{"id":1730,"date":"2007-10-30T14:48:47","date_gmt":"2007-10-30T21:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janice-campbell.com\/?p=52"},"modified":"2016-07-07T21:56:56","modified_gmt":"2016-07-07T21:56:56","slug":"a-science-mystery-solved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/a-science-mystery-solved\/","title":{"rendered":"A Science Mystery Solved: Color and Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Light<\/a><\/p>\n

We had an unexpected lesson in the science of color and light this past week. Donald graciously used most of his vacation week to paint our kitchen and dining room, and it was one of those snowball projects. We were going from a deep, warm red to a nice mellow Behr color called “Bagel”\u2014 a warm golden yellow, much like the shade\u00a0you see in the Vermeer painting to the left (“The Music Lesson” by Johannes [Jan] Vermeer).<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Five gallons of paint of paint and six days<\/strong> after we started taping, the project seems to be all done except for untaping and putting everything back in. However, we had a most interesting science lesson along the way. I enjoy choosing paint colors, and can usually visualize exactly what the color will look like on the wall. This time, by day two of painting, I was getting worried. The nice mellow color on the chip was glowing a rather violent orange hue on the wall. It looked dreadful \u2014 but not all the time. There were a couple of times when I looked at it and it was perfect!<\/p>\n

We thought perhaps the red beneath was showing through, so we bought another gallon and added a second coat. It still didn’t look like the chip. D<\/span>onald decided to paint the ceiling (two more gallons of paint). The walls still glowed. He painted the shelf around the top of the room in a shade darker than the walls (another gallon of paint). The whole room looked worse.<\/p>\n

We were getting a bit frustrated. Why did the color look almost right at certain times, then absolutely dreadful the rest of the time? It was a mystery!<\/p>\n

Color and light interact in surprising ways<\/h1>\n

On day four of the project, we finally reached an “aha!” moment. Donald called us in (he probably saw me shuffling through my pile of paint chips again!), and pointed out that the oak cabinets on one side of the room looked like ordinary golden oak, while on the other side of the room, they were glowing reddish\u00a0\u2014\u00a0almost a heart pine color. The paint on one side looked lovely- just like the paint chip, while on the other side, it simmered dangerously.<\/p>\n

One look at the light bulbs, and we had saved the\u00a0mystery. I chose\u00a0the chip in natural daylight lighting, but we had been painting while it was raining, so we had the recessed lights on, plus a floor lamp that we moved from place to place. The lights on the mellow golden side of the room were soft white compact fluorescents, and the lights on the reddish side of the room were Reveal incandescents. The difference was striking!<\/p>\n

As dedicated lifelong learners, we had to learn a bit more about the color spectrum and light. Color and light and the ways they interact are\u00a0absolutely fascinating, and knowing this\u00a0will certainly be useful for future projects. We ended up\u00a0by\u00a0re-painting the dining room shelf in Behr’s Yellow Cream, a nice French vanilla shade. I also rag-rolled the back hall in a blend of the three shades of gold\/yellow\/cream.<\/p>\n

Lesson of the day? If you don’t like your paint color, check your light bulbs<\/strong>. Color and light are a tightly woven package, and the right light bulb can make a room look lovely. Here are few good resources for learning more about the physics of color and light:<\/p>\n