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If you are buying your paint testers and just slapping them on your walls then you aren’t getting the most out of your £5 investment.
That teeny, 100ml of paint, will go SO MUCH further if you do this very important thing!
Paint your tester pot onto lining paper
Why?
Because it’s so much more valuable to you when you can move it around.
If you paint directly onto your wall then you can’t do any of these things below which are crucial when it comes to choosing paint colours.
View the colour on each wall in the room
A paint colour can look different on each wall depending on the level of natural light levels that are available in the room. A colour will look much paler right next to a window, compared to in an alcove. So it’s important you can move your sample around and check that you like it on all of your walls, not just one!
You can’t do this if you have painted your paint testers directly onto the wall!
View the colour next to fixed elements of the room
This is things like flooring or any furniture that will be staying in the room. You need to be able to move your paint sample around so you can see it right next to the floor, behind your sofa and next to your tiles or worktops. This way you can all see if they work together nicely.
You can’t do this if you have painted your paint testers directly onto the wall!
Look at your sample in natural and artificial light
Unless you plan to use the room exclusively in daylight hours, it’s important you view the colour under artificial light. Paint colours can appear very differently between night and day, so make sure you like the colour under both conditions.
If you are choosing colours for an empty room that has a sad single exposed bulb hanging from the ceiling, which is very common when renovating or if you’ve just moved in, then you are not going to see how the colour truly looks under a lovely layered lighting scheme. So take your moveable sample into a room where you do have a good lighting scheme already in place.
You can’t do this if you have painted your paint testers directly onto the wall!
Take your tester pots shopping with you
If you are selecting new furniture or fabrics, or you are shortlisting flooring or tiles, then take your moveable sample with you to showrooms and stores. This will be so helpful, especially when considering fixtures and fittings or things like lampshades that you can’t order samples for.
You can’t do this if you have painted your paint testers directly onto the wall!
View your paint testers one at a time
It’s very common to have multiple paint colours to consider. To begin with you can line your samples up on the same wall as it can be fun and useful to compare them and work out the key differences between the colours such as, which are warmer, cooler, more blue, more green etc. BUT once you are seriously considering colours you should view them in isolation. This is because you don’t want your perception of one colour to be influenced by the sample next to it, as that other sample won’t be there once you have painted the room. This is why it makes sense to go one at a time.
You can’t do this if you have painted your paint testers directly onto the wall!
You see! By creating a moveable sample you will get so much more value out of that little pot.
What paint colours are you testing right now? Let me know in the comments below 👇🏻.
And if you want help with any interior design decisions I am here to help. You can book an online design consultation here. Or check out my Home Renovation Planner and other amazing interior design resources right here.
Until next time, happy decorating!
Sarah x
