Just keep painting. The second coat will likely take care of the problem, but you may need a third. The last room I painted was my powder room, and I went super dark. I was surprised at how many coats it took to really give the coverage and depth I wanted, but in the end - totally worth it. I like the color your chose! It's gonna look great.

More coats will cover it, but is that a crack above the doorway? If it is, that should be fixed before you add any more paint.

And there looks like there is some sort of ridge going out to the left from that crack.

I did a colour such as that on my dining room and it took 3 coats to get the depth of colour that the sample showed.

Thanks everyone!

I'm not worried about the depth of the color so much as if those samples are still going to show through subsequent coats. I may do a coat over them to see if they disappear or not... but I have a feeling I'm going to end up priming the whole wall and doing it over again.

Has anyone been able to disappear dark/light areas like in that picture- over the old samples- with subsequent coats of paint or did you have to prime it?

The color I chose, Tea Chest, is underlined in the middle bottom row. Thought it would be dark enough.

I had to sand the edges of my paint samples because I felt like I could see the edges. These were paint samples in the same general color I ended up with and the room was primed in dark primer.

As mentioned above, I also sand down my painted samples, but these days I rarely paint that many samples. I buy the Samplize paint samples and narrow down to 2 colors to test. I then paint much larger areas with the 2 finalists.

Yes, I feel so bad when I go to a client's home and see all of the paint samples they've purchased (costs really add up!). Many painters hate samples being painted on surfaces, as they need to be primed and/or sanded or they will affect the final finish. As a professional color consultant, I provide large 8-1/2"x11" paper samples to my clients at no charge -- taping those to the wall, moving around to see on multiple surfaces and at various times of day is very helpful. Hopefully, a second coat will be enough for your situation. The color looks great and I love your wainscoting!

Sanding and a coat of primer would have made a huge difference. However, another coat of paint, should work too. I would worry a bit more about the cracks above that doorway. Those should be repaired, and sanded and primed before paint is put on, so maybe primer that entire wall, once repairs are made, and then repaint it.

If you have to go through this again in another room - use posterboard. That's what I do.

I agree with the others - another coat should take care of that.

BTW - I love your wainscot paneling!

I have ordered Samplize too, and the only issue I had in my particular space was that they were so shiny that you could not really tell what the actual paint sample looked like in the direct western light the room got in the afternoons.

Thank you everyone who has weighed in on my oops. I am glad to know that I can probably fix it with another coat of paint, but I have learned about the optimal way forward in the future, as well. I am going to try to roll over those spots and see if it corrects the problem. If it does not, I will resign myself to sanding and priming.

I saw Samplize advertised as I researched paint samples but I did not order any because I was skeptical that they would give as good of an indication about the way the paint would look in the room in various light conditions. However, I do think it is smart to go that route in the future, to narrow down initial options. As @Yonder Way Designs noted, the little make-up tin sized paint samples from Lowe's do add up, and they have gone up in price a couple dollars since the last time I was tasked with painting rooms. They were ~$5.00 each...

The wainscoating is really a show stopper! We did not install it, but I am glad to benefit from it now. I am considering painting it an off white or a beige to warm it up but I want to get the rest of the rooms painted first. The white does look sophisticated.

Hi everyone,

I added more paint over the swatches with a brush. Then, I rolled over the whole wall again. It looks great, and you can't see the swatches anymore at all. In case anyone has this dilemma in the future. Thanks everyone again for your advice.

Best wishes,

Catherine