Paint colors can look VERY different depending on several factors. Here is Mylands Maritime 236, shown here on a color preview swatch.
Here is the color on a wall, in a house. Again, it is Mylands Maritime 236, in their excellent Marble Matt finish.
And here we have Mylands Maritime 236 on a painted board.
If I didn’t tell you they were the same exact color, but instead said they were different ones, you’d have good reason to believe me. There are at minimum, 3 take ways from this exercise.
1) Do NOT trust your computer screen as a 100% accurate tool for evaluating color. That reference color on a screen can look different from one computer to another, from your computer to your phone, and that’s just the digital image accuracy part of the equation.
2) Between light sources, furniture, floor color, window size and type; there are a myriad of factors that play a significant role in how a color looks to our eyes. If you have the same color in two different rooms, it can actually look slightly different in each room!
3) Attempting to figure out EXACTLY what a color will look like in your application, while standing at a color rack can be a difficult task. We highly recommend samples.
And by all means, please beware the digital reference swatches. They are a great reference guide, but can lead to broken dreams and disappointment if taken literally.