The independence advantage: Why your colour consultant shouldn’t be selling you paint.
Choosing the right colours for your home is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make in your renovation journey. It’s a choice that shapes the mood of every room, the value of your investment and your daily enjoyment of the space you live in. Faced with this pressure, seeking expert advice is a smart move. But before you book, ask yourself one simple question: Who does your colour consultant really work for?
The answer can be the difference between a palette that is simply sold to you and one that is genuinely created for you.
In New Zealand, our colour consultation landscape is dominated by two distinct models. The first, offered by major paint manufacturers, provides low-cost or even free advice. It’s an accessible starting point but it comes with a fundamental conflict of interest. Their business is selling paint and their consultations are a highly effective tool to achieve that goal. The advice, however expert, is ultimately channelled through the lens of a single colour range.
The second model is a full-service interior designer, where independent colour advice is usually bundled into a wider design offering.
For the discerning homeowner, this creates a dilemma. You’re savvy enough to be wary of product-biased advice but you’re not in a place to engage a full-service designer. Instead, you’re stuck between advice that feels biased and design services that feel out of reach.
This gap is exactly where Pigment sits, giving you expert, independent advice that’s accessible when you need it most. That independence is more than a nice to have, it’s what makes the difference between second guessing every choice and feeling sure you’ve got it right.
The illusion of infinite choice.
Walk into any major paint store and you're met with a literal wall of colour - a dizzying array of thousands of swatches, each subtly different from the next. While this seems like freedom, it can quickly lead to decision paralysis. A colour consultant from a paint brand is tasked with helping you navigate their wall of colour. They are experts in their own products, the undertones and finishes. But their toolkit is inherently limited. The perfect dusky green for your light-filled lounge might exist but if it’s made by a competitor, it’s not on their radar. Their solution will always be the closest match from within their own range.
An independent consultant, by contrast, views the entire market as their toolkit. At Pigment, we are unbound by allegiance to any single paint company. We work across all brands, from the major players like Resene and Dulux to boutique and specialist paint makers like Aalto. This freedom allows us to select the absolute best product for your specific needs, based on three key factors:
The perfect hue: We might specify a Resene colour for the bedroom, a Dulux colour for the living room and a speciality finish from another brand for the front door - all within the same project. The goal is to find the perfect colour, period.
Applied with confidence: Different colours (and sheen levels) perform differently depending on the space, light source and the surface. Independence means we can recommend the most suitable shade and finish for each area, while your painter advises on the best product to achieve it. This ensures your colours not only look right but feel right in the space.
Right fit recommendations: Every project has different priorities. Sometimes it’s about impact, sometimes it’s about restraint. If a client is working with a tighter budget, independence means we can suggest simplifying the scheme - fewer colours or more versatile applications while still delivering a cohesive, intentional result.
Three questions to ask your colour consultant.
To ensure you’re receiving truly unbiased advice, here are three essential questions to ask any potential colour consultant.
Which paint brands do you specify from? If the answer is limited to one brand, you’re not in a design consultation, you are in a sales meeting.
How do you determine the best paint finish (e.g., low sheen, semi-gloss) for my project? The answer should focus on the functional needs of your space and lifestyle. For example, they should discuss durability in high-traffic areas, moisture resistance in bathrooms and the way different sheen levels interact with light to create mood.
Can you explain the difference between your service and the one offered in a paint store? An independent colour consultant should explain their role in terms of a holistic, design-led process. They should talk about understanding your story, assessing your home’s architecture and light and creating a cohesive palette that flows through every space. The focus should always be on you, your home and the feeling you want to create - not on a single brand’s colour collection.
The hidden cost of free advice.
The low cost of manufacturer-led consultations can be tempting, especially within a tight renovation budget. But it's crucial to consider the potential hidden costs. Choosing a colour that isn't quite right, perhaps because the perfect shade was from a competing brand is a costly mistake. Repainting a room, or an entire house, involves not just the cost of new paint but also significant labour costs, not to mention the disruption and stress.
And this is the fear we hear most often from a homeowner ‘what if I get it wrong?’ An independent consultation is an investment in avoiding that costly mistake. It’s an assurance that every recommendation is made with one goal in mind: to create a confident, personalised and cohesive colour palette that you will love for years to come.
If independence matters to you, explore how Pigment’s brand-agnostic process can help create a colour scheme that feels entirely your own. Let independence give you the freedom to create a home that reflects your story everyday, not just a page from a paint catalogue.