From the first idea to the last stroke of the roller: the six steps that make a painting project go well.
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Help & advice Help with paint
Help with paint: planning, painting, choosing colour
Six families of guides, written by the Mylands France colour team: planning your project (colour card, sample pots, light, making a room feel larger), the how-to guides, surface by surface, from the wall to the radiator, and choosing colour — pairings, drenching, styles and seasons. Then our finishes, painting outdoors and advice by room. Every page names real Mylands colours and answers the questions we are asked most.
65 guides
01 · 6 guides
Planning your project
Before you open a tin: the method for choosing without regret. The colour card, the sample pots, the room's light, scale — and why a Mylands colour cannot be copied.
Painted with real paint, free, and far more useful than people think — once you know how to hold it.
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Sample pot, boards, two coats, three times of day: the Mylands 7-step method for testing a paint colour at home and choosing without regret. 100 ml =...
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Understand how aspect and light change the way colours are perceived.
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Six painting techniques that push the walls back — without knocking down a single one.
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A spectrophotometer reads a point; a colour lives in all the light of a room. What a colour match cannot reproduce.
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02 · 13 guides
How-to guides
The right move, surface by surface. Prepare the room, then paint a wall, a radiator, kitchen cabinets, a window, skirting boards, a floor or a child's chest of drawers — with the Mylands finish that suits and the real drying times.
Preparation, primer, cutting in, vertical bands, wet edge, laying off in one direction: the Mylands method for rolling a wall without marks or joins,...
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The day that decides the result: eight steps, the day before, so that tomorrow's two coats fit into one day.
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Blend it into the wall or make it an object: the method, the finish that takes the heat, and the colours.
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A new kitchen for the price of two tins: the method door by door, the finish that washes, and six colours.
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Paint, wax, oil or stain? The method for giving a chest of drawers, a sideboard or a chair a second life.
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Glazing bars, rails, stiles, frame: the order that avoids runs, and the finish that lasts outside.
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The smallest surface in the room, and the one that finishes it: the colour, the finish, the movement.
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The quickest project that changes a room the most: six colour ideas for doors, skirting and windows.
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How to prepare your woodwork before painting, for a flawless, long-lasting finish.
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From the radiator to the gate: the finish that holds on steel and cast iron, the preparation, and the colours.
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The sixth wall: tired floorboards become the room's best gesture, in one weekend and three coats.
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From midnight blue to white in three coats, not ten: the primer that does it all, and the white to choose for what you are covering.
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A junk-shop piece, a tin of colour, a Sunday: six ideas for a child's room, with paints that meet the toy standard.
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03 · 21 guides
Choosing colour
Pair, envelop, contrast. Complementary colours, single and double drenching, focal points, pink, blue, browns, mid-tones, small spaces, Mediterranean and Scandinavian style, seasonal palettes and the mood of a colour — each article with its Mylands palettes ready to paint.
Pink and green, blue and yellow, red and green: why these pairings work, and six Mylands palettes ready to paint.
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The art of wrapping a whole room in a single colour — walls, woodwork and ceiling.
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Two confident colours instead of one, with no white between them: how to choose the pair, and six combinations.
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The same technique, eight rooms: the pair that suits a bedroom is not the one for a kitchen.
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The place the eye lands on walking in: seven ways to make one with a tin of paint, and not a feature wall.
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From powder to brown-pink, eight ways to wear pink without it being sugary — and the Mylands pinks for each.
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From the midnight blue that envelops to the sky blue that soothes: seven ways to wear blue, and the Mylands blues for each.
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Neither light nor dark: mid-tones are the colours you stop noticing after a week — and that is their quality.
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White is not the only answer: four directions and eight palettes for a small study, a small bedroom, a hall, a cloakroom.
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From greige to chocolate: brown is the colour that gives weight to all the others. Six ways to use it.
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Sun on the walls all year: yellows, blues, greens and terracottas, in eight palettes.
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The nook under the stairs, the landing, the end of the corridor: seven ways to make it the place you want to be.
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Comfort starts at the walls: six palettes for a sitting room you stay in at night, from deep neutral to autumn colours.
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Earths, stones, leaves, sunsets: five palettes of natural colours, ground from earths and minerals.
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Eight wall-and-skirting pairings, from white-beige to blue-yellow: the bottom line that finishes the room.
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Loving your walls in July as in January: four timeless bases, and what each season adds.
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Soothe, wake, stimulate, gather: what colours do to mood, and how to choose for the feel you want.
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Tender greens, pinks, lilacs, pale yellows: eight palettes that bring spring in, room by room.
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Sea blues, ochres, clear greens, lime whites: eight palettes that keep summer on the walls.
