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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Hallway colour crisis

336 replies

TailorTack · 12/03/2026 07:33

Well this was the colour I wanted. Tailor Tack. For our tiny little entrance, stairway and upstairs little landing. Can't even call it a hallway really because we have no hallway. I wanted to make it look lovely. But we couldn't justify the cost of F&B.
So based on me wanting a pale white pink, DH bought Blossom White Dulux and we've just spent the week prepping and decorating, it has taken 5 days, using precious annual leave time to do it whilst DC are at school and out of the way.
It's nothing like it looked online or in the colour chart pamphlet, or in the tester patch.
Online and in the Dulux colour chart it looked a very pale chilled out pink.
In my hall it is.....basically bright lilac.
It's not the colour I wanted at all😰
DH has hit the roof and said "You do this every time! We decorate a room after weeks on end of looking at different shades of different colours, then when it's done you always say you don't like it!!!". Which I can't deny. But the colours never look the same on the walls as they do on the charts, or even the tester pot patches!
Oh, forgot to say, we started off painting it what looked like a lovely sedate green on the colour chart but it looked like grey sludge on my walls so we abandoned it 1/4 way through and that caused a row in itself. And a waste of money.
I wanted a nice, very pale, calm, muted white pink.
What I've got is bright lilac, maybe you could call it bright but pale lavender.
It literally looks NOTHING like the Dulux images of the colour on their website.
It looks nothing like other images of it online.
It's done now and I will be able to live with it though I am upset because I wanted to love it. I wanted to walk in and love the colour that greeted me. Instead I think "urgh, don't like it".
DH likes it!
DD 10 is skipping around saying it's the best colour ever!!!
But DS 14 absolutely HATES it. He literally hates it. He's saying "I love our house, why have you painted the hallway bright purpley-pink?!?! It's horrible!".
This morning DH said to DS "Is the colour growing on you?" And DS said "I can't even talk about it" whilst looking mortified.
I feel really bad for him.
Should I lump it, having both spent a week of AL working on it? And just tell DS he'll have to live with it?
Or change it and risk a massive fall out with DH? He won't take any more AL to do it all over again so it'd be me on my own. And he'll argue about the time and cost involved.
And if I buy another 7.5 litres of a different colour paint, I may as well have just paid more for F&B and got Tailor Tack in the first place😪
We have an absolutely tiny little house with a tiny little hallway. I wish we could move to a more spacious house but we can't. So I thought 'Okay, just make the best of what we've got' and I was trying to create a beautiful entrance/stairs/landing. I've seen tiny houses on Pinterest/Instagram that still look lovely if they're decorated absolutely beautifully and tastefully. That's what I was trying to achieve but have failed.
So
Leave it be, or go through the pain of changing it?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
17
Alwaysontherun · 13/03/2026 20:26

Aluna · 13/03/2026 19:09

Pink Ground is gorgeous, but if Blossom White is too pink for OP in this small space, Pink Ground will be too strong - albeit a different shade of pink. Tailor Tack would have been spot on - it’s slightly paler than Pink Ground. She doesn’t really want a pink hall.

I also suggested RIBA Plaster I

We will have to agree to disagree. Blossom white has an entirely different undertone which is where the difference occurs and why Pink Ground will appear more like a warm neutral where light is limited rather than appearing too pink. Colour and lighting is very complex as I have studied it and worked in the industry for over 20 years

Cherrysoup · 13/03/2026 21:02

What prep did you do? I know you're meant to sugar soap walls, but I didn't. Did the landing, hall stairwell this week, several coats. It's odd re lighting, I took down wheat coloured paper square shades, mostly enclosed and put up open white material ones. Crazy difference. Painted over what I thought was extremely pale yellow with green tones using Dulux Timeless, an almost white. The difference is mad. Took a fair few coats and the yellow looked dirty!

I thought the kitchen ceiling (filled in a crack) was yellow yesterday, it's just the weird spring afternoon light.

I vote for living with it (sorry, ds's opinion is not important) and see if it cures/grows on you. I'm selling so couldn't care less.

Aluna · 13/03/2026 21:23

Alwaysontherun · 13/03/2026 20:26

We will have to agree to disagree. Blossom white has an entirely different undertone which is where the difference occurs and why Pink Ground will appear more like a warm neutral where light is limited rather than appearing too pink. Colour and lighting is very complex as I have studied it and worked in the industry for over 20 years

Great. Property developer & interior designer for 30 years.

Pink Ground is still pink it’s not neutral. I think OP was on the money with Tailor Tack.

SecretSquid · 13/03/2026 21:28

AgingLikeGazpacho · 13/03/2026 16:49

Paint will look very different if it is just on one wall vs on all the walls - the reason is that if you paint a sample one one wall, you often have the white (or whatever existing colour you have on your walls) on the opposite wall reflecting back on it which mutes the undertones. Once you have 4 walls all the same colour it emphasises all the undertones.

So something that initially looks like a very subtle off white can ultimately look a lot more saturated than expected once the job is complete.

Although you did also say that you could tell from the first roller that it was not a shade that you were after...so what compelled you to go ahead an do a couple of coats on the whole hallway is beyond me! I'd also be pissed off if I were DH.

OP didn't keep painting. That would be her DH, in spite of OP's multiple attempts to get him to pause.

Iloveluna · 13/03/2026 21:38

5 days for a tiny hallway? It should take a few hours!

Pinkissmart · 13/03/2026 22:26

Change the light bulbs to see if it affects the colour

Alwaysontherun · 13/03/2026 22:50

Aluna · 13/03/2026 21:23

Great. Property developer & interior designer for 30 years.

Pink Ground is still pink it’s not neutral. I think OP was on the money with Tailor Tack.

As I said before colour is a very personal choice. Tailor Tack is a lovely colour in areas with good natural light that allows the delicate pink tones to come through but for me personally in lower light areas it comes across a bit beige.

Melarus · 13/03/2026 22:55

Pinkissmart · 13/03/2026 22:26

Change the light bulbs to see if it affects the colour

This is getting like Viz Top Tips.

"Wrong colour in your hallway? Simply tie a blindfold over your eyes each time you enter and exit!"

Bulldog02 · 14/03/2026 00:12

I would repaint it again. If I'm not happy with the colour, no way would I settle for a colour I was not happy with.I drive my husband nuts! As he hates painting & spending money even more! I would Google paint colours.Read reviews.Paint swatches, in the similar colour palette untill you are reasonably confident you have found the one that you are most happy with.
Since I moved to this house I have purchased numerous paints.Dunelm, Dulux,Crown,Wickes, F&B.As you are painting a hallway, buy a hard wearing paint.Not many colours look the same on the wall as on the charts or tins.When I purchased F & B .I painted swatches of five different greys in brilliant daylight, checked it again in the evening,then again with artificial light.Only one out of the 5 I liked.It can be a challenge,but well with the effort.

Yadday · 14/03/2026 08:44

Go to b and q today, buy a tester pot and paint over a patch of the hall. Then post a pic on here once it's dried so we can see the difference!!!

Edited to add - I am 100% in your court and honestly think it was mixed up wrong.

Daftypants · 14/03/2026 09:17

Melarus · 13/03/2026 22:55

This is getting like Viz Top Tips.

"Wrong colour in your hallway? Simply tie a blindfold over your eyes each time you enter and exit!"

🤣🤣

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