(503) 330-4928

How Light Affects Color

by | Mar 26, 2014 | Interior Design

By Beth Girgen Hall

So many factors go into how we see color and nothing is more influential than light.  It can also be the cause of much frustration as you think you’ve selected the perfect paint color only to find out that it looks completely different once it’s up on the wall.

Welcome to the world of metamerism!

Metamerism refers to how light affects color; and love it or hate it, it is a conversation we need to have before a final decision is made on your paint color.

Natural sunlight is the purest form of light, but the direction it’s entering from, the time of year, and the time of day all make a difference on the perception of color.  South facing rooms usually get the most light. North has the most limited with a cooler tone to it, and the West facing rooms will have the warmest light.

For example, a warm orange-red paint in a room with a north-facing window will make the room appear brighter and warmer and help offset the bluish cast to the light. However, that same red-orange paint in a room with a west-facing window will become intensely vivid in the late afternoon.

Some colors react differently than others;  grays, taupes, mushrooms, beiges, gray-blues, blue-greens, and lavenders are always changing.  That’s one of the reasons I like these colors so much, they are the chameleons of color.  Making these colors more interesting and they tend to have a longer life as we tire of them less quickly. My advice is to embrace these qualities and enjoy the full spectrum they offer. Now if this sounds like torture to you and you only like your paint color from 12-2 in September/October, on days with filtered sun, you’re going to want a more “stable” color.

Natural light is just one form of lighting, keep in mind artificial sources whether incandescent or fluorescent also affect color as do paint sheens.

In closing, as a color consultant in the Northwest, having these conversations early in the process with clients will help ensure everyone will be happy when the project is complete.  At Absolute Painting we can help take the out the guesswork and simplify these decisions.  One last note, please keep these tips in mind as you consider paint colors for the exterior as well. Colors and color changes are even more apparent on the large expanses of siding on your home.

Request Your Free Painting Estimate

Share your contact information below and we’ll follow up to learn more about your project needs!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.