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

Posted by ransley on November 4, 2009, 9:22 am

> ransley wrote:

> > A match is a match, ive painted for 30 years and have good eyes and
> > dont spend any money on paint matching, I just use my eyes.

> But paint doesn't always look the same color when it's dried out on the
> wall (or whatever) as it does when it's liquid in the can.
> Perce

A large sample has to be dried out on at least a 4" piece of paper,
you cant tell anything looking in a can and should not accept that nor
should you accept the trick of the employee drying out a 1/4" spot on
paper, after its dried look at it a bit, even under different
lighting.

Posted by RicodJour on November 4, 2009, 10:48 am

> A large sample has to be dried out on at least a 4" piece of paper,
> you cant tell anything looking in a can and should not accept that nor
> should you accept the trick of the employee drying out a 1/4" spot on
> paper, after its dried look at it a bit, even under different
> lighting.

I agree with you about the larger sample being better, but any paint
sample can/will lie to you. Do you do two coats on the sample? Prime
it first? The color and absorption of the surface to be painted has a
lot to do with the outcome of the final color.

The lighting in a paint store is not the same lighting as in your
house. Do you have the guy mix the paint, do a sample, take it home
match the sample, then bring it back to be tweaked? If not, you're
just saying, good enough is good enough and you've already made that
clear.

Red's tip about rolling out the patch with a dry roller is an old
trick, and an excellent one. First time I heard it was ~30 years ago
from an old timer painting commercial construction. Basically the
idea is to prevent any hard paint edges in the patch so any difference
in color/sheen is spread out over a larger area to minimize how
noticeable it is. With certain lighting conditions, and certain paint
sheens, it is almost impossible to make it disappear.

R

Posted by RicodJour on November 4, 2009, 10:29 am

> > > Colors can be matched and are every day, you have to demand it and
> > > have it dried out as a large sample like 4x4", not the drop of paint
> > > they usualy try to get away with.

> > Define matched. =A0If good enough is good enough, then yeah, matching i=

> > no big deal. =A0If you have a paint and try to match if to a color chip=

> > computer match it from a sample, use the exact same formula from the
> > exact same store using the exact same equipment, you're likely to get
> > three different colors and it's anyone's guess which one will be the
> > closest.
> > The whole trick to matching paint is knowing where to hide the
> > transition and how to hide the transition. =A0With some paints it is
> > essentially impossible.
> > To the OP, unless you're made out of money, and have a thing for the
> > paint store clerk, you may want to try tweaking the paint yourself
> > with some universal colorant. =A0If you're not good with colors, this
> > too can be almost impossible.

> A match is a match, ive painted for 30 years and have good eyes and
> dont spend any money on paint matching, I just use my eyes.

Fair enough. Your good enough is good enough for you. Not really a
surprise, is it?

R

Posted by norminn@earthlink.net on November 4, 2009, 9:28 am

RicodJour wrote:

>>> 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

>> Colors can be matched and are every day, you have to demand it and
>> have it dried out as a large sample like 4x4", not the drop of paint
>> they usualy try to get away with.

>
> Define matched. If good enough is good enough, then yeah, matching is
> no big deal. If you have a paint and try to match if to a color chip,
> computer match it from a sample, use the exact same formula from the
> exact same store using the exact same equipment, you're likely to get
> three different colors and it's anyone's guess which one will be the
> closest.
>
> The whole trick to matching paint is knowing where to hide the
> transition and how to hide the transition. With some paints it is
> essentially impossible.
>
> To the OP, unless you're made out of money, and have a thing for the
> paint store clerk, you may want to try tweaking the paint yourself
> with some universal colorant. If you're not good with colors, this
> too can be almost impossible.
>
> R

I would guess, from experience, that matching two separate mixtures for
color is almost impossible, even with a good deal of experience with
color formulas. That said, I bought paint for exterior trim on my
daughter's house and had not bought enough. When I returned to purchase
more paint, the store clerk (color master supreme) mixed a new batch,
took samples of each and dried them with a hair dryer. Not my request
... just his attention to detail. He nudged the color a bit, took
another sample, dried it, done. I was satisfied with the color before
he was :o)

Posted by benick on November 3, 2009, 9:27 pm

>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

Matching colors "EXACTLY" is impossible....All the painters I know that buy
a few gallons of color tinted paint , dump the 1 gallon cans into a clean 5
gallon bucket and mix them to eliminate any possibility of differences
between the 1 gallon cans...Even paint mixed at the exact same place and
time will have "slight " differences , let alone trying to match old paint
which is nearly impossible...Close is as good as it gets with trying to
touch up old paint with new paint...It will ALWAYS be noticable......HTH...

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Paint matching (am I expecting too much...?) - Page 7