2 oz should be plenty to get a swatch on the wall.

It seems swatch size recommendations just keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. At some point one has to ask just how big is big enough?

A small chip from the rack or deck isn't big enough, I agree, but I also think it's ridiculous to suggest poster sized-samples.

A 2 oz jar *usually* will do two full coats on a 2' x 2' square - plenty big enough, IMHO. Anywhere from 1' to 2' should work. If that's not large enough then I have to wonder what else is going on in the color decision process.

Pratt & Lambert held the license to the Williamsburg color collection for a number of years. The last license agreement they signed was suppose to be for 20 years. Benjamin Moore came a long and - who knows what happened - but now all of the sudden Ben Moore has the license to the colors.

Not carrying the swatches to the 'specialty' collections is usually an indication of a store that primarily serves contractors - contractors who consider themselves 'color experts' because they've pushed the same three colors of Swiss Coffee to their clients for decades.

So, no, that's not normal for a design center, color destination, neighborhood color authority.

I was at my local BM store today & they had paint chips for the Affinity colors.

We recently painted, and had our contractor put up 24 different samples for 5 areas (hall one side, hall other side, bathroom, bedroom, bedroom). Some samples he put on the wall -- they were all about 12-15" wide by about 24" high. For one particular color that would go in multiple locations, he put all the samples on a large piece of sheetrock (separated by Masking Tape, on which he wrote the color name)- probably 2' x 6' -- he got 6 or 8 samples on the board and we could carry it around the apartment. Worked great. All of our samples were either 2 oz. from BM and Valspar, or pints from BM if they didn't have the particular color in a sample size.

A couple tips on the samples. Putting colors next to each other on sample boards or walls interferes with being able to view each color individually as you are looking at them relative to each other and they will interact or distort their characteristics (as will any surrounding color). Also, putting them on the wall can leave visible patches in your final paint job as it changes the depth of paint; might also affect the topcoat by being a different sheen, texture or absorption in that area. It does happen.

There are 2' x 2' drywall boards at the HD for $5 which work pretty well. That way you can move it around in different rooms and lighting. Add another foot is even better, imo.

P.S. You need two good coats of paint on your sample to see the color accurately.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Fri, Nov 22, 13 at 14:27

We had patches (many) on our long hall wall, one of the bedrooms and one bathroom. While I agree the moveable boards are good because they're movable, we see none of the samples "under" the final paint (and we've only had one coat put on so far).