Celtic Spring

Strong enough that it sets the palette for the room, not the other way around. 0728 in the Vista Paint range.

Chroma 29.0 is high enough that the color will bounce onto light surfaces, so expect it everywhere, not only on the wall. In a room with plenty of natural light, this can cover more wall area than it could in a dim one, where the same color reads heavier.

South light flatters it. In a north-facing room it can turn cold, so sample that wall first. LRV 65.0 tells you how much light comes back, which matters less here than how much color comes with it.

If the room already has pinks and warm blush tones in the floor, a rug, or the furniture, this color will fight it rather than sit well beside it - the two sit at opposite ends of the color spectrum, which is exactly why they clash instead of blend.

Wood tones next to this read darker and richer than they do against a paler wall; it is one of the more dependable effects of putting a light-absorbing color next to anything reflective.

Dunn-Edwards Abalone pairs well as a second surface - close enough in feel to belong in the same room, far enough in lightness to read as two distinct walls (about 25.7 points apart on the reflectance scale). Matte suits a color this strong - a glossier sheen would turn every light source in the room into a visible hotspot on the wall.

Benjamin Moore Lotus Flower (571) runs close enough - delta-E 1.38 - that swapping brands should not change how the room looks. This is a relatively uncrowded spot in the spectrum - just 1 color from other brands come this close.

It is lighter than 68 percent of the Vista Paint range. Vista Paint lists it in the C codes, alongside 1,421 other colors.