Pick a color. Paint. Move on. Or step away for a while and don't think about it at all. Sometimes we can get overly involved with these decisions - analysis paralysis. In most cases once you've painted and let it be for a while you'll be happy with, or at least won't pay much attention to, the color.

but the point is I wasn't able to judge LT fairly, because it wasn't mixed right. I felt like it was a lot lighter than I thought it would be and looked like a pinky beige, which I'm thinking is because they used the pastel base. I wanted to explain what happened, so everyone else will know what to look for when they have their paint mixed. If it's not anywhere near what you expected, you can at least check to make sure they used the right base.

Laurie

It is so frustrating not to find what you are looking for. To add unexpected elements into the mix makes decision making even more difficult. I remember looking for the right shade of yellow and I must have had 20 samples. I knew when I found the right one. So will you--its just a matter of finding it! Good luck, I will be in your shoes soon as I am ready to change out the yellow.

Rose -âÂÂIn most cases once you've painted and let it be for a while you'll be happy with, or at least won't pay much attention to, the colorâÂÂ
Not always the case. If you donâÂÂt like the color in the end, most times youâÂÂre going to pay attention to it. Ask me how I know.
Everyone says âÂÂit's just paintâ but paint, IMO, isnâÂÂt something thatâÂÂs cheap to be messing up colors when you have other things on a todo list.

Msrose - IâÂÂm sorry they didnâÂÂt mix the paint right. ThatâÂÂs very frustrating and it probably did change the color. They mixed a whole gallon of that right? Did it still look off when you held the sample beside it once dry on the wall? IâÂÂve learned to always take my paint sample along and have them check it. There was more than once that the color was very much off from the sample and adjusting was needed.

Laurie, sorry to hear about the problems you are still having. My sister paid $50 to have Home Depot come in and give her an estimate to paint her home and also gave her advice on colors that would work in her house. She had no intention of having them paint, she was going to do that herself, but the $50 was worth the color advice they gave her. Just a thought.

shee - I agree. I've got too big of an area to paint to just pick a color and live with it. Hey, I'm only on paint can #2 and I've been through way more than that before to find the "right" color". Paint is extremely important to me and I would rather waste a couple of cans in the process and end up with a color I love.

I actually had my mother pick up the can of LT for me and she didn't have a sample to compare. Once the wall was painted, I kept holding my painted posterboard up to it and thinking that it looked really off, but I thought it was because the sample was flat and I bought eggshell. It might not have made that my difference, but I've decided I am going to have them remix it just so I can see.

roseabbey - I didn't know Home Depot did that. I'll keep that in mind if I find myself going through too many cans :) I've decided that if LT and DB don't work, your Harvest Brown is going to be the next thing I try.

Laurie

Laurie- I FEEL your pain. Not to scare you but it took me 2 yrs to pick a color...I spent ALOT of money on samples. I must have went thru at least 15 different color samples..

At the time, SW Restrained Gold, SW Ivoire and whatever other color was on that strip was the colors everyone was using...and it looked like a perfect golden tan in everyone elses rooms...But went totally BLAH in the area I was looking to paint.

Yes it is only paint but I wouldn't want to paint a whole area and then realize I don't like the color and have to redo it either.

But I would do one wall or a good portion of a large wall--to really get an idea of what the paint would look like.

You are looking at Benjamin Moore colors right? What advice have they given you--I would think they would be able to advise you what undertones the different colors have. But then again, it could look totally different in your space.

Wishing you luck on finding one you like, I know it can be very frustrating.

always - I'm getting my BM paint from Ace Hardware and I have a feel the guys there aren't really into picking good colors, although I may be wrong. I did go to an actual BM store a couple of years ago since I had heard about the great advice they give and how they sometimes have color consultants. The guy there wasn't helpful at all and acted like he'd never heard of BM having a color consultant. I went through so many cans of paint when I was trying to pick a color for the entryway at my old house. I feel confident I can do this in less. Remember that old show Name That Tune where they would say "I can name that tune in 3 notes". Well, I'm predicting I can pick a color in less than 5 cans. I know I'm probably aging myself now.

Laurie

msrose- I understand your frustration. I must have sampled at least ten colors on my wall before deciding on one. When I purchased the gallon size and started to paint the wall, I knew it was way off from the sample. So, it does happen!

I know I couldn't just pick a color and live with it. If I didn't think it was the perfect color, I would obsess over it..LOL. A good paint is expensive , and I don't love painting that much to have to paint more than once!

Anyway, I don't know if that one number being off can really make that much difference, but I'm thinking it did.

Yes, it can. That's why I'm always preaching that the typical paint/color consumer has no business getting involved with the formulas and colorant listings on the label.

This is why "cutting" formulas by a percentage is a ridiculous concept - it sounds so precise, but there's nothing precise about it. And altho people speak to having successfully "cut" formulas, it's intangible, unspecific, and not applicable information beyond their own experience with their specific can(s) of color.

Whenever you cross brands, take a chip from one brand and have it matched somewhere else, it's not going to be exactly, perfectly, literally just like the original brew from the original brand. Some colors could qualify as a "spot-on match" and others maybe not so much - this also depends on who ya ask if it's a "match" or not.

Some people can see sense "what's off" about a color that's been matched in another brand and other people don't see any difference at all - looks the same to them.

Color acuity and tolerances are not one-size-fits-all. If it doesn't take much to satisfy your expectations for wall colors, then that's awesome. If you're a little more picky and color sensitive, then that's awesome too. There's no need to reach for or settle for whatever color is most convenient and easy. You might just have to take a lil more time and work a lil harder but most things worth doing requires effort.