Hello,

I've been trying to finish up a paint job in our bedroom using a
darker-green American Tradition paint we got at Lowe's. I've put on a
total of three coats now, and it seems like whenever sunlight comes in
through our windows (even if on the otherside of the house; not direct
sunlight) certain areas of the walls become lighter. This is VERY
noticable. Is this a common thing? How can I fix it? I can't just
paint over it because the middle area of the repaint will then be okay,
but the surrounding area of that repaint will then become lighter
during the day. Looks fine at night with all the lights on. What's
the deal?

Thanks!

Garrett

wrote:
Hello,

I've been trying to finish up a paint job in our bedroom using a
darker-green American Tradition paint we got at Lowe's. I've put on a
total of three coats now, and it seems like whenever sunlight comes in
through our windows (even if on the otherside of the house; not direct
sunlight) certain areas of the walls become lighter. This is VERY
noticable. Is this a common thing? How can I fix it? I can't just
paint over it because the middle area of the repaint will then be okay,
but the surrounding area of that repaint will then become lighter
during the day. Looks fine at night with all the lights on. What's
the deal?

Thanks!

Garrett

What kind of lighting do you use in the room? If you
are using compact flourescents (CFLs) that may be the
problem. They can cause a color change because they
don't have a continuous spectrum, and your paint may
have a tint that they don't pick up.

I remember when I painted my bath room yellow, but
when I tried CFLs in there it turned green. I went
back to incandescents.

Bill Gill

BillGill wrote:
wrote:
Hello,

I've been trying to finish up a paint job in our bedroom using a
darker-green American Tradition paint we got at Lowe's. I've put on a
total of three coats now, and it seems like whenever sunlight comes in
through our windows (even if on the otherside of the house; not direct
sunlight) certain areas of the walls become lighter. This is VERY
noticable. Is this a common thing? How can I fix it? I can't just
paint over it because the middle area of the repaint will then be okay,
but the surrounding area of that repaint will then become lighter
during the day. Looks fine at night with all the lights on. What's
the deal?



Would you be using gloss paint? Gloss paint will reflect more white
light. Where if non-gloss the white light would be absorbed more.

You have to study the color spectrum and how our eyes see colors to
understand why green is green, etc. Sunlight is all colors, blue,
green, red, etc. For the color green, every color is absorbed except
the green which is reflected back at your eye.....then you see green.
If lighter during the day, this means more white is being reflected
together with the green.

Like the person above stated that bulbs, lamps, do not put out a true
color spectrum as sunlight......so the colors look different to our eye
at nighttime. Hope you kinda understand this........but wishing you the
best in solving your particular problem.

Dean

wrote:
Hello,

I've been trying to finish up a paint job in our bedroom using a
darker-green American Tradition paint we got at Lowe's. I've put on a
total of three coats now, and it seems like whenever sunlight comes in
through our windows (even if on the otherside of the house; not direct
sunlight) certain areas of the walls become lighter. This is VERY
noticable. Is this a common thing? How can I fix it? I can't just
paint over it because the middle area of the repaint will then be okay,
but the surrounding area of that repaint will then become lighter
during the day. Looks fine at night with all the lights on. What's
the deal?

It's just how paint behaves, as far as I can tell. I've seen it with
different brands and colors, though some colors don't seem to be
affected as much. For me, it has nothing to do with using CFLs... the
color change comes when it goes from diffuse ambient light to sunlight
streaming through the room. My hallway goes from soft butter yellow to
lemon yellow (blech) and my office goes from pale slate green to a
strange candy-colored greenish-blue. After the first few weeks of it
bothering me, I pretty much stopped noticing it

So that's my vote... ignore it, and eventually it will stop bothering
you. Or keep experimenting and find a color that at least changes to
another color you like when the light hits it. FWIW, Benjamin Moore
Stone House, Nantucket Fog, and Palladian Blue don't seem to do much,
if any, color changing in any light. I used three colors of American
Traditions paint in my old house, too, and none of those did a
noticeable color change, but I no longer remember the names of the
shades.

Good luck!

--
Jennifer

"Jennifer" wrote in message

It's just how paint behaves, as far as I can tell. I've seen it with
different brands and colors, though some colors don't seem to be
affected as much. For me, it has nothing to do with using CFLs... the
color change comes when it goes from diffuse ambient light to sunlight
streaming through the room. My hallway goes from soft butter yellow to
lemon yellow (blech) and my office goes from pale slate green to a
strange candy-colored greenish-blue.


Light is measure in degrees Kelvin. The temperature of the sunlight changes
as the day goes on. That will affect how you see things in the various
lights. Once the sun is gone, the house lighting is constant so it will
look the same on the walls. You can read more here
http://www.sizes.com/units/color_temperature.htm

Simple test. Jut look at something outside, preferably a solid white. Look
at it at various times of the day and see how it changes to the eye. Better
yet, photograph it with no flash and compare the photos.

avid_hiker wrote:

Would you be using gloss paint? Gloss paint will reflect more white
light. Where if non-gloss the white light would be absorbed more.

