A good test tells you why a colour fails, not just whether it does. Tell the plan what you are testing, take your phone to the room, and record what you see. What you enter stays on this page and is not saved.
The sample: Paint two coats on a sheet of lining paper or board, at least A3, so that you can move it. Leave a clear margin of white off the sheet or you will be judging it against the white.
1. In daylight: on the wall opposite the window, and beside it
The window wall is in shadow from your point of view. Does the colour hold in both places?
2. In daylight: in the darkest corner
Does it go muddy or grey?
3. In daylight: touching the fixed materials: floor, worktop, tile or sofa
Does either the sample or the material start to look wrong?
4. In the morning: where the sun lands
How warm does it go? Is that the time you use the room?
5. In late afternoon: where the sun lands
How strong does it get in direct sun?
6. After dark, with the room's own lamps on: near the lamps, then away from them
Is it still the colour you chose? Do the fixed materials still agree?
7. In daylight: beside the colour in the next room, with the door open
Do the two work as a junction?
0 of 7 tests recorded.
Make a sample, then record what you see at each point in the plan.
1. Shortlist
Two or three candidates, near the fixed materials.
2. Make it big
Movable boards, two coats, no white border.
3. Move it
Window wall, dark corner, beside each fixed surface.
4. Watch the day
Morning, midday, dusk, and after dark with the lamps on.
5. Read the failures
Night only points to lamps; one edge points to undertone.
6. Commit
Buy one batch, in the finish you sampled.
Light in a room changes in strength, direction and colour from morning to night, and then the lamps take over. A sample seen once has been seen in one of those conditions.