There used to be a great website that did color equivalents in different brands but it is no longer. I just googled a whole bunch and one of the options was SW Greek Villa. Another blog mentioned Alabaster (SW) but I think Greek Villa... What do you think?

I was going to say they do pretty decent color matching nowadays..

"I am generally skeptical of paint companies' ability to match one another's colors"

They don't match by eye. At least Home Depot's (Behr paints) paint mixer is computer-controlled and is programmed with the formulas of other brand's paint colors. I bought Behr paint with a Sherwin Williams paint color and the SW paint color's name was even printed on the label. I'd call a SW dealer to confirm but I'd presume its paint mixer has the same capability.

I just had SW match an old BM color. It is perfect. The look up the formulas and the computer mixes the color. My painter just prefers using SW paint so he took the BM paint chip card with the number and the sample can for them to do the match.

Too lazy to drive 80 miles round trip, I went to local SW for a quart of paint to match BM. Not even close, pigments are different, sheen is different, and I will have to repaint with BM. Find a color you like in SW and go with that.

Sounds like maybe I need to give the matching a chance. My understanding was that they're not accurate for the whites/neutrals because their bases are different, but perhaps they've gotten better at correcting for this with the formula?

remodeling1840 - that was my fear, and why I was looking for a "native" SW color that would be similar, though obviously not identical.

"remodeling1840 - I went to local SW for a quart of paint to match BM."

What year was that?

Wdccruise, it was about 18 months ago.

Wow as always, Lori comes through. Awesome!!!!

It really depends on how picky you are that the match is perfect. I always ask first to see how picky the person is before cross matching. If the room comes out looking differently than you expected (which happens all the time even when you don't cross match) you may end up blaming the bad color match, whether it was a good match or not.

Thanks, Lori, that's tremendously helpful! I've already got a sample of Alabaster, and I'll pick up Marshmallow and Shell this weekend. Interestingly, Marshmallow is one of the first ones I was drawn to, but it doesn't seem to get the attention that Alabaster and Greek Villa do, so I figured there must be a reason and skipped it in my first round. Plus I thought perhaps I was being swayed by the name, as I'm a marshmallow lover (only slightly kidding there :-).

Neutral paint colors are so much harder than color-colors. We're building a new house and the blue (for the den) and purple (my daughter's room for that one) were comparatively easy to sort out. Finding a good cabinet/trim warm off-white for our NE facing, tons of windows room and a default main level neutral (which will at some point have every exposure except west) may drive me bonkers. This helps me make a plan for moving forward.

Lori is right as always. My advice would be to take your actual chip of Ben Moore Swiss Coffee into the store, and have them scan the chip directly. Get a full gallon of the real trim paint your contractor will use, same grade and sheen. Test from that. The sample quarts are usually not accurate in such light colors.

Over the last couple of years, I've had a surge in match issues between SW and Benjamin Moore. Used to be, the formula in the SW computer was pretty good. But both companies have made changes to their paint bases AND their colorants, and I don't think the crossovers are as good. Simply White in particular is a bad match and I've been on several calls because of it.

At the very least, you should check the competitor match after it fully dries against the original chip. Hope that helps.

PaintColorHelp.com Dallas is right as always. :)

Marshmallow is one of the first ones I was drawn to, but it doesn't seem to get the attention that Alabaster and Greek Villa do

The internet is monkey see monkey do with paint colors. Many color and design bloggers just copy and paste the same info from each other. Which is why some paint colors get an inordinate amount of traction. For example, Revere Pewter.

The only thing that matters is that it looks pretty. If it looks pretty, don't over think it. #pursuepretty

I always wonder how many homeowners can identify paint color samples without the paint chip in hand for comparison. If the authentic paint color and the match were painted side by side on a wall, could the homeowner identify the "correct" paint sample by just looking at which one looked better in the space?

Also, I suspect that the average paint purchaser could not match the wall color of a painted wall to the correct chip if given a fan deck of similar shades which were only identified by random numbers. I am sure that some professionals can walk into a room and identify colors but the average homeowner only knows the color name from the paint can or color sample.

I don't particularly care how good the match is unless I am trying to work with a previously painted space where a poor match would be easy to spot.

If the authentic paint color and the match were painted side by side on a wall, could the homeowner identify the "correct" paint sample by just looking at which one looked better in the space?

A lot.

But for an equal number, close enough is good enough.

With hand-held colorimeters like Color Muse, NIX and ColorReader people can quickly scan the mixes and find out how good of a match it is. So, even those for whom it was good enough before, now have expectations for better color matches. And the ones that were particular before now have a tool they can weaponize (for lack of a better word) for demanding perfect color matches.

Clients have been known to accuse the painter of using the wrong paint because the color they see on the wall does not match what they expected to see. It is much more likely to be "wrong" because they had not selected from a real paint sample and failed to recognize the effect that other colors in the space and the lighting would have on the appearance of the space. Take away the reference framework and then see how many people can identify the choices. I would love to see a true blind test of asking knowledgeable customers to identify a series of painted samples by providing color names and paint companies. Without any real evidence, I can not be convinced that people can identify results when they do not see the materials being used.

I agree that the technology has permitted many uninformed people to masquerade as color experts because their gadgets show them the info. It is a bit like a student who can't pass a math test without a calculator because they don't understand the subject matter but do know the sequence of buttons to press. It takes more than technology to make a true expert.

Installed cabinet doors painted with SW ProClassic Acrylic latex semigloss, color-matched to KM Swiss Coffee. Small uninstalled cabinet door painted with KM Durapoxy semigloss enamel with factory Swiss Coffee. Not a match. I would really try to stay away from color matching, if possible.

I had commented when this was first posted and missed the follow up question directed at me. I used SW paint in Nov 2017 in a tiny bathroom. When my painters came to paint, among other rooms, the trim inside the bathroom door, it was obvious to him and to me the color was not close to the beautifully rich depth of color in the BM paint.