Miss Marigold

Strong enough that it sets the palette for the room, not the other way around. 7829 in the Vista Paint range.

Chroma 68.2 is high enough that the color will bounce onto light surfaces, so expect it everywhere, not only on the wall. A powder room or a nook is often the right scale for a color this strong - enough impact without living with it in every sightline.

Warm bulbs will soften it; daylight bulbs push it further cool. LRV 47.0 tells you how much light comes back, which matters less here than how much color comes with it.

Not quite yellow, not quite orange - this sits right where the two meet, so the room's own lighting ends up deciding which one you actually see. Rooms already built around blues and cool greys are the hardest fit for this color - the two are opposites, and opposites next to each other rarely feel calm.

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. For layering, pair this with a clearly lighter mid-tone on a secondary wall or cabinetry, and keep the ceiling close to white. The gap between each step should be big enough to see without thinking about it (roughly 47.0 / 66 / 85 on the reflectance scale).

Vista Paint Peak of Perfection 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 9 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.

Switching brands, PPG Grass Daisy (1215-6) is the closest equivalent at delta-E 2.01, near enough for most rooms. Across the other brands, nothing lands within delta-E 2 of this one - there is no easy substitute.

It is lighter than 48 percent of the Vista Paint range. Among yellows it is one of the strongest: only 3 percent of them carry more colour. Vista Paint lists it in the K codes, alongside 1,318 other colors.