‘Colour shock’ is a term I coined that describes a customers first experience with their freshly painted, newly coloured walls.
These colours will range from bright yellows to deep purples also off-whites coupled with our old standard beige. The perception and or idea of a colour is what ‘colour shock’ addresses.
Elements of observing colour are: Hue is the “essence” of a colour yellow/red or blue. After your essential colour hue then it will vary within intensity, tone and shade. When you have made your choice on paint colour then your next concern will be your paint’s sheen. Sheen is the amount of gloss the paint has and typically your sheen choices are flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss and gloss. Occassionally some paint manufacturers will have different names or additional sheen levels but this is the standard list of paint sheen.
Generally a customer reacts to their freshly painted colour in one of three ways; love it, live with it or hate it .. It’s very rare that a colour is hated. It will always fall between love it or live with it, and after that it will more than likely gravitate toward love it after time. Let me explain…
When picking a colour there’s a myriad of avenues to venture down. The short of it is two choices. Colour and sheen. Basic colour theory will help with your choice of what colour. Sheen will depend on what surface you are painting. Picking a colour to paint can take some work. Paint manufacturers present a large choice of paint colours to their customers. So you have selected your colours and have your swatches.
Besides absolutely loving the colour, which of course will be your experience, your initial reaction might vary. Your initial reaction are also subjected to different circumstances. Such as the paint hasn’t dried, it’s only the first coat, it may be dark outside or there is no available natural light. All these situations will play a role in the perception of the paint colour.
When you go into a car show-room to look at cars, are they dinky toy-cars or are they real? Wait before you dismiss me as being around paint a little to long, give me a chance! Unfortunately when picking a paint colour you buy your car by selecting the dinky toy-car. I’m talking about the paint colour samples that are supplied. They are usually pretty small and don’t always accurately represent the final paint colour. Some people will paint small areas with the chosen paint and this is a good idea, although this helps it’s no substitute for painting your place and living with your final paint colour. That way it will be all the more rewarding when you sit down and marvel, beyond all these obstacles you’ve found ‘your paint colour’.