You have to study the color spectrum and how our eyes see colors to
understand why green is green, etc. Sunlight is all colors, blue,
green, red, etc. For the color green, every color is absorbed except
the green which is reflected back at your eye.....then you see
green. If lighter during the day, this means more white is being
reflected together with the green.

Close but no cigar...something of a given color, regardless of gloss,
isn't reflecting *any* white because - as you stated - the other
colors necessary for white light are being absorbed by the colored
surface.

If, as you suggest, the surface were glossy the OP *might* be seeing a
specular reflection (a reflection of the light source itself) which
would be whatever color the source was. Such a reflection is the same
regardless of the color of the underlying surface and depends both on
the "reflectability" of the surface and the angle at which light
strikes it relative to the viewer.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

wrote:
Hello,

I've been trying to finish up a paint job in our bedroom using a
darker-green American Tradition paint we got at Lowe's. I've put on a
total of three coats now, and it seems like whenever sunlight comes in
through our windows (even if on the otherside of the house; not direct
sunlight) certain areas of the walls become lighter. This is VERY
noticable. Is this a common thing? How can I fix it? I can't just
paint over it because the middle area of the repaint will then be okay,
but the surrounding area of that repaint will then become lighter
during the day. Looks fine at night with all the lights on. What's
the deal?

Thanks!

Garrett


Simple answer is yes. The change from darker to
lighter and vice versa is very notice in light
colors. My ceilings which when viewed with a
light at floor level are an even white, have all
sorts of shadows and changes from light to dark
with natural lighting. The color (white
naturally) even changes a lot as light is
reflected from the walls which are various shades
of light yellow/cream. (Makes the ceiling and
walls damn hard to paint unless you use artificial
light.)

As the sunlight changes over the course of the
day, all colors (light and dark) will change
somewhat in intensity and many paints will change
color dramatically. We had a cream/yellow house
that near sundown had a very ugly greenish tint.
A different paint solved that problem. Maintain
the color in various lights is a paint problem,
some do better than other. Maintain and intensity
(light to dark) is a light problem and no paint
(brand) will eliminate the changes.

You just don't have a problem.

Jennifer wrote:
wrote:
Hello,

I've been trying to finish up a paint job in our bedroom using a
darker-green American Tradition paint we got at Lowe's. I've put on a
total of three coats now, and it seems like whenever sunlight comes in
through our windows (even if on the otherside of the house; not direct
sunlight) certain areas of the walls become lighter. This is VERY
noticable. Is this a common thing? How can I fix it? I can't just
paint over it because the middle area of the repaint will then be okay,
but the surrounding area of that repaint will then become lighter
during the day. Looks fine at night with all the lights on. What's
the deal?

It's just how paint behaves, as far as I can tell. I've seen it with
different brands and colors, though some colors don't seem to be
affected as much. For me, it has nothing to do with using CFLs... the
color change comes when it goes from diffuse ambient light to sunlight
streaming through the room. My hallway goes from soft butter yellow to
lemon yellow (blech) and my office goes from pale slate green to a
strange candy-colored greenish-blue. After the first few weeks of it
bothering me, I pretty much stopped noticing it

So that's my vote... ignore it, and eventually it will stop bothering
you. Or keep experimenting and find a color that at least changes to
another color you like when the light hits it. FWIW, Benjamin Moore
Stone House, Nantucket Fog, and Palladian Blue don't seem to do much,
if any, color changing in any light. I used three colors of American
Traditions paint in my old house, too, and none of those did a
noticeable color change, but I no longer remember the names of the
shades.

Good luck!

--
Jennifer


Absolutely dead on! Anyone that doesn't pay much
attention to light and color changes (most of us)
and then is forced to look carefully (painting)
immediately becomes aware of things they never saw
before. And, they start looking for problems.
Careful observation in other homes will show that
most changes are natural and should be expected.

I'm thinking of taking back the paint and getting another brand in the
same color. It's just so weird that it all looks homogenous in
artificial light, but when the sun comes out only splotches of the wall
doesn't match anymore (i.e. some colors look a lot how they used to,
and other areas sometimes right in the middle of the wall look a lot
lighter). The color is a darker green, and in some cases, painting
another coat in an area makes the border of that area lighter than it
used to be! The gloss is only flat enamel. I used two coats, do I
need another?

Thanks!

Garrett


The deal is that paint looks different depending upon the angle at
which the light hits it.
It's also possible that, as often happens with very dark colors when
no tinted primer is applied first, you need another coat or two.

wrote:
I'm thinking of taking back the paint and getting another brand in the
same color. It's just so weird that it all looks homogenous in
artificial light, but when the sun comes out only splotches of the wall
doesn't match anymore (i.e. some colors look a lot how they used to,
and other areas sometimes right in the middle of the wall look a lot
lighter). The color is a darker green, and in some cases, painting
another coat in an area makes the border of that area lighter than it
used to be! The gloss is only flat enamel. I used two coats, do I
need another?

Thanks!

Garrett

I congratulate you on having sensitive color vision; not everybody
does. But putting on another coat of paint may not do it - some
pigments are more transparent than others and one will always be able
to somewhat see "into" the layers of that paint. I notice this most in
yellows (which can include some greens). You may have to choose
another color.

CC