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PaintDesign Dilemma
marissa_theodorou

Help with white paint throwing blue!

5 years ago

Hi, I am currently painting my 1970's unit white to give it a fresh look. We were tossing up between Dulux Natural White and Lexicon Quarter, however NW looked too cream and LQ looked too blue when the samples were painted. We sought advice from a painter who recommended Snowy Mountains Half, and it looked perfect on all the sample areas we tried (didn't seem to throw any obvious blues or yellows).


We just painted the main bedroom in SMH and it is definitely looking more blue than white! We are doing the ceilings Vivid White, window trims Vivid White and all skirtings, doors and architraves the same colour as the walls but in a semi-gloss finish.


Would the Snowy Mountains Quarter strength eliminate the blue colour we are seeing? Is there any other recommendations for whites for rooms which don't get a lot of natural light?


Appreciate any help or advice on this

Featured Answer
  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Any poorly lit room is going to throw blue or purple. It's not the paint colour it's the light spectrum and the quality of the light that's making it into the room. Go outside and look at any area of the yard that's shaded. Our brains tell us that shadow is black, but if you really look at the colour, not what you know about the colour, most shadows are a shade of blue, because that's the light spectrum occuring there. Artists know this, if you look at how they paint shadows they are almost always using a shade of blue or purple to do so.

    So what can you do about it? It's not usually a good idea to paint a dark room that doesn't get much natural light white or near white. That only serves to highlight how dismal the natural light in the room is since what you are getting is a dose of the light spectrum in that area. I had a very dark room with such low levels of natural light (owing to overgrown trees directly outside) that you needed the light on during the day to see anything.

    I painted that room a very deep shade of blue. Far from looking cold and dark, it became a very cosy and delightful room. Work with the light you have, rather than trying to fake it. Dark rooms actually look best painted an intense shade. The lack of natural light ensures that the colour doesn't overpower and instead ends up looking inviting. You can paint poorly lit rooms shades that you could never get away with in brightly lit rooms.

    But since you've already painted it, what you can do is put some very intense furnishings in there. Use colour blocking to draw attention away from the wall colour. You have predominantly blue light in that room. Also a warm daylight lamp will help.

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