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Ad – gifted product from Lick paint.
You can probably tell from my previous interiors posts, that I’m seriously into colour. My whole house was painted pure brilliant white when we moved in, and as big as it made all the rooms look, it also is pretty stark and was starting to look grubby.
Previously I’ve bought my paint from wherever I’ve spotted a good colour, I’m not exactly loyal to a certain brand, although there are definitely ones I won’t use again.
Most of the big names in decorating have been around forever, so when a new paint and wallpaper company called Lick emailed me, I was intrigued. The concept is pretty simple, paint and wallpaper you can buy online, in trendy shades.
How to decide on a colour
Lick offered me a colour consultation with Tash, one of their experts. This took place over video call and Tash was so helpful. Because I actually had builders in to fit my fireplace, I’d had to make a video of the room with my furniture in before my call, and Tash watched it and came ready with some great recommendations. She was able to see my swatches that were already on the wall that I didn’t like, and give me a few options that worked better with my space. Usually, you can get a colour consultation for up to three rooms in one call, but I was only working on one for now, my house isn’t big enough to do loads of rooms at once! In the end I went for Pink 02, a colour that’s beige enough that people don’t think BARBIE but pink enough not to be boring.
Here are some instagram pics with no filters so you can see how different this colour looks depending on the light.
If you don’t think a colour consultation is for you, my best tips for choosing colours is to look at some artwork, or a multi-coloured cushion and choose the colours from that. I think you can tell I did that in my kitchen, even though my walls are just cream.
How to choose paint colours online
I think my favourite thing about Lick is how well they describe the colours online. Unlike other brands, Lick paint shades don’t have fancy names, but simple ones like White 01 or Red 03. The description of each colour is short and sweet, and it tells you the undertones clearly. I’m in some DIY Facebook groups and people are always asking for “a grey that doesn’t look blue” and it’s much easier to tell that from Lick’s descriptions rather than trying to work out if Beach Granite is bluer than Wet Stone or whatever.
If you’re in any doubt, instead of annoying paint sample pots, Lick has true to colour paint swatches that stick to your wall and peel off when you’re ready to paint. They’re only £1 each with free next day delivery, that’s cheaper than I’ve seen any other paint samples. Plus, it’s a good idea to try your samples on lots of different walls to see how they look in direct sunlight or in a dim corner. It’s much easier to move a sticker around than cover up multiple patches of tester paint. Plus, if you spend two years umming and ahhing about what colour to use you end up living with ugly walls for a really long time. Not that I did that…
The ordering process
I was a little bit nervous about ordering paint online, I’ve done it before and it’s been posted to me in a big box and the tin’s leaked from bouncing around in it. Lick’s tins are rectangular and come with a plastic inner seal and a screw on lid, that makes leaks much less likely to happen.
My paint was in perfect condition by the time it got to me, it arrived really quickly with free next day delivery when you spend £50.
What was the paint like?
Honestly, it was great. Even though this colour eerily looks exactly like my liquid foundation when it’s wet. My front room is 4m x 4.5m, so on the big side for a Victorian terrace. The whole room was about one and a half tins of paint. It stayed on the wall, and looked smooth, even over my bumpy, peeling fixer-upper walls.
The stirrer stick it comes with is so cute. Plus it saves you having to wash that weird long screwdriver you might normally use.
We aren’t pro decorators, but the coverage is quite good with one coat, we went over it in the more textured parts of our walls and now it looks really good!
What do you think? Do you like the colour I chose? I might actually do a whole post on my front room reno because we did so much more than just paint it! I just have a whole load of flat pack to build first…
