The best way to test paint colours is to paint a large sample of the real paint, let it dry, and look at it on several walls at different times of day and under your own lights at night. If you’re wondering how to test paint colours without wasting money, the short answer is: go big, go slow, and never trust a chip or a screen on its own.
A colour that looks perfect in the shop can turn grey, green or flat at home. Testing properly takes a few days and the cost of a few sample pots, which is a lot cheaper than repainting a room.
Why can’t you choose from a colour chip?
A chip is a few square centimetres seen under shop lighting, usually surrounded by dozens of other colours. Your wall is many square metres, lit by your windows and your bulbs, and sitting next to your floors, benchtops and furniture. Colour tends to look stronger over a large area, so a shade that seemed soft on a chip can feel much bolder across a whole wall.
Screens are even less reliable. Dulux notes on its colour pages that colours displayed should be used as a guide and recommends testing at home with sample pots and A4 colour swatches before you decide.
Chips and swatches are still useful for the first round. Use them to get down to two or three contenders, then test those properly.
What you need to test paint colours properly
Sample pots of the actual paint
A sample pot is tinted with the same pigments as the full can, which is why it is the best guide to the finished result. A Dulux technical article on colour perception makes this point: printed images use different inks, while a test pot uses the real pigments.
Buy the sample in the same brand as the paint you’ll use. A colour name matched across brands is close, but not always identical.
Large sample boards, not little patches
Paint your samples onto A4 or larger card or offcuts of plasterboard, rather than straight onto the wall. Boards have three advantages:
- You can move them from wall to wall and room to room.
- They aren’t distorted by the old wall colour around them.
- You avoid leaving thick patches that can show through the final coats.
Go as large as you reasonably can. Haymes recommends painting at least 1m² when testing with a sample pot, letting it dry for two hours, and viewing it in both natural and artificial light at different times of the day. Apply two coats so the sample has full colour, and leave a white border so you are judging the colour, not the edge of it.
Label the back of each board with the colour name and code. After a few days of moving them around, it’s easy to lose track.
How to test paint colours: a step-by-step method
- Shortlist. Use chips or printed swatches to get down to two or three colours.
- Paint the boards. Two coats of each sample, dried fully. Wet paint looks different from dry paint.
- Test on more than one wall. Put each board on a wall that gets direct sun, one in shadow, and next to the window wall, which is usually the darkest because it is backlit.
- Check at eye level and low down. Haymes suggests viewing samples at eye level. Also check them near the skirting and near the ceiling, where light falls off.
- Hold them against fixed finishes. Floors, benchtops, tiles, curtains and the trim colour all change how a wall colour reads.
- Look at them across a whole day. Morning, midday, late afternoon and night.
- Live with them for a few days. Check in sunny and overcast weather before you commit.
How does light change a paint colour?
Time of day and orientation
In Melbourne, north-facing rooms get the most direct sun and south-facing rooms get the least. A colour that looks warm and clean in a sunny north room can look cooler and duller on a south wall. Dulux suggests warm colours such as yellows suit south-facing spaces and recommends testing colours in natural light at various times of the day, as well as at night under your downlights and lamps.
Low morning and evening sun is warmer, and strong midday light can wash colours out. That is why a single look at lunchtime isn’t enough.
Metamerism: when colours shift under different lights
Metamerism is the term for colours that look different under different light sources. The Dulux technical article gives the familiar example of sodium street lights making a red car look brown. Some pigments are more prone to it than others, so two colours that match in daylight can drift apart under artificial light.
In practice, this means:
- Test under the bulbs you actually use. Warm white and cool white globes can push the same colour in different directions.
- If you plan to change your lighting, test under the new globes before you choose the paint.
- If you are matching paint to a fabric, tile or benchtop, compare them under both daylight and your evening lighting.
Does sheen change how a colour looks?
Yes. The same colour in a different sheen can look slightly different. Dulux explains that higher gloss paints are very reflective, which can sometimes make colours appear lighter than their low sheen or matt versions. Glossier finishes also show more surface imperfections, while flatter finishes hide them better.
So if your walls will be low sheen and your trims semi-gloss, test each colour in the sheen it will actually be. Sample pots usually come in one standard finish, so expect a small difference and allow for it, especially with deep or saturated colours. Our guide to paint sheen levels explains which finish suits which room.
Testing exterior colours
Exterior testing follows the same rules, with a few extras:
- Test on each material. The same colour reads differently on render, weatherboard and fibre cement because texture catches light and shadow.
- Check every elevation. A north-facing front in full sun can look very different from a shaded south side.
- Stand back. View samples from the street and from the far side of the garden, not just up close.
- Consider fixed elements. Roof colour, brickwork, fencing and neighbouring homes all form part of the picture.
Strong outdoor light tends to make colours look lighter than they do on a chip, so many people end up choosing a shade deeper for exteriors. For the bigger picture on palettes, roofs and heritage streetscapes, see our guide to choosing exterior house colours in Melbourne.
When to get help with colour
Testing yourself works well for a single room or a straightforward repaint in a colour you already like. It is worth getting a second opinion when you are changing a whole-house scheme, working with an open-plan space where several colours meet, matching to existing finishes, or choosing for a dark room where small differences matter. Small and poorly lit spaces have their own rules, covered in our guide to paint colours for small and dark rooms.
At AMP Master Painters, colour consultation is a step in our process straight after the free site inspection and scope, so colours can be looked at in your actual rooms and light before an interior painting job starts.
The bottom line
Test with the real paint, on large boards, on more than one wall, across a full day and night, and in the sheen you will use. Give yourself a few days before deciding. It is the cheapest insurance you can buy against a colour you will want to repaint.
