The No. 1 painting mistake, according to Joanna Gaines

Raise your hand if you’ve ever fallen prey to a gorgeous paint color swatch...that looked like total crap once it was up on your wall. (Affirmative.)

Well, fear not, friends: Joanna Gaines has a fix. In partnership with KILZ, the HGTV superstar recently shared her best paint practices. The biggest “mistake”? Failing to “consider where your light is coming from,” she tells us. In other words, you can’t assume that a color will look great across a room; instead, you have to consider how your natural light source will affect each portion of wall. (I.e., While a hue might look great across from a window, it could read completely differently on a wall that doesn’t get natural light.)

The remedy? Good old-fashioned patience. Take your time considering colors, test sample swaths on each wall and watch how the light plays over them at different times of day.

Anything else, Jo? “Steer away from the trends and go with your gut!” she insists. Color us schooled.