Choosing paint colors seems to frighten people, but in reality, it’s one of the easiest things to fix, if you do make a mistake. It’s just paint after all and you can paint right over it! Here are a few tricks to help you get it right the first time:
- The paint on the small chip will look darker on the big wall. Always go one shade lighter. Buy 3 variations of the color to test.
- Test the paint in the room at home. You need to paint at least a 4ft. by 4ft. sample to really be able to see the color.
- Color is relational, which means it is affected by other colors around it. Buy large sheets of artist’s paper, paint them leaving a white border and tape them on the walls in different spots around the room. You’ll be able to see the true color on its own, without the existing wall color surrounding it.
- If you have an item in a certain color that you like, take it with you to the store and match the paint chips to it.
- Computer color matching doesn’t always work. Higher end paints have different bases and many pigments which make it impossible to duplicate the color by computer. If you want to try using a cheaper base, buy a small can first to see if it matches the color chip.