Selecting a Paint Color for your Home

How to Stop Researching Paint Undertones and Use Data and Science to Select a Color with the Munsell Color System

Old me trying to pick the perfect Greige for our home exterior (and torturing my husband in the process)

If you're like me, you've spent hours researching different blog sites for the perfect white, greige, gray, or beige... or whatever neutral is popular at the moment. You've spent too much money buying cans of paint from your local paint store to test on your walls. You've waited anxiously for your packet of Samplize samples to arrive so you can discern which minor variation will work for your home. You've harassed your spouse, asking which color they think will be the best as they roll their eyes in frustration. I get it. I've been there.

After one particularly expensive paint mistake (more on that in another post), I decided there had to be a better way to find the right paint color. As a former scientist and tech leader, I knew there had to be a data-driven, scientifically proven way to select colors. And let me tell you, there is. So, close out all of the blogs that wax poetic about a popular paint color's undertones. In reality, paint undertones are one person's subjective take on a color based on the light conditions influencing the viewer's impression of the color at that moment. As I think about authenticity (my design firm's mission), I want you to know that there is real, data-driven, verifiable truth about color, and you don't have to be subjected to every blogger's whim.

MUNSELL COLOR SYSTEM

3D Visual of Munsel Color System showing hue, value and chroma Source: Wikipedia

There are several different scientific approaches to measuring the color of a particular paint. But let's get started on our quest for a scientific approach to selecting color with the Munsell Color System. Albert Munsell was an artist and art teacher in the early 1900s. He is most famous for inventing the Munsell Color system. The Munsell Color System has served as the foundation for subsequent color systems, which we will delve into in future blog posts. Munsell divided color into three parameters: hue, value, and chroma, and represents those parameters visually in 3D, as shown in the image to the right.

HUE

Visual representation of Hue's five principle and five intermediate colors

Munsell divided color into five principle hues (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple) and five intermediate hues (Yellow-Red, Green-Yellow, Blue-Green, Purple-Blue, Red-Purple) that are halfway between each principal hues. These hues were measured based on the dominant wavelength of a color under an illuminant replicating indirect daylight at noon.

Each principal and intermediate hue was designated with the number 5. Thus, you have 5R, 5YR, 5Y, 5GY, 5G, 5BG, 5B, 5PB, 5P, and 5RP, each representing the pure, unaltered form of those colors.

These 10 hue ranges are further subdivided into 10 steps. For instance, the range from Green to Blue appears as follows:

5 G (pure Green)

6 G

7 G

8 G

9 G

10 G (a blend of 2 parts Green to 1 part Blue)

1 BG

2 BG

3 BG

4 BG

5BG (an equal mix of Green and Blue)

6 BG

7 BG

8 BG

10BG (a blend of 2 parts Blue to 1 part Red)

1 B

2 B

3 B

4 B

5 B (pure Blue)

Here's how that would look using a selection of Sherwin Williams paint, while keeping value and chroma relatively consistent:

Sherwin Williams Green to Blue Green Paint Colors. Data provided by The Land of Color Paint Color DNA Table

VALUE

Value is the attribute that represents a color's relative lightness or darkness. In the Munsell Color System, it is assigned a range on a scale from 0 (pure black) to 10 (pure white). When dealing with paint, you can envision value as how light or dark a color appears. For example, a light pink has a higher value than a deep maroon. Here's how value is illustrated using a selection of Sherwin Williams paint while keeping hue and chroma relatively consistent:

Greens from Light to Dark Values. Data provided by The Land of Color Paint Color DNA Table

CHROMA

Chroma, also known as saturation or intensity, refers to the purity or vividness of a color. It represents the strength or weakness of a color and describes how close a color is to a pure, fully saturated hue. When mixing paint, you can adjust the chroma of a paint color by adding gray to the paint mix. In the Munsell Color System, chroma is rated on a scale from 0 to 15, with 15 being the most intense and vivid, and 0 being the most muted or desaturated. For example, a bright, vivid red has high chroma, while a dull, faded red has low chroma. Here's how chroma is demonstrated using a selection of Sherwin Williams paint, while keeping hue and value relatively consistent:

Greens from Hight to Low Chroma. Data provided by The Land of Color Paint Color DNA Table

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER...

I hope this introduction to the Munsell Color System hasn't been too overwhelming. In case you are feeling inundated, remember that each color, including every paint color, has its unique combination of Hue, Value, and Chroma. Whether you're exploring Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Behr, Kelly Moore, or any other brand, each of their paint colors has its specific color parameters. These parameters are invaluable for understanding how the paint color will appear in your home.

I plan to provide more in-depth information about various color systems and offer data on individual paint colors. If there's something specific you'd like to know more about, please don't hesitate to share it in the comments below.

In the meantime, you're always welcome to collaborate with me to employ a data-driven approach to choosing the perfect colors for your home project. Book a Complementary Introductory Call to tell me more about your project and see how we can work together!