Sunday, August 31, 2008

Getting The Color Right

Choosing a house color and the importance of getting quarts to test the color before you purchase 5 gallons plus. D painted up 6 possible choices and we were looking at them in the shadow and light today. I noticed two of the colors were very grey and was puzzled why he would even paint those up since we are both more green/grey than blue/grey people. We compared them to the original paint chips and discovered that three of the choices were so off that it was a completely different color. Always buy a test quart before you start painting. It may seem like an extra expense but in the long run ... will save you some frustration. And in this case, I am returning these for the right color or my money back. ;0

These first three are the miss-tints.

Churchill Hotel Olive

churchill hotel olive

Mossy Aura

mossy aura

{later}

D made a trip back to the hardware store ... showing them the large painted pieces of plywood and they said ... well, there will always a "shift" in color. And he said not this much "shift". So they remixed those colors and D painted a swath on the two colors in question and they immediately saw the difference. Of course ... this is a big waste of time on D's part. ;( See the new colors below. They remixed a couple of more for a much closer match.

new color more the match

This one is a custom mix, again, not even close.

custom

Falcon's Plume, Smokey Olive and Mark Twain House Olive matched the paint chip

falcons plume

smokey olive

mark twain house olive

5 comments:

S'mee said...

Our #2son is a paint guy, meaning he has a paint store that specializes in paint specifically formulated for the southwest climate. He always INSISTS that a client buy a test sample/quart, "just to make sure...look it over, live with it a few days, check it out during different times and see if you really like it."

Painting is a huge expense to just grab a 5 gallon bucket and slap it on the wall.

...and good on you for taking those poor tints back!

Kim Carney said...

s'mee ... I always wanted to be a paint specialist! I love paint. I love the paint a wall ... get all excited in the paint department! Lucky him! but he is right about that ... when I was helping my Arch friend with paint palettes and combos, I learned so much about paint. xoxo

S'mee said...

He's the only man I know who will offer to come over and paint a wall! Most of his employees/coworkers would rather slit their wrists than paint anything, not him, he is well suited for his career!

Rowan A. Miller said...

so what color are you going with?!

Anonymous said...

Good tip. We're going to have our house painted soon. I'll be sure to do test swatches first.