Swatching your wall is a time-honored way to see how a shade will look in your room. The catch? Since most people spot-test a teeny, tiny part of their wall, you may not be understanding a color’s full impact. Instead, designer Eva Bradley asks her painters to create “a large-scale brush out on a movable sheet.”
“The larger size makes it much easier to see the full effect of the color, and being able to move the sample from wall to wall allows us to observe how light interacts with the paint in different areas of the room,” she explains. “This is especially helpful in spaces where lighting varies dramatically, because it ensures the color feels consistent and balanced throughout.”
Copy this idea at home by grabbing a piece of poster paper, throwing on a fresh coat and attaching it to your wall with some painter’s tape. And, of course, feel free to move this sheet around as needed. Keep in mind that the paint color might look slightly different once you add it to your walls, but this will give you a general idea of how a color interacts with natural light.
Photo by: R. Brad Knipstein Photography
