Why You Should Test
Paint Color in the Home

Find out why it's important to test paint color in the home, before you buy paint in a full-sized can and start painting the walls.

Testing paint color in the home is essential to house painting success, although a lot of people ignore this important step.

Consider this: you don't buy a lipstick or foundation before trying it out first. You know that the way decorative cosmetics looks in a package is no guarantee that it will look the same on your skin. So you test it first, to see how the color "reads" on your skin, and whether it complements your skin undertones.

The same approach should be taken when choosing interior paint colors. There are so many variables that can cause a paint color to look different from the paint chip.

Testing Wall Paint Color
in the Home is a Must

All too often, homeowners base their decision on a 2" color chip, and then wonder why the color looks completely different on the walls.

They say: "It's not the color I chose!". But the truth is, that is exactly the color they chose - it's just not the one they wanted.

Paint color chips are usually too small to show you all the nuances of any given color. It's hard, sometimes impossible to clearly see color undertones in a tiny chip. And paint color undertones are the difference between a harmonious and dissonant home color design.

Besides, the white space between the chips on a color strip distorts your perception and exaggerates the difference between the shades.

If you put your finger over that white space, you will see what I mean.

A very common mistake people make when using paint color chips is choosing a color that is too light. The thing is, on a small paint chip the color is surrounded by white, and therefore appears more saturated. But when viewed on a larger surface, the color will look lighter.

Without actually testing paint colors in the home, it's easy to be fooled by this optical illusion and select a wrong shade.

Finally, you never know how the paint color will react to light, until you test the color in the home lighting context.

Natural and artificial light of the room can turn a cream color into a sickly green or orange. It can make colors look dull or dirty, gaudy or washed out.

In short, different sources of light can visibly change paint colors, and if you are not taking this fact into account, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

Spend a few dollars on interior paint color samples and test them in your home before buying paint in full-sized cans. But of course, only if you don't want to waste time and hundreds of dollars (or thousands if you hire professional painting contractors) on repainting your home due to a silly color mistake.

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