Early on in my career, I made a couple of serious paint selection mistakes. Yes, HED has made mistakes, but it was long ago. We’re perfect now of course. The first mistake was with an acidic, lime-green color, or what was supposed to be an acidic, lime-green color. On the walls of this waterfront home it was, as the client said, “Banana Yellow”. How embarrassing, and expensive. I paid to repaint it. And, as if that wasn’t enough to teach me a solid lesson, I made the same mistake again. A room that was supposed to come out grey/blue, came out baby blue.

Why did this happen? Well, here’s where the learning part comes in:

Do NOT select your paint by looking at a tiny chip, or even a big chip, in the store, or as in my case, in my office. Choose it carefully in the room in which it is going. Consider the fact that the color will intensify as it bounces off the walls and even the color outside the room will affect the selected color. If there is blue painters tape on the windows, I’d suggest removing it. It will alter the color tremendously. Once you’ve made your selection, paint a sample on the wall in at least a couple places where light conditions differ in the room.

NOW, you can make the right decision.