The Mystery Of The Changing Paint Colour

Picking a new paint colour?  Great!  You’ve done your homework, chosen the perfect wall paint colour and you’re ready for a beautiful new space.  Armed with a paint brush and roller you bravely tackle the paint job but after one wall you stop. This isn’t the colour you chose at the store.  Surely they made a mistake.

What happened?  Congratulations!  You just experienced metamerism, a fancy work that describes the phenomenon of light changing the way colours appear to the eye.   Natural light is the truest and best light under which to view colours, incandescent light highlights warm tones and fluorescent light brings out cool tones.

Avoid frustration – instead of committing to a colour, try a sample (or two) first.  If you’re trying more than one colour paint your samples at least four feet apart to prevent your eyes from blending the shades together.  Make sure to brush or roll a large area in both a corner of the room and on a wall opposite a window.  Then live with the colour for at least 24 hours.  That way you can judge the shade in both daylight and artificial light.