How to Test Paint Colours Properly Before Committing

We've all been there. You spend an hour in the paint shop studying tiny colour cards under fluorescent lighting, finally settle on what looks like the perfect soft grey, get it on the wall, and discover it's turned an unsettling shade of purple-blue that makes your living room feel like a doctor's waiting area.

Choosing paint colours is deceptively difficult. What seems straightforward (pick a colour you like, paint the wall) becomes complicated the moment you factor in natural light, artificial lighting, surrounding furnishings, and the peculiar way our eyes and brains process colour in different contexts.

The good news is that most paint disasters are entirely preventable. You just need to test properly. And that means understanding which testing method works best for your situation.

Colours appear different depending on the surface area they cover. A small swatch of navy might look sophisticated and manageable. The same navy across four walls can feel oppressively dark. Conversely, a colour that seems too pale on a card often gains depth and richness when applied to a larger area.

Then there's the lighting issue. Your home has unique lighting conditions. The direction your windows face, the quality of natural light at different times of day, your specific combination of lamps and overhead lights. These all dramatically affect how colours appear.

The only way to truly know if a colour works is to see it in your actual space, surrounded by your furniture, your flooring, and your life.

At Crown, we offer two approaches to testing paint colours. Which one we recommend depends on how you prefer to work and what you're trying to achieve.

Colour sample sheets are the mess-free option. These A5 sheets show you the final colour outcome after multiple coats, without any painting required. You can move them around your room throughout the day, holding them against different walls, next to your furniture, in various lighting conditions. They're particularly useful when you're comparing multiple colours at once or if you're testing in a space you can't easily paint (rental properties, freshly decorated rooms, or areas where painting samples would be impractical). They're also brilliant for taking with you when you're shopping for curtains, cushions, or upholstery fabric, letting you match colours accurately in the store rather than guessing. The packaging is fully recyclable too, which matters if you're conscious about waste.

Tester pots give you the experience of seeing actual paint on your walls. The 40ml pots come with a built-in applicator, making them incredibly convenient for quick testing. If you're planning something more ambitious (colour drenching, for instance, where walls, ceiling, and woodwork all share the same tone) the larger 125ml pots let you test across bigger areas to see how the colour performs at scale.

Both methods have their place. Some people need to see painted samples on their actual walls to make a confident decision. Others prefer the flexibility and convenience of moving sample sheets around without commitment.

Here's a practical approach: start with sample sheets to narrow down your options. You can eliminate colours that clearly won't work without touching a paintbrush. Move them around the room, observe them at different times of day, hold them next to your sofa, your curtains, your flooring.

Once you've identified two or three genuine contenders, that's when tester pots become valuable. Paint actual sections of wall (generous sections, minimum A2 size) so you can see how the colour behaves across a proper surface area. Apply two coats. The first coat never gives an accurate representation of the final colour.

If you're testing several colours simultaneously, label them. Sounds obvious, but when you're looking at three similar greys on different walls, you'll forget which is which surprisingly quickly.

This is crucial and often overlooked: test on multiple walls within the same room, not just one.

A north-facing wall receives entirely different light from a south-facing one. The wall opposite your window will look dramatically different from the wall your window is on. Paint that looks fresh and bright on your south wall might read cold and flat on your north wall.

With sample sheets, this is straightforward. Just move them around. With tester pots, paint samples on at least two different walls to see how the colour performs in varying light conditions.

If you're painting a small room or a space without much natural light (i.e. a hallway, a downstairs bathroom, a box room) this matters even more. The colour will be influenced heavily by whatever artificial lighting you're using, so you need to see it under those specific conditions.

Here's where most people go wrong: they test colours, step back, decide they like one, and order five litres that same day.

Resist this impulse. Live with your samples for at least three full days, ideally longer. Look at them in morning light when everything's cooler and clearer. Check them in afternoon sun when colours warm up and intensify. Observe them in evening lamplight when artificial sources dominate.

Notice how the colour shifts. Most paints contain multiple pigments, and these react differently to various light conditions. That's why your "warm grey" might look lavender in north light, greenish in afternoon sun, and finally grey-ish under your living room lamps at night. You need to see all these variations before committing.

Pay attention to how you feel in the space at different times of day. Does the colour feel energising in the morning but too stimulating in the evening? Does it feel cosy at night but oppressive during the day? These responses matter more than whether the colour "looks good" in an abstract sense.

Your samples don't exist in isolation. They're going to be surrounded by your furniture, your flooring, your curtains, your art, your life.

Position samples near your sofa fabric, your cushions, your rug. Does the paint colour complement these elements or clash with them? Does it make your wood furniture look richer or washed out?

Look at how the colour interacts with your flooring. This is particularly important because floors take up significant visual space and strongly influence how wall colours appear. A warm-toned wood floor will make cool paint colours appear even cooler and potentially quite stark. Carpets can add unexpected colour casts that can make white walls look dingy or throw off carefully chosen neutrals.

Consider your window treatments. If you have heavy curtains, test your paint with them both open and closed. The colour that works beautifully with natural light flooding in might feel completely different when your curtains are drawn and you're relying on artificial light.

If none of your samples feel quite right, don't compromise. Go back and explore different options. Sometimes the issue isn't the specific colour but the undertone or intensity. A grey that's too blue might be perfect if you can find the same depth with a warmer base. A green that feels too sharp might work if you drop down a shade or two in intensity.

And occasionally, the problem is that you're trying to make a particular colour work in a space where it simply won't. North-facing rooms resist certain colours no matter how much you want them to succeed there. Small, dark spaces have limits. Sometimes the solution is choosing a completely different direction rather than trying to finesse a fundamentally unsuitable option.

Here's something worth knowing: those tester pots aren't just for testing. If you've got a small project (touching up picture rail, refreshing a piece of furniture, painting a feature shelf) they're a cost-effective solution that doesn't require buying a full tin.

The 40ml pots are perfect for small accents and details. The 125ml pots give you enough coverage for modest projects like an accent wall in a tiny cloakroom or updating interior woodwork in a single room.

Proper testing, whether with sample sheets or tester pots, takes a week or two of your time but saves you from expensive mistakes. Repaating a room you're unhappy with costs hundreds of pounds, days of work, and significant frustration.

Testing thoroughly isn't being overcautious or indecisive. It's being realistic about how colour actually behaves and how much influence it has over how your home feels. Get it right from the start, and you'll live with that decision happily for years. Rush it, and you'll be back looking at options within months, wondering why that lovely taupe turned into something resembling dirty dishwater.

Your walls are too important to guess at. Test properly, wait patiently, and trust the process. The perfect colour is worth finding.Order your samples now and start your colour journey.