to think that the colour of the chart or tin should

[pinkr]

Bear a more than passing resemblance to what appears on the wall. Been looking at painting a room and nearly every colour is darker, much darker, than the tins would lead you to believe. Surely companies such as dulux and crown could spend done money on accurate representation?

Ha ha, we seem to have the opposite problem. Our dusky purple is distinctly lilac... And our raspberry red bears a better resemblance to bubblegum pink! This is Dulux too.
Deciding wether to live with them or repaint!
I'm guessing it depend a lot on the light in the room and the colour already underneath.

I've put it on top of magnolia but it is a North facing room...still it really isn't the lovely shade of light lilac promised and shown in the pics! Ah well purple is just as good I guess!

I totally agree! This is why I drive DH mad by insisting on buying hundreds of tester pots! I bought 'Egyptian Cotton' thinking it would be a crisp white/cream (like bed sheets!) it was a muddy grey/brown! Drives me crazy!

And the testers aren't exactly cheap either...you could easily buy quite a few before it looks right.

Yeah I have found the same problems with dulux! My mum introduced me to Laura Ashley paint though and although slightly more pricey, but they have discounts and sales alllllll the time! They are really good at providing a good idea of what the paint will look like on the wall! And they have some lovely colours! I have an eau de nil kitchen, a truffle and pale truffle lounge and a dove grey bedroom!

We've gone pot luck with the colour for our living room because we're fed up of the misleading tester pots. Dh picked one out from the colour on the tin...not tried it yet (crown).
I think Dulux testers often look darker than the real thing. Or it might be an illusion because you're painting a small area with it. Whatever it is, it's really annoying.
I've recently just picked colours for the dc's rooms from the crown colour chart and all have been great.

I always mix my own paint for this very reason. Dead easy but make sure you leave surplus for touch ups.

My living room is a farrow and ball - Laura Ashley cocktail, most other rooms have dulux natural hessian in there somewhere. It's so rare I find the right colour ready mixed but Laura Ashley are pretty good.

B and q own brand has proved the most reliable so we've went for that!

You'll never be able to do it.

Colour depends on the surface it is applied to. And the lighting you view it with. This applies to paint, ink and basically anything that needs to dry.

If you are painting onto wallpaper you'll get a different colour depending on how pourous the paper is. You'll also get a different colour if you are applying to plaster.

Equally, if you view a colour in a room which lets in little natural light you'll get a different effect to one with lots of natural light. And artificial light varies depending on the type and brightness of the bulbs you use.

Then there's atmospheric differences. You'd be amazed at the difference temperature and the moisture in the air can make.

And then again, all these sample charts are done on a paper which is completely different to the surface they will actually used on.

Despite standardised colours within printing to minimise problems like this, even professional printers are subject to a certain level of variance, which is visible to human eyes.

Put simply, there is a limit to the accuracy that paint manufacturers can produce to represent a colour on a tin or a chart. Its impossible. So I'm afraid YABU.