Every colour looks different in the room it will live in. A chart under shop lighting is close to useless.
Big enough to read
At least a foot square, and preferably two. A small patch takes its character from the colour around it and will read differently once the whole wall is done.
On the wall, not on card
Card sits flat and catches light differently from a wall. If you must use card, tape it to the wall rather than holding it.
Three times of day
Morning, midday and evening under the lamps you actually use. A colour that reads warm at nine can go grey by six, and that is the version you will live with most.
More than one wall
Test on the brightest wall and the darkest one. Same paint, and often it looks like two different colours — which tells you whether the room can carry it.
Live with it for a few days
First impressions of colour are unreliable. The one you still like on the fourth morning is the right one.
Interior painting covers the work once you have chosen. Finished rooms are on our Facebook page.
