Colour matched paints don’t resemble original colours

[LadyWentworth]

We have decorators in this week painting our hall, stairs and landing. Wanted professionals as we want it done well. I chose the colours, all Dulux, and sent the brand and names to decorators. After they left today, I noticed the colour on the stairs didn’t look like the one I had chosen (Timeless) it looks white. I assumed it was undercoat but when I’ve checked the tins here, it is a trade paint which has Timeless on the label. It looks like it has been colour matched. They didn’t tell me it would be a colour matched paint and it’s not the bright, warm cream I wanted at all. It’s white, just the same as the ceiling. I am going to check with them tomorrow. Would you expect colour matched paint to be an exact match?

Timeless is only just off-white. I picked it for my kitchen and had to have it painted over with orchid white or something creamier. Mine was the Dulux brand too

Timeless is not warm cream. It's a clean, slightly greyed down white. I like to use it particularly because I don't like creamy-yellowy whites. I like my whites to look like chalk.

Did you try it out in your hall with the original taster pot? If your hall is dark, any colour will look different from any sample you might have seen in store. If you did try it out in your hallway, do you still have the taster pot so that you can compare? Or can you get one? If it's really different, they'll have to come back and rectify.

@LadyWentworth they won't be exactly the same because it's different paint and will reflect light differently. Different colours will be better/worse matches. They tend to look ok if they're not next to the original, but sometimes they just don't work.

i did a tester sample but in a darker area of the landing as that was the area I was unsure about. The part they’ve done so far is bright and well lit. I’ve just checked again now it’s darker and it’s more like the shade I thought it would be. It’s going to look different across the space and at different times I think. Will have to see how it goes.

Is it Dulux trade? The tins from the trade decorator centre are different to the ones you see in DIY stores and often have stuck on printed labels. They are mixed to order so you can have a greater range of colour, finish, etc than the off the shelf diy range.

I have just had the kitchen repainted in timeless to try and brighten it up - it is now very white (almost same as ceiling), much more so than it looks on the tester card and I'm not sure I like it. I have natural calico in the hallway which is a much creamier off white and almost wish I'd used that. Hoping timeless has more of a contrast and looks softer once the woodwork (currently creamy beige) has been painted white.

you need to test paint on a piece of paper and place that in different areas of the room and look ag it at different times of the day

hopefully it works out