Our Best Insights for Selecting Paint Colors Based on Lighting

Selecting a color is tricky, and mistakes are easy to make. So, I'm sharing some practical tips and tricks that will help you avoid those devastating mistakes when you're ready to update that room with a new coat of paint.

Changing Lights & Sunlight's Impact

One of the most common mistakes we see is people choosing a color they love based on only one type of light at one time of day. It's important to remember that a color can look drastically different in various situations. For example, a color swatch placed on a wall in your home may even take on different hues depending on the wall's color, the time of day, or even the reflections from the outside. Understanding these variations can help you make a more informed color choice.

Effects of Warm & Cool Artificial Light

Warm light is ideal for relaxing spaces, while cooler light is better suited for areas where productivity or visibility are key. All bulbs used in overhead lights, wall sconces, and table lamps have a color temperature. We recommend 2700-3000K for warmth in most living spaces. It is best to have the bulbs that you will use in the room available to see the paint color hue more accurately. Once you go above 3000K, the light gets cooler and tends to not feel as warm.

Swatches Add Confidence

The best way to view color swatches is with large samples that you can stick onto walls and restick from room to room, especially if the same color is being reused in multiple rooms. Check the color in natural and artificial light and at different times of day, cloudy and sunny. This will give you an excellent reference for how the color will change over a day's cycle.

Your Interior Design Partner

We select paint colors as part of our full-service projects and offer one-off paint consultations as part of our 2-hour in-home consultations. Nothing is more daunting than staring at thousands of color options and not knowing where to begin. 

When we select colors for your home, we have many tried and tested colors that we can draw from to make the process more manageable, and we come armed with a paint kit and swatches to view them in your actual rooms. We take the stress away from the multitude of options, and you can rest easily knowing that you'll love the colors once we leave you with a game plan.

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Warmly,

Justine