Mixing paint colors and paint brands

3944 Views 22 Replies 10 Participants Last post by ToolSeeker, Dec 22, 2012

jgold47

Discussion Starter · Dec 19, 2012

The wife and I have painted 90% of our house using glidden paint from Home Depot. We either pick a glidden color or have had great luck with making them look up the color code vs color matching. BM, SW and even restoration hardware, but that's another story.

It's been 5x5 until recently when we a) ran into a crotchety employee who didn't want to look up the colors and then b) two bad color matches (whites turning out pink??).

For our last room, the wife loves a valspar color. We even bought a valspar sample which we never do. This is the big kahuna as this is in the living room. She is insisting we get the paint from lowes because she has lost faith in the color matching process at hd and wants this to be perfect.

So here is my question(s).

Am I crazy for taking color a to store b

is using a looked up code better than scanning?

Any tips for buying paint at lowes?

We do it old school with real primer. Never had a good experience with behr. Glidden or bust so very nervous.

1 - 20 of 23 Posts

Brushjockey

· #2 · Dec 19, 2012

Personally- I would either go with the co that made the color- or go to paint professionals, which I do not consider the counter help at a box store. They can follow directions and make their paint, but unless you personally know the person to be a real good matcher- ( actually goes for the pro shops too).
The machine color match can only get close, then it is the experience of the matcher to close it in.

Reactions: 2

Matthewt1970

· #3 · Dec 19, 2012

The BM store here is usually spot on when matching other brands. A lot of the time it is already in the computer.

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chrisn

· #4 · Dec 19, 2012

As matt said, most colors can easily be matched at a real paint store

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jgold47

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 19, 2012

Thanks. In the battle of time vs money vs quality, I will look into a pro shop. If that doesn't fit into the above and I need to go to lowes, which brand am I best off going with?

Gymschu

· #6 · Dec 19, 2012

Trust me (and everyone else who has advised you so far) DO NOT go to Lowe's for color matching. I went there twice because customers wanted Valspar paint. Each time the color was mixed wrong. This is costly as the customer is paying me for my time and gas to do this task. Go to Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin Moore. They have paint to fit every budget. They normally have someone that is great at color matching not to mention they have computer color matching........in 30+ years of going to SW for color matching I cannot recall a single time that the color was botched......now that's a damn good track record.

ltd

· #7 · Dec 19, 2012

my every day paint is sherwin williams :yes:.i think im in the minority here but i think theres nothing wrong with valspare or behr.but i agree when it comes to color matching go to a real paint store .

Reactions: 2

ric knows paint

· #8 · Dec 19, 2012 (Edited)

jgold47 said:
Thanks. In the battle of time vs money vs quality, I will look into a pro shop. If that doesn't fit into the above and I need to go to lowes, which brand am I best off going with?

Hey j...

The neat thing about dealing with independently owned paint stores is you don't necessarily have to sacrifice one (money) for the other (quality). And that plays out on 2 levels...(1) the cost of paint at an independent dealer may surprise you to find that they can be very competitive with big boxes on a quality vs. quality basis, and equally important, (2) factor in the advice and expertise delivered by an independent - your job will go much smoother with less surprises, and you should walk out of the dealer with the proper advice on surface preparation and product application, the proper tools for maximum performance, and realistic expectations of what this coating/application/project should provide (which, ultimately, results in fewer trips to supplier, longer lasting/better performing finishes, and an overall more pleasant painting experience).

I think you're pretty close to Pontiac, Michigan - visit the guys at Pontiac Paint and let them walk you through your project - great paint people & a really good product selection...You also should be close to a number of Graham Paint dealers (dealer locator at their website). Graham has some of the best products in the industry (IMO), but you're gonna pay the price for 'em. Good luck to you and let us know what you end up doing.

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jgold47

Discussion Starter · #9 · Dec 19, 2012

ric knows paint said:
Hey j...

The neat thing about dealing with independently owned paint stores is you don't necessarily have to sacrifice one (money) for the other (quality). And that plays out on 2 levels...(1) the cost of paint at an independent dealer may surprise you to find that they can be very competitive with big boxes on a quality vs. quality basis, and equally important, (2) factor in the advice and expertise delivered by an independent - your job will go much smoother with less surprises, and you should walk out of the dealer with the proper advice on surface preparation and product application, the proper tools for maximum performance, and realistic expectations of what this coating/application/project should provide (which, ultimately, results in fewer trips to supplier, longer lasting/better performing finishes, and an overall more pleasant painting experience).

I think you're pretty close to Pontiac, Michigan - visit the guys at Pontiac Paint and let them walk you through your project - great paint people & a really good product selection...You also should be close to a number of Graham Paint dealers (dealer locator at their website). Graham has some of the best products in the industry (IMO), but you're gonna pay the price for 'em. Good luck to you and let us know what you end up doing.

