I've had mixed results with color matching. The paint stores(BM and SW) have always come out right on for me where as the big box stores have been hit-or-miss. Good luck...

I don't know if I explained my intentions well in the OP.

The paint store I am speaking of is not a "big box" store. It is a mom & pops type, been in business for decades, have actual decorators you can talk to. They carry Benjamin Moore. I will be buying BM paint from there, and was wondering if I could have them color match the SW colors I like for me as well and if they would turn out as nicely as the actual SW paintstore would be. I love the SW colors I mentioned, but would love to give this particular paint store my money and buy ALL the paint there - but they don't carry SW, they only carry BM. They were much more helpful than my local SW store, and that is why I want to give them my business. Do you think that a specialty paint store (not big box) would be able to color match the SW colors any better than the big box store? Would they create a BM equivalent of SW Blonde, for example?

Sometimes paint stores can't even match their own paint.

When my SW Blonde didn't look like the samples I had on the wall, they (SW store) told me it was because I used their Cashmere base. The testers they sell are from one of their cheaper paints. Soooo, I'd suggest whatever way you go, also sample it from the actual paint base you will use. When you go to buy a gallon of the Ivoire it will have a bit of red added to the formula making it a bit more pastel than your sample, too.

I asked Funcolors and Faron about this. They agreed the color can change along with the base.

Wow... interesting. Perhaps I should go ahead and get my SW from SW and my BM from BM!!

Hmm... is the gallon of Ivoire not like the swatch, then?

I had a very nice SW color get made up by BM and it looked AWFUL! I'd stick with each separate manufacturer as paint typically isn't refundable.

Thanks a lot everyone! I'm glad I asked. I almost didn't, thinking it was a "dumb question."

I agree---color matching is very hit or miss. The "computer" eye sometimes seems colorblind!

I have never had any problems with matching colors going to a paint store . Not big box. In the few times I had this done, they usually put a dab of thier match on the color swatch of the original color.Then they are side by side on the same swatch and you can readily see the color.I have had this done at BM as well as ICI. If the are experienced peoople they should be able to give you a good match, especially as you are using good quality paint to begin with.

Sorry, this info can sound a bit confusing. Did you paint a sample of the Blonde? If so, the color might be a little off if you buy it in a different SW base, like I did with the Cashmere. They use a more subtle red (maroon instead of new red) in that mixture. It's still very pretty.

Afa the Ivoire, I just had tons of wall to paint with that. 19' ceilings in the entry and living room, halls etc. Again I used the Cashmere base which is different from the quarts-to-go base. The quart sample is too small to have the tiny bit of red added to it so the color was off on that front, also (not by much).

My questions...did you use actual paint from SW to sample or are you just going off the chip? If you end up using SW paint, what type will you use Duration, Cashmere...they have many?

When I saw that the formula was different when my painter showed up with the gallons than it was on the quarts-to-go and posed my question on the paint forum, a gal posted that she had the same thing happen to her when using Cashmere base. She went back to SW and bought their cheap paint (the stuff they use in the sample quarts) and repainted over the Cashmere.

I had RH's Silver Sage and SW's Misty, mixed by BM and they were both perfect.

The color matching using the laser 'eye' will match exactly if it is read correctly. It is 'cracking the code' to get the ingredients mixed. They should be able to dab a sample on the sample provided so you know they are an exact match.

The problem I believe that is being referred to above regarding the bases has to do with them using the recipe provided on the back of the chip or show on your paint can once you get it mixed. Each brand uses a different base so thus you will have some variance.

Personally, I would use the mom and pop shop. They will know their abilities and successes. Plus it always feels nice to help the small stores stay in business.

Several years ago I had SW Raffia basket mixed by HD. I didnt need an exact match, so if it was off I didnt notice it. However, since then I have never had luck having the big box stores color match. I learned my lesson, because several times HD didnt want to take back the paint...and that is most store's policy on custom mixing. Its so frustrating when its not right. Recently I had SW mix one of their colors and I thought it was off. The way they described it was the sticks have a different sheen, the color is the same but the way the paint reflects the light is how it changes...flat vs satin vs gloss. It took a while to make me a believer but the guy was right. The color was on the mark, the sheen made it look different. My suggestion, whether is be SW, HD or BM is if you can live with it being off, then go ahead and have it mixed at BM. It might be real close. I would only do one gallon, bring it home and make sure you like it before you have them mix all of it. It you are a perfectionist (like me and it has to be right), then have the manufacturer mix it. Everyone has different bases and while they try to compensate, it doesnt always work out exactly. I think its less noticable on the light colors, but any change in formula will be more noticable the darker you go.

Matching and mixing colors is not an exact science. It is an art form that has been commercialized for the retail market. There is no such thing as a 100% guaranteed perfect color match. What does guaranteed color perfect match mean any way. "Perfect Match" according to what and whom and in what lighting conditions.

