How bizarre is this?? (paint colour matching)

10 years ago

My paint confusion never seems to end!! This is strange.

Ok, I bought this half-pint sample of Valspar Eddie Bauer colour called Cottage Yellow a while ago. I painted a test board and some wall and love it! But I had run out of paint in the sample pot and wanted to test the colour over a larger area. So I bought a quart of Cottage Yellow - the colour was much darker (but actually more true to the paint chip). I liked the test pot of Cottage Yellow much more than the "real" colour

Well in any event, I had already decided that I would get BM to colour match the "fake" Cottage Yellow (lighter version). To help the women doing the colour match, I have the test board and wanted a new sample paint pot (of the lighter version) for them. Picked up the sample pot tonight - and this new sample pot is not the same colour as the first sample pot - it is darker and more like the "real" Cottage Yellow. What is this all about?!

I was sitting here puzzled and staring at the 2 sample pots. And I noticed that each sample pot is the same base paint, finish etc., each has the computer sticker saying it is the Eddier Bauer colour Cottage Yellow and the number is correct. But the paint recipe on the sticker is different in each case!! Turns out the "real" colour sample pot is just the gallon formula divided appropriately, but the "fake" Cottage Yellow is something else altogether. All the employee does is type in Cottage Yellow and the size, so I don't understand how the computer can have two formulae for Cottage Yellow in the same size/base/finish!!

Most curious to go in to Lowe's and find out what is up with that first sample pot with the different formula and that is lighter than the real Cottage Yellow. I prefer it and would like a sample pot of that colour whatever it is!!

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Comments (3)

springroz
10 years ago
They did not color match it from your sample board?

I guess this is why pro painters mix all the paint together to paint a large area!

Nancy
Bunny
10 years ago
I get all my paint mixed by Kelly Moore. They have mixed BM and SW for me and they have turned out perfect. However, I know they use the formulas in their database they have for all the major brands of paint.

Sounds like your BM store is mixing the true, actual Cottage Yellow. Whatever that original sample (that you love) is called, it would seem it's got a different formula. Can't some places match any color you bring them (like a piece of fabric or something painted in an unknown color) by scanning them and getting a formula?

Go for the color you like.
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gyr_falcon
10 years ago
Uh-oh. I recognize this road. It isn't bizarre--it is the norm of what happens with color matching between brands IMO.

Living room of our new home. We got a paint chip color matched at a paint store and bought a quart sample. Perfect. Bought a gal. with the same listed mix. I knew it wasn't right with the first brush strokes, but my husband insisted it would match when dry. Nope. "The other paint must be showing through. Two coats would make it match." No, it didn't. Got another gal. and it too did not match (but husband had me paint the entire living room with it also). Strike two. Try number three with another gal. of paint. After a few brush strokes, I refused to paint the rest of the walls. Apparently, they messed up with the original sample quart. And with smaller sample sizes, it takes even less of an addition amount change to alter the color.

We ended up starting over by choosing a color from the store's line.

Future attempts at color matching have also produced colors that are "off" from the other brand's paint (and I no longer will just go along with my husband's it-will-be-close-enough attitude). If the paint is for an area where the differences in undertone don't matter, or you are working off of a fabric or something, color matching works better. I found the whole thing so frustrating, now if our regular supplier does not make the color I want, we just buy the paint from the company that does--even if it is a lower quality paint.