When it’s time to grab the paint chips and start obsessing about a new paint color, what do you take into consideration? Do you think about how the color makes you feel? If your husband thinks its masculine enough? If it will easily show little, dirty hand prints?
I consider all of those things. But, I also consider my lighting.
Did you realize that something as simple as the color of a light bulb can drastically change the way a paint color looks in your room? Natural light and the location of artificial light can make a big difference, too.
I put together a guide for considering your light sources when painting your room for the Glidden MyColortopia blog. I encourage you to check it out and explore the site while you are over there. There are some really cool features – even one that lets you upload an inspiration photo and a suggested color palette just magically appears.
Do you make a habit of considering your lighting sources when choosing a paint color?
Yes!!!!!! Light is such an important factor, yet soooooo many people do not realize this!
I try. I also have a lot of green outside and that changes the look of my wall colour too, so I try to take that into account because it’s really reflected into my home with all my windows!
Totally agree! I’ve been a housepainter for 20 years, so I know how paint colors change with lighting. Time of day, season of the year, light bulbs, lamp shades, and furnishings (even changing something like a bedspread) will make light reflect paint colors a new way.
If you want to see the effects of light, just look at what happens to a wall color when the wall turns a corner, or when a piece of furniture gets placed against it. People look and look for the perfect color, and drive themselves nuts. If you just choose the right family of pigmentation, one you love and that works with the unchanging fixtures of your home, you’ll get as close as you can to perfection. You just have to learn to appreciate all the gradations in value and tone it’s going to have once it’s on the wall.
I wish you had posted this a month ago… My delicate aqua (breaktime by Sherwin Williams) walls look a little too vivid in my small toilet room w no natural light. Being a new homeowner is def a learning process!! Love your blog!
This made me laugh! When we bought our house the owners must have found a huge sale on taupe paint and did the WHOLE house one color. BUT at a certain time of day when the sun shone in, my entire house looked like a giant pink cupcake! hmmmmm. We set to painting right away!
This happened recently with new towels that I brought home!! They were soft blue at the store…..soft green in my bathroom lighting!! sheesh!