Choose the Right Interior Colours. How Light affects Color
It can get quite aggravating to get your interior painting done in a very specific colour only to realise that the colour doesn’t look as good in the night. This would certainly make your house look extremely different after sunset than it would during the day. This is because you chose the wrong paint hue to go with the lighting in your home. You need to understand that the colour of an object does not look the same 24 hours a day. This is because of two primary reasons:
- Coloured objects absorb light in a very specific manner. For example, objects that are black would absorb all colours while white would absorb no light at all and reflect it all back.
- How the light source works also plays a role. Natural light and artificial light can bring extremely stark differences when it comes to how your paint looks and also how the interior of your house looks in general. Natural light changes throughout the day especially based on the amount of light that your room allows. Artificial light on the other hand, can be managed based on the kind of bulbs you are using.
Let us first take a look at
How sunlight affects these colours
The way sunlight affects your room is based on the number of windows in your room, and which direction your rooms face.
- For north facing rooms, the light will constantly be cool and bluish, which is why it is recommended to use bolder shades instead of muted on Strong colours will stand out in this kind of lighting.
- When it comes to south facing rooms, dark shades will end up looking brighter, while lighter colours will glow. These kinds of rooms bring out the best in cool and warm colours which means subdued colours are the best option for South facing rooms.
- East facing rooms are the ones that see a large amount of light during the daytime and slowly lessening light during the afternoons. These rooms are ideal for vibrant colours like yellow, orange and red.
- West facing rooms are subject to a very mild amount of light and the bulk of the sunlight that comes into these rooms is that of a setting sun. So the lights in these rooms would generally be warm and pleasant. While the morning light would be scant for rooms like these, subdued colours are the best option.
Now let us look at how artificial lighting can affect colours.
- LED lights, which are highly common are almost obsolete because today smart LED bulbs have colour controls, so you can easily adjust the colouring of your light based on the colouring of your walls.
- CFL lights produce a warm neutral white light which makes them ideal for standing in contrast with more brightly coloured walls.
- Halogens are extremely bright lights that immediately make every single colour pop out. So brightly coloured walls wouldn’t fit well with halogens, while subdued colours look truly transcendent
- Fluorescent lights are more focused on enriching blues and greens, which means both mild and slightly vibrant paints can go well with fluorescence.
Don’t let your interior painting cost go to waste. Choose a reliable and reputable interior painter like Quest Paintings that provides colour consultations to help you choose a paint that will perfectly suit your home.
