How to sample paint colours

Choosing the right paint colour for your home, particularly exterior colours, can be a fraught journey.  You take a trip to the local hardware store and you are faced with an array of colours.  The whites on their own seem to stretch for half of the aisle and the choice is overwhelming.  I have lots of posts showing you different colour schemes and how to use them, but this post is just dedicated to how to sample your paint colours.

Paint fandecks

For anyone interested in colour, a fandeck is a thing of beauty.  The Dulux colour atlas is quite stunning and you can clearly see how one colour gets lighter and greyer on just one page.  There are 88 different incarnations of a colour on just one page.  You can see in the atlas below how the yellow/orange colour in the bottom right hand corner is in its brightest and clearest form.  When tinted with white, it gets gradually lighter.  As you go across the page it becomes more muted.

What you must never do however is make your final choice from just this small colour chip.  Unless you have a good background in understanding colour, this is only a starting point.  It is however a good starting point as it helps you to see the underlying colour in the white and neutral tones.

Below is a small section of 10 popular grey colours from the Dulux atlas.  It is worth looking at them side by side so that you can see the different undertones.  You can see that Dulux Tranquil Retreat is a cool grey, while Dulux Dieskau contains more warmth.  Again, as they get darker, you can see the difference here too.  You usually find that the undertone of the colour will be more pronounced the lighter the tone.

In the bright sun outside, Dulux Milton Moon can look a little blue, while Dulux Silkwort can look a little lavender.  It is easier to see the true colour, even in a small colour chip if you isolate it.  Many colour fandecks will have an isolation window and it is amazing how different this makes the colour look.  You still can't see enough from a small colour chip though to make such an important decision, so the next step is to look at a large printed colour sample.

An A4 colour sample will give you a much better idea of the colour and the undertones in it.  If you are looking at any colour, you should view it against a black or completely white background – a piece of copy paper works well.  This way you can view the colour without any distraction.  If you are trying to decide between different whites, you can clearly see the undertone of each one if you place them next to each other.  For example, the blue in Dulux Lexicon becomes evident and the lavender undertone of Casper White becomes clear.

If you are using an A4 sample to select an interior colour, you should do the following:

• View the colour at different times of the day and during the evening with artificial light.  It will look quite different as the day progresses and during the evening, will look very different again.
• Assess the colour on different walls as it will appear different on a shaded wall to one that is flooded with sunlight.  I like to wrap the sample around a corner so that you can see what it looks like in shade and brighter light in one go.
• If you are building a house or undertaking a large renovation, ensure that you view the sample with all other surfaces; benchtop, splashback, flooring, joinery etc.
• View the sample next to large pieces of furniture that will make an impact on the space.  For example, a large sofa placed along a wall will have quite a bearing on how the paint sample will look.
• If you are still in doubt, then you should buy a large piece of white board.  If you have a large off cut of gyprock etc. this can also work well.  Paint two coats onto the board and then move this around the house.  I don't recommend painting the wall directly as the original colour that was there can distort the colour.  For example if you are updating a creamy yellow wall with a more modern white, the yellow will make the white look very stark and grey.  Once the entire wall is painted, this won't be the case as you won't be comparing it with the original colour.

You can see here how much easier it is to see the true colour on a large painted board, rather than selecting from a small colour chip in a fandeck.

How to sample exterior paint colours

Firstly, you must always view exterior colours outside.  This may seem a little basic, but you do see people making selections from fandecks inside, often based on colours they have seen on the internet, but this will bear little relation to your house and its location, which can often be unique.

The one thing you MUST NOT DO is paint small amounts from a sample pot directly onto your exterior wall.  This only gives you a guide to see the different undertones, as you would see in the colour atlas or fandeck, it doesn't give you an understanding of how the colour will look on the large expanse of your house.  Remember that the large bulk of a house will cast big shadows and a colour can look very different on individual walls.

If you do want to paint directly onto the external wall, then you should purchase a 1 litre can of paint and paint out a large section of the original colour.  It's a good idea to paint next to something that is remaining, for example a garage door.  This client has painted to the full height of her Surfmist garage door with Dune and then placed a large sample of Woodland Grey next to it, so that she can see the effect.  This is a really good indication of how the colour will work with existing elements of the house and you can get a really good understanding of the undertone.  A small section of this on the original creamy neutral will not have been of much value at all.

The best way to really look at a colour and understand the undertone in each one is to paint large pieces of board with two coats of your chosen colours.

Dulux Milton Moon, Dulux Ancient Ruin, Dulux Stony Creek and Dulux Whakarewarewa are painted on these large cards and you can see the undertones clearly.  You can move these around the house and view them in different lights at different times of the day.  They can be placed next to a garage colour or existing brick and this is a good basis from which to make a decision.

I find it useful to stand back and hold the card away from me and the building and it will cover a large section.

Consider the substrate you are using

The substrate you are using will also play a role in how the paint will look and if you are still unsure, it is then a good idea to paint a large section of the wall before making a final decision.  An A4 paint sample from the paint company is often just a printed version and although this is a true indication of the colour, it is completely flat and therefore the colour will appear different when it is painted onto a textured surface.  Therefore if you are painting a smooth render or a heavily textured bagged surface, the colour will appear different.

Weatherboards and other lining boards, also make the paint colour appear different.  Weatherboards with their heavy shadow line repeated at short intervals has a big impact on paint colours.  This is why you can get away with more colour on a weatherboard house as the shadow line breaks it up.  The same colour on a rendered house can look gaudy, while it looks pretty on a weatherboard cottage.

Related: Why I love a weatherboard home

The same principle applies with v groove lining boards inside.  Again, you can use more soft colour and strong dark greys with more success than you would achieve on a plain plastered wall.

Main points to remember when you are sampling a paint colour

• Do not make a selection from a small colour chip.  These are a starting point only and you shouldn't base your decision on this alone.
• Always view colour samples against a pure white or black background.
• Select from a minimum A5 colour sample so that you can see and understand the undertone of the white, grey, neutral or colour.
• Never, ever, select a colour from an online colour chart.  These can be very misleading.
• Paint large colour boards with two coats of colour from a sample pot.
• Don't paint the colour directly onto a wall that has the colour you are replacing.  It is very difficult to see the new colour properly and can make you more confused than ever.  Only do this if you plan to sample a large section of the wall that can be isolated from any original colour.
• Always view exterior colour samples outside.  View them in the morning light, bright daylight and dusk.  View as large a sample as you can on all elevations so that you can understand what the colour looks like on the south and north of your house.  The morning sun on the east can be quite tricky and the bright sunshine of the west can wash out colour amazingly.

 

As good as online mood board tools are for collating ideas and putting together your scheme, you can't see the underlying colours in your samples.  I always recommend collecting samples in as large a format as you can and putting them together on an old fashioned mood board that you can touch and feel.  There is no replacement for this and no better way to ensure you are making the right decisions.  I have a free e-book showing you how to put together a mood board for your next decorating project.  You can download it for free here.

I hope that you have found my post on how to sample paint colours useful.  If you are still stuck and need help with your project I offer an e-consultation service.  You can send me photos and/or plans with your questions and I will review and talk it all through with you.  I have packages from just one question through to a full colour scheme service – click here for more details.