5 Reasons Your Paint Colors Never Look Quite Right

You thought you chose the perfect paint color. However, once the room’s painted, you step back and realize it doesn’t look quite right…or how you thought it would look. Insert disappointed face HERE.

Choosing paint colors isn’t for the faint of heart – it’s an art. But it’s not rocket science either. Once you learn a few tips and get some gentle guidance from your favorite lil’ Ginger Color Expert, your color confidence should improve considerably.

There are many reasons why your paint color looks wrong or turned out badly, and I’m going to hit the main ones today. But not only that, I’ll suggest related blog posts to help you avoid these mistakes in the first place!

So, without further ado, let’s find out what’s wrong with your hue…

1. YOU CHOSE THE WRONG UNDERTONE

When choosing paint colors, it’s important to coordinate their undertones with your existing finishes; otherwise, you risk CLASHING undertones.

What are undertones?

Sherwin Williams Sea Salt is a green-gray. But sometimes it looks blue. How do you make sure you get what you want? YOU SAMPLE CAREFULLY and compare it to other shades! 

Every paint color has an inherent bias – it’s God (or science) given blend of colors. However, that doesn’t always end up on our walls. In real homes with real lighting, a world of undertones can open up. This is why doing your research, sampling, comparing, and learning with the Kylie M. Color System is so darn important.

How a paint color appears, and the undertones it shows, are influenced by your room’s natural and interior lighting, surrounding finishes, the size of your room, and more. 

For example, here’s Revere Pewter on the board-and-batten in this home’s hallway…

Looks a bit muddy and moody (in a good way), right?

Now here it is on a living room wall getting hit with a whackload (technical term) of natural light…

Notice how it looks lighter and a green hue suddenly appeared (it’s natural bias/tendency).

Paint colors will change how they look from home to home, room to room, wall to wall, inch to inch. Carefully sampling a paint color helps you determine how it might look in your room. 

When coordinating paint colors with our interior finishes, we’re usually doing one of 2 things…

1. We’re trying to MATCH the undertones in our bossy finishes, either an exact match or a lighter/darker version
2. We’re trying to CONTRAST the undertones or colors in our bossy finish (e.g., using an opposite color).

When our paint color looks wrong, often, it’s because our paint color showed up at the party with the wrong undertone – it doesn’t properly match or contrast  – it probably clashes.

In this next photo, notice the gray wash on the shiplap wall. That’s not just wood; it’s wood with a gray wash, and that gray has given us a purple-blue hue, with the boards’ main parts looking more pink.

So, given this bathroom’s bossiest finish, what paint color would look good on the walls?

Gray with a purple blue hue, of course, which is why Benjamin Moore Trout Gray looks so stinkin’ GORGEOUS…the undertones align.

The key is to coordinate the undertones of your paint color with the undertones of your existing finishes – whether you love these undertones or not. 

And what’s the BEST way to find the undertones of a surface or paint color? COMPARE COMPARE COMPARE.

• If you’re thinking of painting your walls gray/beige/cream, bring home several versions with varying undertones.
• See which ones visually connect with your countertop/carpet/etc… and also notice which ones FIGHT with your surface.
• This might not help you understand which undertones you actually HAVE, but it will help you see which paint colors potentially connect or clash.

And guess what, Buttercup? I have an awesome blog post to help you learn about undertones, so you can feel more confident with your color choices…

A Homeowner’s Ultimate Guide to Undertones

2. THE EXPOSURE OF YOUR ROOM DOESN’T SUIT THE COLOR YOU CHOSE

While your room’s exposure rarely calls the big color shots, it can be an important consideration.

It could be the reason that the perfect shade of warm white in your friend’s home looks like a holy hot mess in yours.

Guess which end of this room is north-facing and which is south-facing? 

Or maybe it’s why your bedroom looks like a cold, uninviting box, rather than a calming, relaxing respite from a hard day’s work.

And while I could dive deep on this one, a) I have a fear of deep water (true); and b) I have several awesome blog posts dedicated to this exact topic, and at some point, I even exhaust myself.

