Last weekend I went to the Vancouver Home & Interior Design Show. As I walked along I came upon a booth by a good client of mine (he’s in the renovation business).
Looking at the WRONG, pale colour on the walls I nudged him and said “Hey why didn’t you call me to pick the colour?”, he said “I did–this is it”. It looked MINT GREEN and you know what the colour was? CC-680 Raindance!!
Every time I get just a little too smug about my colour advice, it takes me down a notch or two. I had to tell you the story, it was just so funny, me asking him why he didn’t call me!!
So there you go, today’s colour lesson of the day. In a huge stadium with ugly florescent lighting, the colour should be twice as dark as you think it should be to get the effect you want.
I was so cranky I walked away without getting a photo! But that [above] was what it was supposed to look like!
Related posts:
Insider Secrets to Testing & Selecting Paint Colours
Should you pay for a room to be re-painted if you chose the colour?
Authenticity. . . The currency of the Future [When you pick the wrong colour]
Great colour lesson because I did not know. Not that I would be designer but it's good to know anyway. That's a beautiful photo in your post. Simple, yet beautiful.
ohhhh – that's not cool ! ok – so note to self – Tradeshows = 2 shades darker – got it!
So great of you to share this Maria.
Thanks for being honest – I will NEVER ask you for advice (always free!) again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hahahahah
oh this is too funny. but you know how hard it is to pick a colo away from the space. good lesson for us all! love you!
Lighting and space real trixsters! Florescent lights ugg! They make everying look terrible, skin tones, paint, make-up, fabrics and fatigue is the result of working under them for too many hours. Great truth serum…taken well Maria.
Great post of course!
Bette
Well, since colour depends entirely on the light, this makes perfect sense!
I find colour so fascinating and think that is must be so hard to make rules or generalizations – every situation seems new, due to the light in the room, the ambient light. No wonder you can make a career out of colour – it is always changing!
You know, I am noticing the same thing. Some rooms I paint seem to look darker than the card, other rooms lighter, and some look very different. I never seem to get exactly the colour I think I will. And that is just in my own house. I find that BM paints are never quite the same as the card, at least the last 5 rooms I painted (okay, one did). I guess it is because I am using off-whites mostly and they get so blown out by the light.
Anyway, I decided not to do yellow in the bathroom! We have that green floor I hate and I think the yellow would have just made it pop, so I am now choosing a green, to make the floor disappear, I hope! Thought that Soft Fern would be nice, but it looks so minty on the big white cardboard I painted. So when I saw this post, I laughed! I will have to pick a darker green, despite my instinct for this space with no natural light. It really screws with the colours!
Sorry you had bad luck, but he should have told you it was going in this location!!
Terri xo
I really like the robin blue-y tiny bit of greenish pinch of grey colored box very much. I would definitely trust your opinion as you are very knowledgeable and have great taste and it would save money in the long run.
Thanks for the morning chuckle!
Oh no! Sorry to hear that, but it's a good reminder for the rest of us. That color looks so beautiful too! Hard to imagine it as mint green. Deborah
Oh Maria…………that you would tell this story on yourself says so much about you. Thanks for your color lesson, your honesty and your sweet humility!
The lighting really makes a huge difference, you would not have known, lesson learned for all of us though!!
Your posts are always fresh, full of knowledge and personality. I love the way you share your success and some minor disappointments with us. We all learn from you. Ciao (I am back!)
I also have learned the hardway!!! I now paint large color board for every color I specify and try them in morning, afternoon sun and at night when the rooms are lit. It has saved me from having to repaint (at my cost since i specified the color>>) numerous rooms as I had to do in the past…
You're so funny! Good story. xo
I know what you mean Maria! I just didi a foyer in French Grey–it looks baby blue!!!!
Oh no…..as Frank Llloyd Wright said about his baubles…."grow some vines over it….."
It's funny that you posted this today because I just got back from a vet visit with my pet and I was studying the decoration — it looked to be done professionally by a decorator, slate floors with bamboo counters, etc. and it was beautiful except for the sickly yellow wall color, which didn't seem to go with the other materials at all. I wondered if the decorator maybe hadn't taken into consideration how many florescent lights are in vet hospitals and that it would change the color.
Then I came home and read your post, and my suspicions were confirmed!
oh maria- i love how honest you are!!! hahah you have me cracking up & i could SO see something like this happening to me. (or anyone for that matter!)
you're still my color hero! 😉
xoxooxo
Oh, I can so relate to that experience. Trade show lightening is a challenge!
The colour above does NOT look like mint green!!!
I picked out a tan and green for a client's living room and powder room. The green looked like a perfect match to the fabric — till I looked at it at night. It was COMPLETELY different and wrong!! Good thing I still have a couple of days to find a better green 🙂
Kelly
too funny, Maria! fluorescent lights will getcha every time…
it's like the colors in Restoration Hardware (do you have them up in Canada?). their colors always look fab in the store, washed out by bright bright lights, but when you try to paint those colors at home they look gray and dark and dingy
Good information! Color under those florescent lights is so difficult. Think of the shades of our makeup…don't forget to take that into account when you work a trade show. I learned this the hard way…I looked truly unhealthy! And my business at that time was clinical skincare!
Jane (artfully graced)
Maria,
I love your blog and have been getting RSS feeds on my iphone and look forward to your daily posts. I'm painting my living room/dining room and read your post on BM colors. I went to the paint store and got an opinion on Tawny Bisque and was told, "That's too dark. You'll feel like you're in a dungeon." I have lots of windows and will paint the trim decorator white. I left the store discouraged but I'm going back today because you recommended it in one of your writeups (the one about the couch with a golden hue and the butterscotch pillows). I want a color with contrast to the light yellow I recently put in the kitchen. I've been buying lots of sample colors but they all look to yellow (BM Honeymoon, Lion's Mane). I keep thinking to myself, "I wish Maria lived close by!" Anyway, I know you teach and I am most impressed with the time you spend blogging–all your posts are so informative!" Thank you for passing on your design knowledge to all your blog followers. You make a difference! Thanks again.
Kind regards,
Jackie
Hi Jackie,
If you were in the paint store with a sofa cushion I could see listening to that advice, otherwise 1045 Lady Finger is certainly pale enough to work as well.
Happy Painting!
Maria