Fresh Start vs Calamine
Fresh Start (Cloverdale Paint) and Calamine (Farrow & Ball) come from different manufacturers. Hue-wise, Fresh Start belongs to the yellow family and Calamine to the pink-red family. The 4-point LRV gap — 68 for Calamine vs 64 for Fresh Start — means Calamine will open up a space more effectively. A ΔE of 20.3 puts these firmly in different territory — two distinct design choices rather than close alternatives. Below you'll find 5 real-room photo comparisons where both colors appear side by side, plus 5 simulated room previews.
Fresh Start vs Calamine in Real Spaces
5 real rooms side by side. Seeing Fresh Start and Calamine in actual rooms makes the difference concrete; browse the spaces below to get a feel for how each color lives on a wall.
Living Room
A living room wall sees more varied light than almost any other surface in the house, which makes the choice between these two more nuanced than a chip suggests. Calamine reads slightly lighter here — a subtle but real difference in how open the space feels.
Bedroom
Bedrooms are typically lit with warmer, lower light than the rest of the house — a condition that flatters warm tones and deepens cool ones. Calamine has the edge in reflectance, which shows as a quiet sense of added space rather than an obvious contrast.
Kitchen
Kitchens often have the harshest, most revealing light in the house — under-cabinet LEDs and overhead fixtures that strip away subtlety. Calamine has the edge in reflectance, which shows as a quiet sense of added space rather than an obvious contrast.
Dining Room
Dining rooms often rely on warm incandescent or candlelight, which flatters warm undertones and mutes cool ones. The brightness difference is modest but present — Calamine gives the walls a little more lift.
Bathroom
Small bathrooms intensify color. A shade that seems quiet in a larger room can feel immersive when you're surrounded by it on four walls. Calamine has the edge in reflectance, which shows as a quiet sense of added space rather than an obvious contrast.
Color Details
Fresh Start vs Calamine Simulated Comparison
5 simulated room previews — drag the slider on each to see Fresh Start on one side and Calamine on the other.
Digital color is approximate. These simulations are generated from the manufacturer's hex values and overlaid on grayscale room photos — your screen's calibration, brightness, and viewing angle all affect how they render. Before committing to either color, test physical samples in your own space under the light you actually live with.
More Fresh Start comparisons
See how Fresh Start stacks up against other well-photographed colors across different brands and tones.
