Jonquil

This is a color that decides the room rather than supporting it. Vista Paint's designation for it is 1340.

Chroma 33.0 is high enough that the color will bounce onto light surfaces, so expect it everywhere, not only on the wall. Ideal for a single accent wall or a small room where you want to commit.

It holds up in a north-facing room, which is where warmth is usually missing. LRV 71.0 tells you how much light comes back, which matters less here than how much color comes with it.

In warm light this stays orange; under cooler, daylight-style bulbs it can slide toward yellow. It's close enough to that edge that a sample is worth checking in the room's own lighting, not under a store's. This color and blues and cool greys don't get along in the same room - they sit on opposite sides of the spectrum, so pairing them tends to feel like tension rather than contrast.

Warm metals - brass, aged gold, unlacquered fixtures - gain a contrast against this that they do not have against a lighter wall; it is a common reason people choose a color this deep in the first place.

Dunn-Edwards First Snow 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 14.7 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.

For anyone tied to a different brand, Benjamin Moore Suntan Yellow (2155-50) is the nearest stand-in, at a delta-E of 1.81. Only 2 other-brand colors land within delta-E 2 of this one, which makes it comparatively unusual.

It is lighter than 77 percent of the Vista Paint range. The name is not unique: Sherwin-Williams SW 6674 also sells a color called Jonquil, and it is not the same shade. Vista Paint lists it in the C codes, alongside 1,421 other colors.