Paint matching (am I expecting too much...?)

>A while back I had to demo a kitchen cabinet to allow a new fridge to be
>moved in... I was in a time crunch and didn't have time to go to a real
>paint store that day so I went to That Orange-Colored Store and had them
>mix me a quart of paint. I took with me a vent grille that had been
>painted over to color match. The guy tried, and even wasted a quart on his
>first try when it came out too dark (color is a flat white tinted slightly
>blue) second try looked good in the store but when I painted the wall it
>ended up slightly more brownish-grey than the rest of the wall. (I also
>used almost the whole quart just to cover the area that was behind one
>large kitchen cabinet...)
> Unfortunately this @#$@#$% color is on about half the walls in my house,
> and I have a couple other little areas that I'd like to address (changing
> light fixtures in living room and removing mirror over mantel; repainting
> ceiling at top of stair landing where it was badly prepped; painting
> kitchen ceiling where I demo'd an ugly fluorescent fixture and never
> patched/painted the ceiling) but we're not quite ready to repaint any
> whole rooms yet. So I would really like to have a couple more quarts of
> paint matched to the existing so I can keep doing spot repairs as I get
> motivated and not have the house look all ghetto and have primer spots all
> over the darn place until whatever room gets a full repaint.
> Today I had a dentist's appt. in the AM so I left early and hit the
> closest "real" paint store and brought the same vent grille with me. They
> "matched" it while I was visiting with Dr. Hook and I picked up two quarts
> (they used Benjamin Moore base.) I just opened one and spread a little
> paint on the corner of said vent, it looks like a pure white in
> comparison. Not even anywhere near as close as the paint I got from HD.
> The few areas I've used the HD paint don't look awful, but it's obvious
> that there's a paint mismatch. Is that about the best I can hope for (in
> which case I should go back to HD and get a couple more quarts of the same
> thing I got last time,) or should I take everything back to the real paint
> store and let them try again? I realize you can't see what I'm working
> with so you can't really say "that's about as good as it gets, you're
> being too picky, just deal until you repaint" or "you can do better than
> that, you've just had bad luck with paint guys" (but I guess that's kind
> of the feedback I really need)
> Not sure if posting pics would help, but if it would, I can take a pic of
> the last little spot I did, around the thermostat on the kitchen wall...
> nate
> --
> replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
> http://members.cox.net/njnagel

>

>>A while back I had to demo a kitchen cabinet to allow a new fridge to
>>be moved in... I was in a time crunch and didn't have time to go to a
>>real paint store that day so I went to That Orange-Colored Store and
>>had them mix me a quart of paint. I took with me a vent grille that
>>had been painted over to color match. The guy tried, and even wasted
>>a quart on his first try when it came out too dark (color is a flat
>>white tinted slightly blue) second try looked good in the store but
>>when I painted the wall it ended up slightly more brownish-grey than
>>the rest of the wall. (I also used almost the whole quart just to
>>cover the area that was behind one large kitchen cabinet...)
>> Unfortunately this @#$@#$% color is on about half the walls in my
>> house, and I have a couple other little areas that I'd like to
>> address (changing light fixtures in living room and removing mirror
>> over mantel; repainting ceiling at top of stair landing where it was
>> badly prepped; painting kitchen ceiling where I demo'd an ugly
>> fluorescent fixture and never patched/painted the ceiling) but we're
>> not quite ready to repaint any whole rooms yet. So I would really
>> like to have a couple more quarts of paint matched to the existing so
>> I can keep doing spot repairs as I get motivated and not have the
>> house look all ghetto and have primer spots all over the darn place
>> until whatever room gets a full repaint.
>> Today I had a dentist's appt. in the AM so I left early and hit the
>> closest "real" paint store and brought the same vent grille with me.
>> They "matched" it while I was visiting with Dr. Hook and I picked up
>> two quarts (they used Benjamin Moore base.) I just opened one and
>> spread a little paint on the corner of said vent, it looks like a
>> pure white in comparison. Not even anywhere near as close as the
>> paint I got from HD.
>> The few areas I've used the HD paint don't look awful, but it's
>> obvious that there's a paint mismatch. Is that about the best I can
>> hope for (in which case I should go back to HD and get a couple more
>> quarts of the same thing I got last time,) or should I take
>> everything back to the real paint store and let them try again? I
>> realize you can't see what I'm working with so you can't really say
>> "that's about as good as it gets, you're being too picky, just deal
>> until you repaint" or "you can do better than that, you've just had
>> bad luck with paint guys" (but I guess that's kind of the feedback I
>> really need)
>> Not sure if posting pics would help, but if it would, I can take a
>> pic of the last little spot I did, around the thermostat on the
>> kitchen wall...
>> nate
>> --
>> replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
>> http://members.cox.net/njnagel

>
> Paint is a bitch. Even if you do save those things they put on the
> top of paint cans stating exactly how many parts of which color they
> put in it, you can have another gallon made down the road, and it
> comes out looking different.
>
> This can be for several reasons:
>
> The substrate. Putting it on different things. Different brands of
> drywall. Kilz or no Kilz? Primer or no primer? Which primer? How
> long has it been there, and how much UV rays from the sun has
> lightened it? If it is in a kitchen or bath area, how much oil or
> steam has changed the color? Paint looks different after it has
> soaked into a wall for five years than that which is a week old.
>
> I have kept those little color things, and gone back later and gotten
> EXACTLY the same mix, and painted it on, and it looks different than
> the paint on there. Even clothes fade. Car paint jobs fade.
>
> NEVER EVER EVER EVER LOOK AT PAINT UNTIL IT HAS DRIED A WEEK. It
> takes that long to get even close to the color it's going to be.
>
> It's not so much a mismatch, as you can get exactly the same paint
> mixed and it won't match, it has to do with fading and lots of other
> factors.
>
> Solutions: Do areas where the mismatching won't be obvious. Repaint
> the whole thing from the get go. Change the color scheme so it don't
> matter. If you are doing remodeling, prime properly, or Kilz, and
> then, it may take two or three coats to get it exactly right. Lower
> expectations - what you think is an obvious mismatch won't be noticed
> by others.
>
> And lastly, consider the ambient light. Lots of paints and colors
> look different when viewed at 9 AM versus 2 PM. On a sunny day, or a
> cloudy day.
>
> HTH, just some things to ponder.
>
> Steve, who knows paint will drive you batty, but only if you let it.
>
>
>

> Like to add, when touching up even from an original can, blend/fog by
> running the brush/roller virtually dry way past the area being done.
> Differences are harder to notice.

> Red Green wrote:

>> Like to add, when touching up even from an original can, blend/fog by
>> running the brush/roller virtually dry way past the area being done.
>> Differences are harder to notice.

> IME and IMO this is the best solution for the OP assuming that the new
> paint color is pretty close. One can also feather out by diluting the
> paint.
> --
> dadiOH
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