Friends,

     As you all know, I am often asked questions regarding what I do for a living. There are always many great ones to wite about but I have to choose which to answer while I am free to do so. I  choose the ones I feel really deserve to be answered sooner than others. I thought I would share them with you.

     Here’s a great question from a friend that asked about lighting and color:

           “Dear Carolina,

                       I recently purchased paint for my bedroom.  I wanted a change and thought I could do it myself.  I bought the paint and I was so excited until  the next day, after I came home from work. It was a long day so I didn’t get home until 6pm. I was looking forward to relaxing and admiring the color in my bedroom but when I walked in, I saw purple! Lots and lots of purple! I wanted grey – not purple! I couldn’t help but stand there in pure upset and utter confusion as I stared at the walls. Each and every one looked purple! I don’t understand what happened! Help! 

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Nina R.”

                   First of all, Nina, I am so sorry this happened to you! This is awful! This is truly, truly awful! Here’s the thing with lighting: It’s super tricky! It may look perfect at the store but try to remember that the lighting at the store is not the lighting at your home. Have you ever worked with a designer or heard of them bringing over a color deck (fan of paint color) to your home? Have you ever wondered why? Because your color will change in different lighting.

 Paint is not a Chameleon but your lighting may make you think it is!

 

I’ve seen it all: Grey that turns blue or purple, white that looks pink, green that looks blue, taupe that looks beige or brown, red that looks copper, black that looks blue… The list goes on. The dilemma here is the way your lighting pulls out the paint’s undertones. Undertones are the primary  pigments that make up the color you see. When you selected the color, it was probably under mercury lighting which brings out the green and hides the purple. When you painted, you probably saw the grey with a hint of blue but once you turned on the light, mixed in with the light of the setting sun, you saw purple. This is normal with paint and lighting – the chameleon thing, not the purple thing, okay? How can I help? I will advise you to go get all the grey samples you love [and some you may not love] and tape them to each wall in the room. You heard me right: get one  color sample for every wall and tape each to the wall. For example: four walls and you love 18 greys?  Grab 72 samples (four of each) and start taping. Once you’re done taping, look at them all in the morning, mid-day and in the evening. Whichever one doesn’t work, take it down and continue this process until you narrow it down to one – the one that you can absolutely live with because it’s never about it looking pretty but about how it makes you feel: if you can tolerate it, and if you can live with it. I know re-painting is time-consuming and expensive but this is how we do it, here at my office when lighting is tricky but the majority of the time, we can help pick a color during that first visit because we are trained to see undertones that are not so obvious to others. Taping samples to each wall: that’s my best advice to you, if you don’t want to hire a design professional. In the event that you do need the solution very quickly, feel free to call and ask for a consultation because color and lighting are things that must complement one another in order for you to love where you live.

                               Wishing you all my best in regards to paint,

                                                                                   Good luck, Nina!

                                                                                   XOXO,

                                                                                     CMD