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Match that colour with Pantones

Finding the right shade for your home is really important – you’re going to be looking at it a lot! If you see a perfect colour and need to match it, there’s a simple tool to help – the Pantone system.

What are Pantones?

If you find it tricky to identify a precise colour shade, you’re not alone. Back in the 1950s a printer was trying to make sure he could specify different shades of ink. He designed a system to categorise all the pigments used by his company – the Pantone system was born!

The Pantone Colour Matching System is a guide to every conceivable colour. As all manufacturers call their colours something different, it is very hard to cross-reference different products to ensure the colours match. Using the Pantone system means simply matching a colour to the relevant Pantone card, and using that as a reference point.

How do I use them?

A Pantone set can cost quite a bit of money, but that’s not the only way to use them. If you spot the perfect colour – for example, an earthy brown rug, the most delicate baby blue curtains, or a sunny orange lampshade – and you want to match it, the manufacturer may well be able to tell you the Pantone shade. You can pass this on when you’re shopping around for the perfect match.

The important thing to remember about colours is that they look different in different lights. If you’ve ever brought home one of those tester paint pots and found a shade that looked gentle in the shop seems terribly dark in your home, you’ll know what I mean. Pantones can be really useful to make sure a colour that will look good in your house, not just the shop.

What about contrasting colours?

A colour wheel is a great way to find colours that contrast or work well together. Are you going for warm, cool or neutral colours? What shade will contrast well with what you have already chosen? In those anxious moments when you’re making a big decision about what to buy, it can be really easy to get it wrong – unless you have a colour chart or wheel to remind you exactly what you need.

Confused about what colour you need, and what will work well with your overall scheme? Just give us a call and we can do the hard work for you. Take a look at this article on House Beautiful magazine to give you some initial ideas, then give us a ring on 01706 813777.

Match that colour with Pantones