Thanks for the advice. the issue is not so much the price, although I have a philosophical issue with paying 60 bucks a gallon for paint. Really its more of a convenience factor. HD is 5 minutes from my house, the closest pro I trust is in another town. there is a SW store down the street, but they are too expensive. I wont do it. I may make my wife go get the paint from the pros in our home town I trust (she works in town), but you know how it is, she doesnt want to screw it up.

I guess I never realized that people have such issues with matching paint at the big box stores. Until we went to have samples made this weekend we were always really proud of our ability to take any color to HD and get it made correctly and in our color. We had these really rich valspar colors made earlier this year and they came out great in the glidden paint we like to use. we even found some obscure glidden color in one of the massive books that we liked and they found it no problem.

HD seems to have a pretty robust electronic matching database, and I really never let them use the chromograph because of it. the only issues we had was the one time we used the chromograph to match a restoration hardware color. I had read online that people had issues matching it from the fan deck, but we gave it a shot. It kept coming out in shades of pink (it was an ash grey). Oh well. I found that colormatch cross reference site which is pretty cool and has closest to colors but we never tried it.

I digress. Here is the other issue we had, using a glidden card, scanned instore to look up the color, the sample came out pink as well. luckily we had a sample made earlier in the year which I had forgotten about. So now you cant trust their own paint. Like I said, this is the first time in 2 years and about 40 paint samples (our basement is becoming a joke with all the paint) we've had that problem.

so

TL;DR - thanks for the advice. We will try to do better than HD. Will not go to lowes. May have them just try it at HD and if it doesnt match, we will go to a pro.

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Gymschu

· #10 · Dec 19, 2012

jgold, SW has paint for $70 per gallon. They also have quality paint for $25 - $30 per gallon. Valspar at Lowe's is anywhere from $25 - $40 per gallon. I guess I'm not seeing the price differences you are seeing. Ask SW about any sales going on, clip some coupons in your weekly coupon section of your local paper. I would almost bet you could get a gallon of SW for the same or LOWER price of Valspar at Lowes.........with the added bonus of better quality and experts to help you with color matching, etc. Give it a shot.........if you don't like what SW has to offer, then, by all means, head over to Lowe's.

jgold47

Discussion Starter · #11 · Dec 19, 2012

no lowes my friend.

and to me 70 vs 30 is a big spread. At 2 or 3 gallons, thats a lot.

Canarywood1

· #12 · Dec 19, 2012

jgold47 said:
no lowes my friend.

and to me 70 vs 30 is a big spread. At 2 or 3 gallons, thats a lot.

When you add up all the discounts at Sherwin Williams a person would be foolish to use Lowes products,here's an example.

There's a cupon for 30% off plus you get another 10% off for being a preferred customer,plus another cupon for $10.00 off a purchase of $50.00 dollars or more,add them all up and your at the same price of Lowes with a superior product.

jgold47

Discussion Starter · #13 · Dec 19, 2012

hmm - can you point me to said coupons?

chrisn

· #14 · Dec 19, 2012

jgold47 said:
no lowes my friend.

and to me 70 vs 30 is a big spread. At 2 or 3 gallons, thats a lot.

Did you read post#10? There is no reason to get the $70 paint. They sell GOOD paint in the $30 range

Reactions: 1

Mr. Paint

· #15 · Dec 19, 2012

A small, independent dealer can least afford mis-matched piles of paint, therefore they do matches with great care. Like Brushjockey points out, they go beyond the computer and zero in on the color. Real paint company stores do that too. (PPG, S-W, etc.)

Canarywood1

· #16 · Dec 19, 2012

jgold47 said:
hmm - can you point me to said coupons?

Sign up for preferred customer from the link below, that's good for 10% off i think there's a cupon for the $10.00 0ff there also,let me know if the 30% off is there.

http://signup.freebiegroceries.com/lb/dI3fk0_sJxeP3lBYbACKCu1hNXUiDPowcW3DLJsKhsAdN9vxAWrcqA==

Matthewt1970

· #17 · Dec 22, 2012

Promar200 from SW is what you want. At $25 a gallon it will blow away anything HD has.

ToolSeeker

· #18 · Dec 22, 2012

Am I the only one who gets the SW 50% off coupon at the bottom of these paint threads. There is a picture and it says print coupon.

ToolSeeker

· #19 · Dec 22, 2012

Am I the only one who gets the SW 50% off coupon at the bottom of these paint threads. There is a picture and it says print coupon. I just looked it is on the bottom of page 1 but not on page 2.

Brushjockey

· #20 · Dec 22, 2012

This interwebby thing is vewy smart. It custom makes ads for each of us.
I have ad block plus, which kills the ads altogether. Nice...

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