Why you shouldn’t color-match a paint color from one brand to another

Have you ever found a color that you absolutely love in one paint brand but you prefer using another brand for your walls?  You probably think it’s no big deal to do a color match and that everything will turn out just fine.  Well, not so, say the experts, and I have seen it for myself.

 

Each brand has its own formula and they use their own underlying colors to create that tone.  Let’s say you find an intense blue like Benjamin Moore’s #840 Kensington Blue but you prefer to use a competitor to buy your paint.  The underlying color mixture that creates this beautiful blue will vary among all the competitive brands so you may be in for a surprise when the color is up and doesn’t exactly resemble the color you thought you were getting.

A few years ago a client liked the color I selected for her bathroom but her painter used a competitor instead of Benjamin Moore.  She color matched it at the store and was disappointed when the job was complete because it didn’t turn out exactly the way she thought.  I was able to see the difference in the undertones myself.

 

I also experienced this at a recent Benjamin Moore seminar where there was a light box which displayed the difference in their color vs. the competitor’s color.  When the light was off, the colors looked the same.  But when the light went on, you could see immediately how the colors were different.

 

So, if you love a color, don’t sacrifice the end results on your walls because you want to spend less on a can or two of paint.  Get that color and you’ll be happy every time you walk into your room.