Coverage, gloss type, and resistance to fading are factors to consider. Buy sample jars, apply the paint, let it dry, and see how it looks in different light.Consider whether you want a 'warm' color (yellow undertones) or a 'cool' one (blue undertones).Look at paint-sample strips with a range that includes your choice that way you'll see whether you're in the right color family.When you shop, bring colors from fabrics you're trying to match.Narrow your choice with online color-selection tools, which are offered by major manufacturers.It's harder to find fabric, carpeting, and furniture you like than it is to find the perfect paint color, and paint can be cheaper and easier to change. Don't choose until you've developed the room's overall scheme.

But whatever the paint's name (or number), you'll need to focus on the color: The experts we spoke to were split on whether the kooky names were easier to remember or whether plain vanilla names were easier to place in the palette. 'But now we're exploring color names that are a representation of your lifestyle.' What's next, Dirty Socks on Floor?Ĭonsumer Reports has noted this trend before in our ongoing tests of interior paints.

'For a long time we had to connect the color name with the general color reference,' Sue Kim, the color trend and forecast specialist for the Valspar paint company, told the New York Times. These days it seems paint makers are trying to sell you a story rather than a can of paint. But when you pick up a can of Quiet Veranda, Opera Glasses, Lounge Singer or Toll Booth, you may not expect to see variations of the same hue-something we used to call tan. When you buy a can of paint called Trenchcoat Khaki you can pretty much expect it'll be close in color to the coat Columbo made famous.

Valspar opera glasses