A trip to the hardware store made me rethink my whole approach to paint samples

I was picking out a new color for my living room at the local Ace last Saturday. The guy working there, an older man named Frank, saw me holding three nearly identical beige swatches and just shook his head. He told me to always buy the small sample can and paint a big square on two different walls, then live with it for a full day. I did that, and the color looked totally different in the afternoon light than it did in the morning. Has anyone else found a better way to test colors without painting your whole wall?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathang674d ago

Frank is a wise man. My own method was taping swatches to the wall and squinting at them, which led to a guest room that looks like a sad avocado in certain light (a choice I regret daily). I've heard of people painting big poster boards so they can move them around, but I'd probably just trip over one.

the_caleb4d agoMost Upvoted

Remember painting a whole wall "sunshine yellow" that turned into school bus yellow by noon.