So, you've fallen in love with a paint colour that you've seen online, ordered the tin and painted your lounge. Perfect. There's just one small problem – that gorgeous shade of paint looks less 'dusty pink' and more ‘blancmange nightmare’ once it's dried on your living room walls.
If this sounds familiar, take comfort in the knowledge that you aren't the first person to fall victim to a poor colour choice. But the culprit is rarely the paint itself. The issue is often light, which is precisely where LRV comes into play.
LRV – aka Light Reflectance Value – is the number that tells you how much light a colour reflects in situ, rather than how it appears on a swatch or screen. It's become a buzzword in interiors circles, but does it deserve the hype, or is it just another thing to overthink when choosing a paint colour?
What is paint LRV?
LRV (Light Reflectance Value) is a measurement of how much light a paint colour reflects. It runs on a scale from 0 (absolute black) to 100 (pure white), and everything you paint your walls with falls somewhere in between. The lower the number, the more light a colour absorbs, and the darker it will feel on the wall.
LRV is worth paying attention to because two colours can look almost identical on paper and still behave very differently once they're on your wall.
To demonstrate, Dexter Langkilde, Head of B2B Partnerships at COAT Paints, points to the paint shades Voicenotes and The Good China. Both are pale teal-blues, yet Voicenotes has an LRV of 77.81, while The Good China sits at 68.68, a difference of around nine points. "That difference is enough to shift the feel of a room," he explains. "The higher-LRV Voicenotes will reflect more light and feel brighter and airier, while The Good China will absorb more light and feel softer and more grounded."
In other words, a colour's name, even its family, won't tell you how it will actually feel in your space. Its LRV can be a much better indication.
That's not to say you need to fixate on the exact figure when choosing a type of paint for your space. "It's a useful thing to understand, but I wouldn't want people to become too frightened of numbers when choosing paint," says Annie Sloan, founder of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. As she puts it, "the name of a colour can only tell you so much". 'Blue' could mean anything from a soft, pale blue to something wonderfully deep and dramatic. What matters, in the end, is how a shade behaves in your room, with your natural light, and the best way to discover that is by using swatches and testing paints in situ.
Dexter Langkilde leads trade partnerships at COAT Paints, a sustainable UK paint brand, working closely with designers and homeowners to demystify colour science, including how LRV affects everyday rooms.
Annie Sloan CBE is the inventor of Chalk Paint and a globally recognised authority on colour, having spent decades helping people understand how light, tone and hue transform a room.
How is LRV measured?
"LRV is measured using specialist equipment called a spectrophotometer, which calculates how much visible light is reflected from a paint surface under consistent lighting conditions," explains Dexter Langkilde.
Crucially, he adds, "the measurement is taken from the pigment colour on a flat, no-gloss surface, so it represents the colour itself rather than the effect of sheen." That means LRV tells you about the underlying colour, not how a satin or eggshell finish might make it read slightly differently once it's on the wall.
It's also not a number every paint brand shouts about. Dexter notes that COAT makes LRV data available to trade professionals and interior designers who need it for specific projects, so if you can't immediately find the LRV for a colour you love, it's often still there, but you may need to get in touch with a brand directly.
How should LRV influence your paint colour choice?
Once you know a colour's LRV, you need to read it against the light in your room. For Annie Sloan, that means working with the light you already have, rather than trying to manufacture more of it by defaulting to a pale colour.
"A north-facing room tends to have cooler, flatter light, so warmer colours can be incredibly beautiful here," she says. In practice, that can mean choosing a warm, soft neutral or an earthy terracotta – something with a mid-to-high LRV, but enough underlying warmth that it doesn't feel cold or clinical against the room's grey daylight.
South-facing rooms tend to flip the script. With stronger, warmer natural light doing more of the work already, there's room to go lower on the LRV scale. "You can often afford to be braver with cooler or deeper colours," Sloan explains. "Oxford Navy, for example, can become incredibly rich and dramatic in strong daylight." A colour with a low LRV that might feel oppressive in a dimly lit room can read as rich and intentional in a well-lit one.
Something like your living room size shouldn't override this logic either. "Don't assume that a small room has to be painted white," Sloan says. "A small room painted in a deep colour can be incredibly atmospheric." A low-LRV colour in a small room won't automatically feel cramped if the light supports it. It can just as easily feel enveloping and considered.
As a rough starting point, then:
- North-facing rooms: Lean towards a mid-to-high LRV with a warm undertone, so the space doesn't feel flat or cold.
- South-facing rooms: You have licence to go lower on the scale. Strong natural light will carry a deeper colour without it feeling heavy.
- Small rooms: Don't default to a high LRV just to make the room feel bigger. A low-LRV colour in good light can feel cocooning rather than cramped.
- Larger or open-plan rooms: A higher LRV keeps the space feeling open across a bigger footprint, especially where light doesn't reach every corner evenly.
Does LRV actually matter when choosing paint?
Yes, but not as a rulebook. LRV can be a useful starting point once you understand what it's telling you, and where it falls short. It works best as part of a bigger picture, alongside your room's light, its size, and, ultimately, how a colour makes you feel once it's painted on the wall and you've spent some time living with it.
For Annie Sloan, the biggest decorating mistake isn't ignoring LRV, but choosing a colour in isolation. "People often choose a colour because they love it on an image on Instagram, in a magazine feature or somebody else's house, and then wonder why it looks completely different at home," she says. "The biggest mistake is choosing a colour without considering the room around it, its aspect, its windows, flooring, furniture and even the colours in adjoining rooms."
Another misconception worth clearing up is that a low LRV means a colour will look "too much" once it's on the wall. LRV measures light reflectance, not intensity or saturation. A colour can have a moderate LRV and still feel bold or brash if it's highly saturated, while a very low-LRV colour, like a deep navy or charcoal, can feel calm and restrained rather than overwhelming. If you're worried a colour will look "too loud," that's a question of intensity, not LRV.
Ultimately, Annie Sloan puts it best: "I wouldn't use LRV as a set of rules. If you adore a colour, use it! Decorating should be about creating a home that makes you feel good, not passing an exam in colour theory."
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If LRV has you thinking more carefully about your next paint choice, our guide to this year's paint trends is a good place to start, and our advice on using a paint sprayer, brush or roller will help you select the best tools for the job.
