Paint and colour that works
Paint is the cheapest way to change a room and the easiest to get wrong. Choosing a palette rather than picking colours one at a time, and understanding undertones and sheen, is what separates a considered finish from a patchy one.
- Build a whole palette before you paint, do not choose colours one room at a time
- Whites and neutrals have undertones, warm or cool, and they show in your light
- Match the sheen to the surface: flatter on ceilings, tougher in wet and high-traffic areas
- Test large sample patches and view them morning, noon, and night before you commit
Choose a palette, not colours
Work to a coherent scheme
Colours chosen one room at a time rarely relate to each other. Set a whole-home palette first: a dominant wall colour, a trim colour, and one or two accents that carry through. A common starting point is a 60-30-10 split, which keeps a home feeling connected as you move through it.
This page covers the inside of the home; for the facade, roof, and trim, see the three-part scheme in the exterior guide.
Whites and neutrals have undertones
There is no such thing as a plain white. Every white and neutral leans warm or cool, and that undertone shows up strongly against your flooring, your fixed finishes, and the direction of your natural light. A north-facing room takes warm light through the day, a south-facing room is cooler, so the same white can read very differently in two rooms of the same house.
Light and orientation
In the southern hemisphere the sun always arcs across the northern sky, so north-facing rooms get the most consistent light and passive warmth year-round, while south-facing rooms live in softer, indirect light. A warm white that glows in a north room can turn grey and flat in a south one, so test in both aspects before specifying one white for the whole house.
- Direct sunlightThe beam straight from the sun: bright, sharp, and often hot
- Diffuse daylightLight scattered through the sky or bounced off surroundings: softer, more even, and easier to live with
- Reflected lightWhat walls, ceilings, floors, and outside surfaces bounce back into the room
| Aspect | Light quality | What works | Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| North | Sun all day: the lightest rooms, few shadows | Crisp whites, soft greens, and gentle blues or greys to balance the brightness | Very warm whites that accentuate heat, or icy whites that glare |
| East | Bright, warm mornings that cool and flatten by afternoon | Warm colours to balance the cooler side of the morning light | Very dark colours; the afternoon shadows make them feel heavy |
| South | No direct sun, only soft, diffused light with blue in it | Warm and neutral colours to lift and brighten the space | Cool colours; they turn dull and flat and darken the room |
| West | Low, golden afternoon light that can glare late in the day | Cooler tones, leaning blue, to balance the heat in the light | Anything yellow-based; the low sun turns it brassy |
Reflection changes everything
Large blocks of colour cast onto everything near them, so a colour never performs alone. Test samples where they will actually live, next to the floor and the curtains, not on a lone patch in the middle of the room.
- GreeneryTrees and hedges outside a window reflect green into the room
- NeighboursA close brick or dark-painted wall throws its colour in and cuts the light
- FloorsDark floors absorb light and the room reads darker; light floors bounce it around the home
- SurfacesWall colour, curtains, artwork, and large furniture all cast onto each other
Colour under artificial light
Paint is chosen in daylight and lived with under bulbs. A warm lamp with poor colour rendering can flatten the colour you tested so carefully, so keep fittings between 2700 and 3000 K and specify a CRI of 90 or better where colour matters; the lighting plans guide covers this in depth.
Sheen and testing
Match the sheen to the surface
- Flat or matteHides wall imperfections. Best for ceilings and low-traffic walls.
- Low sheenThe common all-round choice for living-area walls, wipeable without being shiny.
- Semi-gloss and glossTough and washable for trims, doors, and joinery.
- Wet-area and kitchenChoose a finish rated to handle moisture and regular cleaning.
Test before you commit
A colour on a small chip is not the colour on your wall. Paint large sample patches, ideally on more than one wall, and live with them for a few days. View them in the morning, at midday, and under your artificial lighting at night, and always against your fixed finishes like the floor and benchtop rather than in isolation.
Prep and undercoat
A flawless colour on a bad surface still looks bad. Good painters spend more time preparing than painting: washing walls with sugar soap, filling and sanding, spot-priming patches, and cutting in cleanly. If one quote is far cheaper than the rest, preparation is usually what has been left out.
New plaster, bare timber, and glossy old enamel each need the right undercoat before colour goes on, and a dark-to-light change needs a tinted undercoat to avoid paying for a fourth coat. Two topcoats is the standard; one-coat paints rarely survive contact with a real wall.
Where each paint type goes
- WallsWashable low-sheen acrylic, the everyday workhorse
- CeilingsFlat ceiling paint; it hides imperfections and cuts glare
- Trim and doorsWater-based enamel for a hard, wipeable edge that stays white
- Wet areasMould-resistant bathroom and laundry formulations
- ExteriorExterior-grade acrylic that flexes with the weather
How much paint
Sanity-check tins and quotes with the arithmetic: measure the wall perimeter, multiply by the ceiling height, subtract the openings, and double it for two coats.
Brief your painter
Put the scope in writing so quotes compare like for like:
- Colours locked per room and per surface, with the sheen named for each
- Preparation itemised: washing, patching, sanding, and every undercoat included
- The number of coats in writing, with the brand and product line named
- Wet areas and trim quoted in the right products, and labelled touch-up paint left at handover
Common mistakes
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