Paint colour samples – good size

People don’t usually ask for colour advice, if they are good at visualising colour schemes. There are loads of colour cards available, but if it is not your thing, sifting through thousands of possibilities on a chip the size of a stamp can make it impossible to reduce the choice to one or two “perfect” colours. Sitting with a designer quoting colour wheel theory can further add to the confusion too.

Whenever homeowners need a hand with colour choice I would suggest they turn to a colour expert. Either online or in person, it often helps have a talented 3rd party present as you are selecting colours for one room, a piece of furniture, a piano, or a whole house. Paint colour schemes need to take account of the size, style and feel of the room in question, and a homeowner can often benefit from suggestions from someone other than their partner!

It is never a bad thing to instantly cut out what you don’t want. “I hate yellow’s” etc etc . And you should always prepare samples as pat of the selection process. Make paint colour samples big!

The A5 swatches from Little Greene can give an initial idea of the colours that might be appropriate. However, even though they are a massive improvement on the bog standard format colour fans, there is no reason to stop at A5. Bigger is better in the quest to get a good idea ahead of time of colours and how they work together in the space being decorated.

Buy colour sample pots and go big! The average mini pots are plenty for 2 full coats on a piece of lining paper roughly 2 feet by 2’6″. That is sufficient to give a good vision of the finish look, without actually painting the whole room first.

Litre for litre a sample pot is a pricey way to buy paint, but when you work out the cost of painting a whole room, or a whole kitchen with a colour you hate, they are incredibly cheap! Ask the paint supplier if they will offset the cost of samples if you buy the final room quantity from them.

Don’t choose colours based on how they look on the table

You are well advised to move the samples around and lean them / tape them to the wall or to the door. The lighting on a wall is so different from the light falling on the kitchen or dining room table. I would even cut the samples in 2 and place them in different parts of the room, just to see the effect of changing light, light and shade, how they work against different pieces of furniture.

Paint colour samples are the bridge between the colour in the book, and the colour on the door. Remember that the samples are usually in matt emulsion, so there will be a slight difference if using different sheens on the finished walls or woodwork. But if you want a reliable indication of what the finished colours will look like, large paint samples are the way to go.

There is nothing more reassuring for the painter than to be given a well conceived colour scheme. Painting a room by numbers is great, even for professionals.