TIPS ON VIEWING COLOUR

TIPS ON VIEWING COLOUR

1. Dulux, Colortrend, Albany etc provide hand painted cards which are the best way to view colour as you can move them to different positions without damaging your walls. Place four A4 white sheets of paper around the colour you are viewing to isolate the existing colour away from your eye and to stop the existing wall colour from affecting the colour you are viewing. 

2. When viewing light muted colours or off  whites, place your sample card on top of A4 white paper, this will help define  the depth of colour you are viewing.

3. View samples in daylight and night light.

4. Worried your choice is too dark ? Go to the darkest corner of the room and hold tester card in the corner. The colour you are viewing is now reflecting on itself, which gives a good impression of how the entire room will look when painted.

5. A tester pot is also a good way to choose colour. Paint onto A4 sheets of paper as they can be moved around, looking at samples on the wall for weeks is annoying. 

6. When using tester pots always apply two coats of paint and allow to dry ( a blast of a hairdryer will speed this process up ), if the tester  is not dry it will look lighter and darken down as it dries.

7. Beware of viewing colour on screens, computers, laptops etc, the settings on your device will not truly reflect the colour.I carry colour cards with me when undertaking a new project.

8. When you paint in dark colours allow for extra coats of paint to get the perfect finish, 3 to 4 coats may be required for dark navys, etc. NOTE  the darker you paint something the nearer it will appear visually. 

9. Keep it simple, if your windows are white on the inside, then, paint all the other woodwork white also, a slightly different  white is just confusing the scheme

10. Aspect, the direction light comes into your home is important. That lovely colour in your friends hall may not look the same in your home due to the direction you are facing , North, South etc.