This hallway was painted a chalk-y white that had a layer of dirt on it. I thought in certain lights the texture was giving it a silver-y look that I liked. When I was finding a suitable color to paint these walls, I took a plaster chip and noticed there were flecks of grayish purple in the texture, and after rubbing some of the dirt off the chip, the paint that was there (not original) was slightly pink.

I chose two colors that were perfect matches to the color of the chip - one just a hair shade more pink and one more gray. Me and the gentleman chose the more pink color first and, initially, it looked fine. When the sun came out, it was a lot more pink than anticipated.

This distressed the gentleman a great deal. I just thought, well, it's pink, let's paint over it. NBD. This logic did not calm him. Anyway, we painted it the more gray color last night. It looked a near perfect match, but the gentleman was not convinced it would stay the same color in the light.

The light is a huge consideration in this room because it comes from an angle above the ceiling of the hall, from a curved stairwell that runs the height of the first and second floors, so the color looks different as the light reflects from the highest east-facing window, around to the tallest middle window to the lower west-facing window. These windows allow the most light into the basically light-less entry hall at all points of the day, while also lighting the second floor hallway.

Hence, the color seems different throughout the day. That's why I got two shades. We shall see this afternoon.

I'm fairly certain it will be great, whether or not it's a perfect match.

A note on perfection: it's tedious and ordinary to strive. And the striving is a nightmare for everyone else. It's much easier and more fun to try to make something great - for you and everyone else.