@groundbeef1 this is terrific advice, thanks for sharing: "It's been my experience (both sides of the register) that if the color can't be accurately represented in the smallest size, the next largest size is suggested (quart or gallon) if the client (or customer) needs the 'exact' color." I usually just spring for a quart in the brand, grade and sheen I ultimately want to use. Had pretty good luck doing that, but I know that's not even a 100% sure bet for every single color. @vith random color names like gray, beige and sage are purely subjective and essentially have no real meaning. One man's beige is another's tan, is sage the color of the actual herb or does that one word include all grayed-down greens, etc. I think the most interesting point the graphic makes is all the colors in each row are VERY close in terms of value and chroma. Value as indicated by the second number in the notation. Chroma as indicated by the last number in the notation i.e. hue/value/chroma. For conversation sake, we can combine the notions of value and chroma together and call it grayness. Despite the hue parent, each color in each row has about the same pitch of grayness. No one color is markedly less or more gray than the other. Unlike beige and sage, gray holds an important role in colorimetry and is defined as being neutral, achromatic - in other words colorless. When the word gray is used casually to describe a subjective interpretation of color, it's rendered equally as vague as the words beige and sage.

Why can't anyone sell samples in a flat or matte? :/ To me, it does make a difference. I didn't think about waiting till they had sales. I can wait, I'm not in a big hurry. Are you loving the general color now that it's up on four walls lasatx, that's a hard question to answer. I've been thinking about it. In general, I like the color...well, one or two of the colors it can be at any given time. I'm not opposed to the color it's self. I'm opposed to the variety of colors it can turn and with the carpet. It's too bright for the carpet and the ambiance I wanted to project. It COULD look good if I didn't have a preconceived notion of what I expected. It's not the grownup plum I want. If I'm going to stay with purple, I think it's going to have to be a more brown based purple (which was suggested to me in one of my earlier threads on this topic). I originally didn't consider going that dark but I would. The gray based plums are pretty and give that dusky warmth but I don't think the gray base works with the creamy background of the carpet or the reddish brown floral print. I do think it's the magenta that's giving me fits but I've been wrong on ALL counts so far so who knows. When I can get to the SW store (40 miles one way) I'll take the left over paint and see if they'll work with me. I'm also going to test the Soulmate and possibly the Expressive Plum colors. I'm open to suggestions tho!!! I don't see how you can make an educated choice unless you paint all 4 walls since the same paint can be multiple colors at the same time. I never noticed the med chocolate brown color I had before this being that way. I have not tried the Reveal bulbs yet. I looked for them at WM a few days ago and didn't find any. I have to drive 40 miles one way to get to any other stores :o

Double thumbs up to Lori for sharing a lot of good knowledge on color science. Some of the regional paint companies will have their paint chips organized very similarly because they are part of a trade group that creates the chipsets for them. I'm not sure if Dunn-Edwards is in one of this organizations though. Adrienne, I don't see any harm in trying to get the offending area repainted. It sounds to me like someone used the wrong formula, on that second color, or the database came up with a match and that second formula was used for some reason. I have some insight into the paint side of this. There is a database of tint formulas for all of the colors on the chip racks, as well as a way to match color samples that the customer sends in. Humans usually check these databases to make sure the formulas make sense. The formulas are also optimized to use less expensive tints. 90% of the time, the customer wants some form of white, gray or beige, so the paint is typically tinted with some combination of black, red oxide, yellow oxide, or raw umber. Magenta and gold/medium yellow is typically avoided if possible due to higher cost and lower durability (sadly, brighter organic pigments don't last as well as the oxides).

Professionally finished cabinets are done in an opaque conversion varnish. Calling that “paint” is like calling your kids go kart an Indy car. Yeah, the’re both open wheel vehicles. No further similarities exist. If this guy doesn’t finish his products in house, with a conversion varnish, you don’t need to use him. Period. Your contractor is a hack by extension of even recommending this route. Professionally Finishing cabinets is 40-60% of the total cost of the cabinets. In other words, what you paid for the cabinets, get ready to write that same check to a pro finisher. Properly Finishing is just as much work as making them. Or more, if you want paint and glaze. Average for a standard 12x12 kitchen, redo, is 7-9K. Bigger kitchens are more. Taller cabinets are more. More details are more. Glazed are more. Islands are always more. Custom colors are more. And that’s with the doors done off site in a clean room, as they should be. All brand new cabinets should be coated in a clean room with a conversion varnish, by the maker, or his specialty finisher. See why I say he is a hack woodworker? A true custom cabinet maker controls the entire process, from lumber purchase through the installation in your home. He doesn’t allow some hack housepainter with a spray gun to ruin all his hard work.