Calamine vs Refresh
Calamine (Farrow & Ball) and Refresh (Jotun) come from different manufacturers. Hue-wise, Calamine belongs to the pink-red family and Refresh to the green-grey family. The 7-point LRV gap — 68 for Calamine vs 60 for Refresh — means Calamine will open up a space more effectively. Where Calamine leans warm, Refresh reads neutral — a distinction that shifts noticeably depending on the light source and surrounding finishes. A ΔE of 10.6 puts these firmly in different territory — two distinct design choices rather than close alternatives. Below you'll find 3 real-room photo comparisons where both colors appear side by side, plus 5 simulated room previews.
Calamine vs Refresh in Real Spaces
3 real rooms side by side. Seeing Calamine and Refresh 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.
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.
Color Details
Calamine vs Refresh Simulated Comparison
5 simulated room previews — drag the slider on each to see Calamine on one side and Refresh 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 Calamine comparisons
See how Calamine stacks up against other well-photographed colors across different brands and tones.
