Sporting Green

There is no reading this as a background color. In the Vista Paint lineup this is 7741.

At chroma 65.2 it will not sit quietly next to another strong color. Best reserved for rooms you pass through or visit rather than ones you spend hours in - the intensity that makes a strong first impression can tire the eye over a full day.

A warm bulb is the easiest fix if this reads colder than expected once it is on the wall. 41.0 on the light-reflectance scale is unremarkable on its own; the chroma is what actually drives how this color behaves.

If the room already has blues and cool greys 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. A natural scheme here moves in three clear steps: this color on the main wall, a noticeably lighter mid-tone for a second wall or built-in, and a near-white on the ceiling. Each jump should be obvious at a glance, not something you have to squint to tell apart (roughly 41.0, 63 and 85 on the light-reflectance scale, for reference).

A flatter finish keeps this much color from creating harsh reflections.

Across the other brands, nothing lands within delta-E 2 of this one - there is no easy substitute.

It is lighter than 42 percent of the Vista Paint range. The name is not unique: Behr HDC-CL-21 also sells a color called Sporting Green, and it is not the same shade. Among yellows it is one of the strongest: only 4 percent of them carry more colour. Vista Paint lists it in the K codes, alongside 1,318 other colors.