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One colour, three depths: harmony guaranteed because the pigment is the same. Six Mylands families.
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Not white everywhere: soft neutrals that throw the light back, and one accent from nature. Six palettes.
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04 · 5 guides
Our finishes
Matt, eggshell, satin, gloss: the finish decides the texture and the resistance. How to choose it, what to know for a child's room, about VOCs, about eco-friendly wall paint — and what to do with the tins left over.
Discover the ideal Mylands finish for every surface and every room.
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Water-based, low VOC, toy standard, washable: what a paint must be for a child's room, and the finish for each surface.
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Does an "odourless" paint exist? What VOCs are, what the regulations require (30 g/L for a matt wall paint), what the A+ to C label means, and why Myl...
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Water-based, low VOC, high-covering, durable, tinted to order: the six criteria of an eco-friendly paint, and how to waste less.
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Keep, give, take to the recycling centre — never down the sink. Storage, shelf life, and six ideas for the bottom of a tin.
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05 · 9 guides
Painting outdoors
Front door, shutters and windows, render, fence, shed, garden furniture, outdoor kitchen: the Mylands finishes that stand up outside, the preparation that makes them last, and the colours that sit well with stone, brick and planting.
Outdoors, a colour looks twice as light: one shade deeper, composed with the stone and the roof. Six palettes for façade, shutters and door.
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Hardware off, washing, sanding, primer, undercoat, two to three coats in panel order: the method and the timing.
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Probe, strip what is coming away, sand, prime, two coats — three facing south. Windows, shutters, gates, eaves: the method and the upkeep.
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Diagnosis, cleaning, repair, stabilising primer if the surface chalks, two coats of matt, breathable Masonry Paint. Render, brick, concrete — not lime...
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Sand, de-rust, prime, two coats of Eggshell or Satin: wood, iron, aluminium, and the tops where water stands. Six terrace colours.
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Dry wood, washing, sanding, primer, two coats — three on the exposed face. Six colours to make a shed vanish into the garden or stand out in it.
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Dry wood, brushing, primer on the end grain, two coats by brush on both sides. Why a dark fence makes the garden bigger, and six colours.
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What to paint outdoors and what not to, a three-colour palette tied to the house, one accent. Six weekend projects.
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Back wall in Masonry Paint, fronts in Satin, metal in Gloss, worktop unpainted, and the distance from the fire. Six outdoor kitchen palettes.
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06 · 11 guides
Advice by room
Sitting room, kitchen, bathroom, cloakroom, guest bedroom, nursery, study, utility room, hall and landing, a sitting room with high ceilings: what changes from one room to the next — light, use, moisture — and the palettes that answer it.
Aspect, the hour you live in it, what is already there: the method for choosing a living room colour, and six palettes from warm neutral to deep green...
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The ceiling in colour, a dado at human height, the mouldings in the wall tone: six schemes for making height liveable.
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Washable Marble Matt walls, Satin units, a palette that starts from the worktop: six kitchen palettes, from grey-green to deep blue.
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Washable Marble Matt on the walls, Satin around the bath, extraction and a dry wall first. The method in eight steps and six palettes.
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Two square metres, three minutes: the room where you dare a deep colour, drenched. Six ideas, from burgundy to bottle green.
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Pleasing everyone three nights running: calming mid tones, a deeper bedhead wall. Six palettes, and the guest room–study.
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A month before the arrival, water-based, low VOC, toy standard, a week's airing. The soft colours, the ceiling seen lying down, six palettes.
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The air first: low-VOC water-based paint, second-hand furniture repainted, natural textiles, a month's airing. Six palettes in the tones of nature.
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Mid or deep tone, matt, no reflection on the screen, a calm background on calls. Six palettes, the desk corner in the living room, the study–guest roo...
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A service room that deserves a colour: water green, blue-grey, deep green on the cupboards, washable finishes. Six palettes.
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Hall, corridor, stairs, landing: the thread that ties the house together. A colour that welcomes, a corridor that leads somewhere, finishes that last....
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And also
The tools that go with them
Frequently asked questions
Where to start?
Which guide should I start with if I have never painted?
With Planning a painting project, which walks the method from end to end, then Preparing a room for painting and How to paint a wall without marks. Colour comes after: test it at home before ordering your litres.
Do the colours mentioned really exist?
Yes: every colour chip links to the Mylands shade's own page, with its colour card, finishes and 100 ml sample pot. The palettes are composed by our colour team from the house's own pairings — complementary whites, coordinating shades, accents.
Can I ask a question that is not covered here?
Of course. Write to us with a photograph of the room and its aspect: we reply Monday to Friday, and the question may well become a future guide.
“A good painting project is prepared on a table, decided in the room's own light, and won with a brush.”
