand the concept.

Why Matching Paint Color
Undertones is Important

What's the main reason people match wall paint colors to the existing elements of their decor? Of course, it's to unify the entire room color scheme with a common bond of color.

But what happens when you make a mistake when matching paint color, and use a hue with a different undertone for painting the walls? The answer is, you create some dissonance in your home color palette.

For example, you tried to match the wall color to your leafy green window treatments, but made a mistake in the undertones and picked a paint color with just a hint of blue in it. Now even though both shades are from the same color family, their undertones are different. As a result, the color of your walls will seem completely unrelated to anything, and the "common bond" and flow of the color will be disrupted.

And here's another example that illustrates why matching paint color undertones shouldn't be ignored.

Let's say you painted your walls a nice golden color. But when it came to choosing a white shade for the woodwork, you decided to just use up whatever white trim paint you found in your garage.

If your trim paint was pure white, or with yellow undertones, consider yourself lucky. But if the white paint had a gray, blue, green or pink undertone, your freshly painted woodwork can range from looking odd to appearing almost dirty next to the wall color.

Finally, don't forget that all colors affect one another - even if the color is very subtle.

Let's suppose you tried to find a wall color that would relate to your beige couch (which happened to have a pinkish undertone that you had never noticed before), but chose a beige wall color with a green undertone instead (because you thought all beiges go together).

Now the pinkish undertone of your couch will be much more obvious and you will wonder why. But the answer is simple: complementary colors like red and green intensify each other.

Do you understand now why matching and coordinating paint color undertones is such a big deal?

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