I know that some of the DIY stores are now offering a service to mix paint to match something you bring in , so :
We have a bedroom with plasterboard painted in a matt olive green colour. We don't have the original paint, but there are quite a few holes to fill & paint over... so if I somehow get a reasonable size flake of paint will the shop be able to mix me some to match exactly - are they really that good these days? Has anyone done this? cheers Keith
No, in my experience. We asked a few weeks ago and they compare it to their colour chart and mix to the nearest colour.
S
Yes, several times. I've been to a Dulux professional shop (where they only do Dulux products), and I've also been to Homebase where they also have the same device to match paint (not all branches I expect). I have found the matches to be pretty accurate, even from a miniscule swatch. (I once had a piece of wallpaper that was about half the size of a postage stamp. It will never be spot on as paint changes colour slightly over time and gathers a thin film of dirt no matter how houseproud one is.
MM
In message , Mike Mitchell writes
Yes, for a match against say a curtain or something they are fine, but AIUI they do not have an infinite range of colours. What they do is match the sample against the nearest colour in the system, in most cases this will be a near enough match, given the range. But AIUI the OP wants an exact match to existing paint to patch areas, I think it unlikely that it will be that good a match, unless he is just lucky on the colour
Really, really good colour matching is extremely difficult. The most obvious problem is the incident light. A particularly good example is the gemstone alexandrite which appears bluish-green in daylight, but red by tungsten light. In the early days of aniline dyes the Princess Eugenie caused about as much of a stir as Elizabeth Hurley in *that* dress by having a green dress which apperared green under gaslight, where all previous green dyes appeared muddy or blue. Next there is the problem of wet colour against dry colour. Depending on the medium, the dry colour may be lighter or darker than the wet colour. Then you have the problem of colour stability, both in the colour-matched product and the material it is matched to. The easy way (and probably the best aesthetically, who wants a room all one colour?) is not to put supposedly colour-matched items adjacent to each other, but to have an area of another, suitably sympathetic colour seperating the two. That small gap between the panels on cars means a moderately good match is good enough when a wing or a door is repaired.
John Schmitt
alexandrite which appears
aniline dyes the
*that* dress by having adyes appeared muddy or
Depending on the medium, the
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matched to. The easy way
panels on cars means
Thanks for all the replies - it sounds as if I'd be taking a gamble on getting some matched. I'll leave it up to my wife to decide if its worth it, if the altenative is to repaint the whole bedoom anyway...
You could always just get a small test pot mixed first. Dulux/Homebase will mix a small quantity for around £1.99. Paint it on to a piece of hardboard, woodchip or lining paper, let it dry and then hold it up against the wall in question. Then you'd have a much better idea of the match.
MM
Hi
I've used Dulux matching and it varies. It is often spot on, but also can be noticeable. Youre taking a gamble if you want total perfection as new, but if you just want to change the paintwork from mess to something that looks like it was painted a year ago and is still in perfectly good condition, then the odds are good.
What I would definitely suggest is to wash the existing paintwork before taking a sample from it. And if the paintwork isnt under a year old I'd wash the whole wall before touching up - it greatly improves your odds of matching.
Paint gets dirty unevenly, and its not noticeable for years but causes variations across the wall: in this state a match is impossible. Wash it and suddenly you have something you can match.
Also get the same finish: matt, vinyl silk, etc.
Finally if the colour match is anything less than perfect, patching should always be done meanly: too little paint looks far better than too much. Use an artists paintbrush rather than a huge half inch decorators one. And the last, fairly obvious, point: if you have a panel to patch up its best to paint the whole panel. Any edges or boundaries are the best place to hide any slight colour shifts.
Regards, NT
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