How to test paint colour without fooling yourself

Paint samples are useful only when they are large enough and placed where the light changes. A tiny square beside a window cannot tell you how a colour will feel behind a sofa.

Paint two large pieces of card and move them around the room through the day. Look at them in morning, afternoon and lamplight.

Keep the sample next to flooring, curtains and the largest piece of furniture. Colour is a relationship, not a swatch in isolation.