Dulux Natural Calico vs Natural Hessian

[Sunisshining12]

Narrowed 10 testers down to Natural Calico & Natural Hessian! Everything else was too cold or too grey. Please tell me your opinion on these colours! What do they look like in reality?

We converted our spare room into a bathroom for my girls which was desperately needed! Toyed with the idea of a soft pink but their bedrooms are pink & cream (pink overload?!)

It's a spacious bathroom that has tonnes of natural light, high ceilings & bright white tiles. We originally painted it in Timeless but it's so light we can barely see it on the walls so wanting an upgrade to NC or NH.

Which would look better? Many thanks :)

We have natural calico in our hallway and living room. Its a nice cream colour...if its to link in with pink i would go with natural calico

Thanks Squiz. Is it really pale or can you see it on the walls? How does it compare to magnolia?

Disclaimer: haven't yet painted.

I've bought natural hessian for hallway which has loads of windows/natural light. Tried out various testers inc calico and that was what looked best.

But I'm following this with interest as you never really know until the deed is done! (We're painting this month).

I'm not much help we have both in our house.

Calico in the hallway, Hessian in the living room.

I would probably go with Calico.

They must be good choices Parkhead! How do the 2 compare?

It's so hard trying to imagine the whole room painted. I will have a few pictures up & a little cupboard, but apart from that the walls will be pretty bare and 'on show' seens as it's a bathroom (if that makes any difference?!)

@Sunisshining12 I've changed my mind, I would go with Hessian I think it has a warmer tone than Calico. Told you I'm not much help.

Natural hessian is a stronger colour than calico which I would describe as a plain cream. Magnolia has more pink in it than either of them, usually.

We have both and I’m painting over the Hessian now, it hasn’t aged as well as the Calico, the colour seems a bit darker over time and looks dingy.

We have Natural Hessian in the kitchen and I love it. It's a nice warm neutral with more about it than cream.

We have NC in a north facing kitchen diner which has lots of light. I read that NC was particularly effective in a north facing room, which drove our decision making. It is a very pale colour - to the extent that some have referred to our walls as white. I think NH is slightly darker and would probably stand out more. But I'm happy with our NC choice.

I’ve used natural hessian in 3 houses and loved it. Lately though I’ve gone a little braver and gone for a lovely sage green and I can’t go back to a natural hessian type of colour now!

It really does depend on the light in the room. Hessian was far too pink in one room (which was only evident after i painted a very big wall 😡) but perfect warm straw colour in another. I do like calico though - warm cream in north facing room.

This is a South Facing room with lots of daylight (2 large windows & a skylight). Sometimes the light makes the wall colour appear very faint, almost non existent, but in the evening the spotlights shows every lump & bump (bloody vile things)

NH looks browny beigey to me, am I wrong? I've read some reviews of it looking like dried plaster?!

I don't suppose there is a colour in between the two then!

@golden that worries me that some see NC as white, as the reason we are changing the colour is because current Timeless is so faint & non existent!

I understand that NH is darker but how much darker are we talking? How does it look when all painted, what colour would you describe it as? Would it complement my girls pink & cream bedroom?

How do we get so wrapped up in paint samples!!

Hoping to stick with the current white tiles

I think NH looks like milky tea. I can't see it as pink. More of a brown.

Here’s some photos of our hall and office in natural hessian. I found natural calico too light.

And Office with flooring and furniture. This is a very dark room though with not much natural light.

Thanks Ruhr, that looks a nice colour with some depth to it.

Does anyone have either colour in a very bright spacious room?

I have Calico in a south-facing room with a bay window and like it there. It's light but shows up nicely against the white cornice.

In my north-facing room on the other hand it looked dingy with a slightly greyish tone which I really disliked and had to change.

I have natural hessian in my living room. The room gets lots of morning sun. The colour looks cream to me and I am happy with it. DH would like a slightly darker colour when we next repaint (after some planned building work). I painted my DDs rooms in natural calico. It is paler and closer to magnolia. In your situation I would go for hessian.

I had natural calico in my living room, it is south facing and gets a lot of light. It looked like it had a brown tone to me and I hated it. I pained over it with a white colour though I can't remember which one it was.

We also painted the hall natural calico, it's also pretty light but not south facing and it doesn't look as dull there.

I've gone with Calico! DH off to paint now will keep you updated! Thanks for all in put

(Now must stop looking at colour chart wondering if I should have gone with vanilla white)

Update for those who were following - went with NC. It's definitely not magnolia looking at all.

It has a sort of browny greeny earthy undertone to it in my house. When the light is on a night this goes & it looks a lot creamer & softer.

It doesn't look yellowy at all. I'm not sure if it's the pink in the girls bedroom that makes it appear like a green undertone, it doesn't blend very well with pink at the moment but still got to tile etc yet so I'm hoping it will look ok once all finished!

NH would have been far too dark in this room. Thanks all :)

Another update - NC is looking fab now in the bathroom. It's weird that it took a week or so for me to get used to it. Putting the new flooring down made a massive difference. It just looks like a very pale cream now. Almost off white in the evening with spot lights on.

Im planning to decorate my bedroom next and now toying with NH! But the sample looks really dark on the wall (although the walls are currently bright white).

I've also looked at Almond White & Elderflower Tea - any thoughts on these??