We at Dulux were recently involved in matching some very old colours from a historic colour chart. This was for a historic building in a remote harsh environment and the conservation team wanted to recreate the colours accurate to the original colour scheme. The colours were very vivid reds, yellows, and oranges — quite gaudy really.

It reminded me that often when we see old photos, the photos have faded. When we are asked to match underneath paint chips by people wanting to recreate the original colour scheme we need to remember that it is highly likely that paint colour would have faded significantly, which is probably why it was painted over. Lead based pigments provided clean bright colour and people weren't afraid to use colour in decorating their dwellings.

To help the conservators of the future, designers and specifiers should record the colours chosen and file away samples of the colours in a dark file, for the paint colour matchers of the future.