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Ben Moore Paint- Should I use colors from one strip?

13 years ago

I'm having a hard time deciding on new paint colors. I want there to be a cohesiveness but I will need variations. I have been trying to find one strip of benjamin moore where I like the dark, mid and light tones- and so far, I havent had any luck. What seem warm and chocolately turns into green or something at the lighter versions. I dont get it. Are these really different intensities of the same tone? How many people use the colors from one strip? Should I give up and try to mix and match on my own?

Comments (2)

decorativewalls
13 years ago
adh673,
You definitely don't have to choose colors from the same paint strip. Some people do and there is nothing wrong with that if the colors meet their expectations. I do agree with you on having cohesiveness through out the home. Just depends on what you are wanting to see as a future color palette for your rooms and what the other surroundings are.
The colors on the same strip of BM all consist of the same family of universal tints and the amount of the formula and the tint base will change with each of the colors on "that" strip. When you go to a different strip you will have a different family of colors arranging from #1base down to a deep base with the formula of the same tints used but only at different ratios.

Nothing wrong if you decide to choose from the Classic and then want to go over to the Color Preview for another hue. It is whatever will fit your rooms and what you want your rooms to say to you. Take in consideration your lighting and surroundings. All of these play important parts on how colors are perceived.
I just got back from a 10day cruise and I am now on the quest myself looking into some of the Caribbean blues. The waters and sky were amazing. Do you have specific colors in mind that you are drawn to?
PRO
Lori A. Sawaya
13 years ago
Professional color experts never use one strip of color - well, I shouldn't say never. I'll cop to doing it before. But only because it's the rare occasion that the light cooperates and it works or it was because I was in a hurry. What happens with one strip is if you don't choose big enough contrasts, then it's impossible to tell room to room that you've used different colors. And it's that point that you might as well have used just one color.

We've had lots of discussion about it on Color Budz. Here are links to a couple of the podcasts where Kelly, Rachel, and I disucss.

How Paint Chip Strips Really Work - Not Just In Theory

Just Paint
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