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Colour cards, colour mixing, colour advice
Most of the following companies offer free colour cards, if you ask nicely. Some request that you subscribe first to their email newsletter, which is no bad thing if you are interested in their products! Some have online samples and when you find colours you like, you can order sample pots.
Sample paint pots
When you have narrowed down your choice, sample pots are the next recommended step. It would be nice if they were free, but most companies will charge from £1 to £3.50 plus P&P. But this is small change compared to the cost of gambling and losing on a gallon of wall paint, especially if you have paid a professional to apply it.
Dulux have a fair cash back on tester pots policy, whereby they will deduct the cost of the sample pot when you buy a full-size tin.
Eco, green, organic, confused
In amongst the above list of colour cards you will find some very niche suppliers and it requires a lot of research to understand the differences between their products.
Designer, Francoise Murat, has written a very informative article on Tepilo about the journey, if not odyssey, that she recently embarked on when meeting a brief to decorate a home with eco paint. From trying to work out what an eco paint really is, to finding reliable suppliers, to colour cards, to sample pots, right through to completion, it wasn’t easy. But it will be a lot easier for everyone else when Francoise publishes her definitive guide later in 2010. Follow her on Twitter and be the first to know!
Specialist paint colour services
One company that you might want to check out for colours is Papers and Paints. The man behind the company is responsible for actually developing the colour ranges for Dulux (Heritage) and other well known paint companies.
They do charge for their own in-house traditional paint colour cards but unlike the claims of most suppliers with the Magic Eye, they can mix literally any colour matched exactly to an actual paint sample or item of furniture, piece of wallpaper or fabric. So if you need more than “close enough“, or it isn’t good enough that “it falls inbetween the closest colours in our range, now you now where to go.
Specialist colour advice
The task of colour selection really bamboozles and even upsets some customers. Is it any wonder, when the human eye can differentiate so many colours (According to my old art college tutor, if you laid a 2″ square of every colour we can see, end to end, the range would reach to the moon and back!) But Ingrid is the down-to-earth solution to that problem!
As a fabric designer and weaver, Ingrid spends her days coordinating 10 or more different yarns at a time, so for her, it is a walk in the park to find the right paint colour for your ceiling, walls and woodwork.
Colour experts with a background in weaving and textile design also understand paint colours perfectly!
Ingrid spends endless hours mixing and dyeing her own yarns, mainly with colourfast natural dyes, and has a deep understanding of the difference between “natural” and “synthetic” colour. The look of traditional paint from Little Greene Paint Co etc can be deep, strong and subtle, all at the same time, compared to the consistent one-dimensional colour properties of synthetic modern paint finishes. Each has its place.
This is one of the colourways for Ingrid’s upcoming collection of Lilou scarfs and handbags due for launch in October. You might want to join the queue!
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