The Best Paint Colors for Different Exposures: NORTH-facing / SOUTH-facing / EAST-facing / WEST-facing / MIXED exposures

3. YOU DIDN’T BRING YOUR PAINT SAMPLES HOME

This one kills me. I would encourage everyone to never go to the paint store with the goal of bringing home a gallon. Do your research first, narrow things down a bit (you can follow me on Pinterest or Instagram for some GORGEOUS color ideas), and go in, locked and loaded, with the names of the samples you want to bring home.

Why?

Because the lighting in paint stores is the worst! And even if it’s not the worst, it’s not YOUR lighting and YOUR exposure.

Here’s a look at Benjamin Moore Hale Navy. Maybe you saw this image on Pinterest and thought, ‘YES, that’s the color I want!’ so you get a gallon and slap it on…

Only to find out it looks like this in your room…

Or maybe like this…

You might be a tittle bit butthurt when the Hale Navy you thought you were getting is bluer than you thought. Little did you know that the online image might’ve been…

• Mislabelled as the wrong color (very often)
• Taken by a professional photographer
• Edited beyond recognition
• Painted in a room with a completely different exposure, lighting, and surrounding finishes from yours.

But guess what? Sampling paint colors isn’t hard – it’s actually pretty easy and fun once you know how to do it…

How to Properly Sample Paint Colors: Expert Tips

4. YOU DIDN’T GET BIG ENOUGH SAMPLES

While I understand the need for small paint chips, they shouldn’t be used for choosing paint colors. Even if you get 8 little 2″ squares of color and tape them all together, it’s a hard no.

There is NO way to get a proper look at a paint color from that wee, sad little chip; it’s like biting the corner of a tortilla chip to see how your fully loaded nachos might taste.

REVIEWS: BM October Mist | SW Silvermist | SW Divine White

Colors need to be seen on a larger scale so you can see how the light might play off them. They also need white paper surrounding them so your old color doesn’t influence your perception of your NEW color (simultaneous contrast).

This is why I ALWAYS recommend SAMPLIZE.

• They use 2 coats of real paint.
• You can get big ass samples.
• No mess, no muss, no fuss – just slap it on.
• Delivered to your door the NEXT DAY, and less expensive than a sample pot, roller, etc.

The big downside of Samplize Peel & Stick samples is that they’re addictive – I have hundreds (it’s a hazard of the kind of work I do).

Here’s a link to the SAMPLIZE site if you’re curious!

5. WHY DOES YOUR PAINT COLOR LOOK LIGHTER OR DARKER? YOU FORGOT ABOUT LRV

You know that feeling when you finish painting your walls and wonder why they look lighter or darker than you THOUGHT they would? It all comes down to LRV.

Benjamin Moore Super White in south-facing natural light

LRV is Light Reflectance Value. Every paint color on God’s green earth has an LRV (light reflectance value), which basically tells you how light or dark a color is on a scale of 0 (black) to 100 (white). It’s actually more scientific/complicated than that, but you’re not here for science – you’re here for my charm, wit, and ridiculous obsession with paint colors – you just need a little KLC.

For example, Classic Gray is on the walls of this next room and has an LRV of 73.67, making it an off-white paint color…

The shiplap and trim are painted Chantilly Lace, which has an LRV of 90.04. Having the higher number, it’s lighter. At this number, it’s in the white range.

Knowing a paint color’s LRV won’t solve all of your problems, but it will give you an idea of the depth you might expect on your walls, as well as the CONTRAST you might like between your walls and trims. Sure, your natural and interior lighting will add their own magic, but KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

Learn ALL about LRV: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Paint Colors With LRV

And lastly, you can just hop into my SEARCH FUNCTION, type in a keyword, and have 600+ articles at your fingertips – do your research before you start slappin’ paint on the walls!

PARTNER POSTS…

How to Get the Perfect Color: LIGHTEN & DARKEN

How to Choose Paint Colors Without Second-Guessing Yourself

How to Choose the Right Kelvins For Your Paint Color

Get the best paint color advice with Kylie M’s Online Paint Color Consulting

Updated with new content and images in 2026