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Choosing the Wrong Color

One of the biggest painting mistakes you can make happens before you even pick up a brush — choosing your paint color based on a color chip. We’ve all done it. You pick out a nice color from the strip at the store and order your paint. But when you put the paint on the walls at home, it doesn’t look like the color you picked out.

To avoid this mistake and get a true idea of what the paint will look like, always ask the paint store to mix a small sample of paint that you can take home and try out on the wall. Then observe it in natural and artificial light, as well as during the day and at night. If you don’t like it, you’re only out a few bucks and another run to the paint store. The Amazon Paint Finder is another alternative you can try to find complementary shades in seconds.

Not sure where to start? Here are the best paint colors, according to science.