Should I Match the Wall Paint Color to the Bedspread?

Question: I want to paint my daughter's bedroom a turquoise blue color. Her bedspread is white with large bright turquoise, pink, orange and lime green polka dots.

But when I took the bedspread to the paint store and asked them to match the paint color to the turquoise polka dots, the in-store designer suggested a specific turquoise color instead.

Her color looked grayer than the turquoise on the bedspread, and I left confused... why did she pick it? Why didn't she recommend matching?

Answer: I'll have to second the designer's recommendation.

It's a good thing that the turquoise paint color she selected for you is grayer than the one on the bedding, because all colors become much more intense when applied to walls (and the turquoise on the bedspread is already bright and saturated).

That means if you match the wall color exactly to the turquoise in the bedding pattern, the final effect will be a room that looks way too loud and crazy... even for a kid's bedroom!

The grayed down tone will be a perfect backdrop for the brighter accent colors - lime green, orange, pink, etc. Plus, you never want the wall color to compete with accessories, because the purpose of the wall color is to unify the entire room color scheme, not to take the center stage. And the color you got from the designer sounds perfect for this.