Paint sample - on wall, card or piece of paper? Which is the true colour?

[WibblyPigRocks]

I've painted a sample of mellow mocha on a piece of white card, on my wall and on a piece of paper. The wall is currently a goldy-yellow colour. I have painted the samples with a double coat.

Why does the wall sample look lilac, the paper one yellowy-coffee and the card one the coffee with a slight hint of mauve colour that I want?

What will it turn out like?

White paper is not a true reflection of what your wall will look like.

I normally test in about 3 places on a wall, in the middle, in a shadowy bit and perhaps near the floor.

And on different walls too - its amazing the difference...

Try painting the inside of a shoebox and put it in the room you are planning to paint. Then you'll see how each wall will look.

Have literally just started our kitchen so have just tried this experiment with the card, paper and wall and agree they are all different. I go with mrsmaidamess - try it on walls in different parts of the room to get a true idea of how it will look.

Kitsilano - then you'll know what it will look like if you put shoe boxes all round the room

They look different because you are using different backgrond colours. Card usually has a different coloured back (mine is usually grey as I use the cardboard that comes with shirts etc)

The grey shows through (although not so much that you would notice) which is probably why you are getting lilac hint.

The only true test is to paint several of your walls with a sample so that you can see how the light reacts as each wall gets different amount of light.

Unless you plan to paint your walls white first then always use the walls.

I have painted walls white first when the colour was quite dark or if I have just moved into a house I tend to cut in in white paint so that I cover any pre-existing paint marks that have gone onto the skirting or coving.

I do lurve painting though so this is probably why I am happy to take my time getting a room prepared.

Do think painting inside of box is useful as shows how colour will reflect off itself and how intense it will become. Most people give at least a couple of coats of a wall colour so I would advise putting some on a wall and painting another coat on when it has dried to see how deep it is.

If you are painting it yourself (not paying professional) I'm not sure it matters if you go wrong, you can just choose something else and redo it in a couple of hours. You should know how liveable with it is before you get to all the cutting in.

Thanks - paint colour decided - we've based our decision on the wall - fingers crossed!

Hi, I know this is a bit late in the day and glad you are all sorted, but my top tip for this is to put a double coat of paint on a metre long piece of lining paper (one small test pot is enough to do this) then masking tape it up in dif parts of room and look at in dif lights etc - can put near window, right up against door frame, over mantle piece with bits and bobs in front etc. Also colours always look much stronger en masse, so worth going one or 2 shades lighter on the colour card than you think to get the desired effect - partic with Farrow and Ball paints, where a nice yellow on the card can look like dark mustard over whole room - I know this to my cost! Like the inside of box idea too though never tried.

Just ordered samples from Farrow and Ball as I'm in looooove with their French Gray. Unfortunately our bedroom is north facing and the colour would look very muddy and dark in the daylight. Had to go for the lighter tones.

Ooh yes, French Gray very nice indeed. Re north facing room, they do say that you should work with light and that if try to put a bright colour in north facing room to "cheer it up" it just looks cold, but agree going with lighter tone is a good idea. Maybe this is why Swedish interiors are all cool greys and Carribean colours look great in the carribean but not so good here?