The way to home sample MOST accurately is to buy a quart of the color in the base and sheen you intend to ultimately put on your walls. Even then, stuff can happen.

I talk a lot about expectations. Expectations of color on various levels. What do you expect the wall color to do for you, the room, the design goals, the light, etc.

The other part of my expectations discussion is how do you expect that small chip to translate and play out in your 3D room. Sometimes, depending on the feedback given during those discussions, changes are made in color choice, paint brand and even sheen because it becomes apparent that the original paint/paint color choice is not going to sync up well with the now better defined expectations.

It can help to know going into the color matching endeavor that you may need to relax your expectations a little because stuff can happen along the way. Starting at getting a decent match to a chip all the way up to the end when the whole room is done, the ceiling is painted and all the contents are put back in the room.

Color is a phenomena of nature and there is only so much one can do to control it. In the end, everyone makes their best guess; the homeowner or designer who picked the wall color as well as the guy trying to mix it.

How well a Ben Moore store can match those SW colors depends on many factors like how well maintained and calibrated is the equipment to how experienced and skilled at mixing color are the staff.

Always have them dry out a sample of what they mix. Take it to a window or outside. If, at that point, it does not meet your expectations, then don't buy it. Nothing says you have to. If they can't mix it to your satisfaction, just leave.

I've had a number of the Martha Stewart colors from the K-Mart line mixed in Benjamin Moore and the success depends on how hard the guy shooting the cans works to get it right. I watched my local paint man work on Winter Surf for 15-20 minutes one day. He just wouldn't quit 'til he got it right.

I think the reason why this happens less often at a big box store is that the staff is often swamped, particularly on weekends.

Regarding FC's musings on "expectations" I would add that everyone has a different eye. How finely tuned is your eye? A slight difference in color (new red vs. magenta, for example) might make a difference to some people and drive them crazy, but I suspect most people wouldn't notice a difference. You have to figure out where you are on the color sensitivity spectrum. (pardon the pun)

Funcolors said everything I was thinking, worded it much, much better, and added some specifics that would never have occured to me. Pay attention to that.

I would, for my part, Absolutely try to get the SW colors matched at your little special store. Ask first, but they pretty much know how good they are at color-matching, and they also may have the SW formulas in their computer. I know my SW store has most Ben Moore formulas in theirs.

Unless your match must be exact, most color matches are going to give your room the same look and feel that you would have had from the original paint manufacturer. There are some exceptions to this, and there are some paint company's that use very different formulations, but between BM and SW, I think you're golden!

Red

Wow, wow, thanks for the great advice! I have given this a lot of thought and have decided that on the "color sensitivity spectrum" I am probably not on the higher end of fussy. (it would have to be really really off for me to care. I do have a careful eye, but not too much of a picky one) So, I am going to see my favorite lil' paint store about color matching my SW colors while I am there buying my BM colors.

Thanks again, everyone!

I'm late to this party, but SO grateful for this thread. I'm quickly accumulating lots of sample pots in my garage (DH is going to flip when he sees the entire collection) thanks to the issues raised here. I pasted 10 SW chips on my wall, left them there a few days to see which ones I liked the best, went to get those 3 or 4 samples and put them on the wall, and they're all wrong -- mostly too grey. I went to Lowe's and asked them to match various BM colors, and about half of them were great, and half of them were ridiculous (Shaker Beige was dark, Carrington Beige was *peach*).

So I'm sticking with SW, and avoiding the Cashmere -- and might even start buying tester quarts of their cheapo paint to get a better match, for less frustration. It's nice to see others' experiences, and know I'm not making this up.

I wanted to match a color that is no one's color but my own. That is, it was a BM color many, many years ago but has not been in their line for many years. My painter told me to get a gallon made up, because the proportions for a quart and the proportions for a gallon are actually different. Also, he told me to have them use the same base as the one he was going to use to paint the walls. Very good advice.

I also used my neighborhood paint store, and they did take special care to get the color match right.

And some more information: the SW guy explained today that some of the lighter colors just don't work in the quarts, because the computer somehow can't work out the color formula correctly for anything less than a gallon. I.e., Moderate White looks like a warm white on the chip and like a grey mess on my wall: the guy explained that there is a tiny amount of black in that color, but in the quart size the black predominates and can't be corrected for.

not sure why this is, but there you go. He advised me to take multiple chips and tape them together on the wall, then buy gallons only of those I'm most interested in.

Aggggh! This entire process is making me pull out my hair!

I go to a True-Value, and the paint guy there is a genius. He's matched Farrow and Ball colors in BM base, and perfectly, too. I like Ben Moore colors better than any other, except F & B, so I don't switch around very much. But his eye is better than the computer, I think. He's in Pasadena, CA, and I hope he never retires.