A few tips how to choose the paint, and what are the musts and must nots of the process. This steps will help you save a lot of nerves and money because once you choose the paint colour from the magazin, article or a Pin it's not gonna look the same on your wall!
Before you buy the paint!
These are called "paint chips"
Do not ever buy paint based on just paint chips - they are to choose color shades to buy paint samples (either a small pot of paint to try it out on your wall with your lights or to buy A4 paint samples to stick it to your wall and see it on site)
By the way, even at these tiny chips you should be looking verticaly and try to avoid fluorescent lights of the shop
These are called "paint samples"
You can buy a tiny sample pot of paint and try it on your wall to make sure you like it under the lights of your apartment. The paint will look different (darker/lighter/yellowish/bluish/greenish) depending on what side your windows are facing, how big are they, what are the surroundings (ocean/sky/concrete jungle/park) and artificial lights that you have installed in your apartment.
Once you've made a few samples on your wall (the best size is 50x50cm) you might realize it looks too dark or too cold (bluish) or too warm (yellowish) in your room then you can get back to the store and select another colour from the paint chips accordingly.
These are called "paint swaches"
They usually come in A4 size (standard printing paper) or A3. You can buy them and stick to your wall with a duct tape - don't just put it on the floor or prompt it against the wall at an angle - it has to be placed vertically otherwise it will catch different lights. Paint swatches are more convenient than making yourself a few paint samples but not all the shops have them and A4 is still on the smaller side to give a full impression of the colour for the entire volume of the room.
Now let's talk about paint brands!
There are a few worldwide known brands like Benjamin Moore, Farrow & Ball, Sherwin Williams , which basically dictate the colour palette trends for each year. Those brands are most likely to be on your Pinterest board and magazines - you can replicate localy at a Hardware store or order to be matched by local brands - Dulux, Haymes, Taubmans, British Paints etc. Or select a similar colour in Austraian boutique paint brands like Porter's Paints, Murobond, etc.
Here are a few upsides of opting for a local paint brand:
pigmentation in local Australian paints is made to withstand extremely harsh UV levels which will keep the colour from fading after just one summer on the wall.
colour palettes in Australian brands are adjusted to local lighting conditions. The paint on the photo of an interior somewhere in North America is not gonna look the same under your lighting conditions but you deffinately can use it as an inspiration.
and of course avoiding the carbon footprint of shipment from overseas is a strong point on its own
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