Don’t Gamble on Color: Why Bringing Home a Paint Sample is a MUST

Don’t Gamble on Color: Why Bringing Home a Paint Sample is a MUST 

It’s definitely important to try before you buy – and no, we don’t mean plucking as many grapes as you can eat at the supermarket. We’re talking about sampling paint before buying a full gallon. 

It used to be that you bought paint, took it home, and painted the walls. Whether or not you liked how it looked, you learned to live with it. Thank goodness, this is no longer the case. 

Getting a paint sample of the color (or colors) you want to try is truly the best way to determine the right choice for each room and here’s why. 

Browsing paint chips is great for narrowing down your selection, but a color you fall in love with at the store may look entirely different once you get it home. Different light sources and conditions will produce different results affecting the feel of the room. You really need to observe how the color will look in your home from dawn to dusk, and on both sunny and overcast days. 

At the same time, a paint chip can be deceiving as it’s just a tiny block of color. That is why you need to test a larger sample to understand the impact that introducing a new color will have on your space. 

How to Sample Paint at Home:

• We recommend Benjamin Moore’s Half-Pint Color Samples, which are a great size for testing multiple colors at once throughout your home. 

• Paint a small test area of the wall, or use SureSwatch Paintable Clear Film to get the same effect to avoid applying color directly. You could also brush the paint on white foam board or poster board, which can be easily moved around to note the color differences throughout the day.  

• Apply at least two coats of paint because: 1) it takes a minimum of two coats to change a wall color and 2) it will give you the proper saturation so that the test is precise and as consistent with real results as possible. 

• Want to make faster design decisions without dealing with the hassle of paint? No problem! Hand-painted with real paint for color accuracy, Peel-and-Stick samples are larger than a color swatch to give you the big picture. Just peel and stick, stand back, and admire. It’s as good as it gets without putting paint on your wall.

Don’t bet your entire color scheme on a tiny paint chip. Bringing home a paint sample lets you test drive a potential palette and get a sense of how it will look and feel in your space.