This month's issue of House Beautiful has an interesting article about the process and equipment used by paint and hardware stores to match colors. When you bring an inspiring colored object to the paint store, in hopes of having them make a paint to match that color, they'll use something called a spectrophotometer. For the House Beautiful article they presented the same object (a blue Tiffany box) to five major paint retailers' (Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Lowe's, Ace Hardware, and Home Depot) to see which spectrophotometer created the truest match. Guess who won?...
Home Depot! We would have thought Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore would win this contest.
Typically there is no extra cost for bringing in something to be color matched and having the paint store create a custom color for you. The spectrophotometer digitally scans your object and records the reflected light wavelengths to create a color formula. The House Beautiful article says that spectrophotometers struggle with metallic objects, objects that are smaller than the size of a quarter, and photographs. Otherwise all else is game!
If you can't bring your inspiring object to the store and you've got some extra cash at your disposal you could buy Benjamin Moore's handheld device for $299.00. However this device will only tell you the closest existing Benjamin Moore color; it can't create a custom color for you the way a spectrophotometer can. Also check out this AT LA post about another handheld color matching machine.
Have you tried bringing in objects to be color matched? Were you successful?
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I would assume that a spectrometer needs to be calibrated, just like a monitor. I can't help but wonder if all those paint stores were using the same spectrometer but not all were correctly calibrated. Does anyone know anything about this equipment?
I have! A few years ago my youngest son wanted his new bedroom painted in Orange and Blue (Illini colors!) and I brought a bright orange t-shirt in, which was perfectly matched. I think it was at Home Depot! I'd definitely do it again if I had such a need.
I redid a desk and lined the sides of the desk and the drawers with a blue and coral paper. To get the paint color I went to the ACE Hardware Store in Malden and had them use the spectrometer to match a paper sample I brought in. They were very acurate. Here is the finished product:
http://katyoh.blogspot.com/2008/11/photographing-furniture.html
It's may be hard to see the paper up close in these pictures, but it gives you an idea!
My wife worked at Home Depot paint dept. on North ave. (Chicago), land of the yuppies and snobs. She said people would come in there to get color matching all the time becuase Benjamin Moore or others could not get it right.
To be honest with you I like Behr paint over Benjamin Moore anyday.
(She worked there 10 years) ^
I have used (Madison, WI) Home Depot's matching many times, and it was amazing how great it was. The only item it couldn't match was a RL swatch I tried.
My local hardware store did a great job of matching a turquoise paint that I wanted. I got the swatch at Walmart but didn't want to buy paint there, so I took it to the hardware store and they mixed it for me. That paint is my favorite in the whole house.
I brought a Restoration Hardware color swatch into Home Depot and they matched it perfectly. I've always been impressed with the quality of service there. Wal-Mart on the other hand... the "technician" said they were out of a base color, but he could mix a couple others to get blue...um, blue is a primary color!! I won't go back again. Boo Wal-Mart.
I worked at a little True Value hardware store in high school, back in the mid-90s when the paint matching machines were a pretty new idea (or at least new in our rural town!). Ours definitely had some sort of calibration procedure. And it did pretty well on good samples - paint chips, flat smooth non-glossy objects - but we always warned people that fabric, for instance, was hard to match because of the texture.
I want to paint my bedroom in Ralph Lauren's Stonewall color but I need to use low-VOC paint and RL doesn't make any that I know of. Should I trust a spectrophotometer to match it (say at Home Depot with their low-VOC line) or is there a better way to get a good match in a different brand?
I've had it done at Home Depot and was very satisfied with the result but, the service at the one in Hollywood is so bad, I prefer to go to Lowe's in Burbank. They're much nicer.
Katilm81, your desk looks beautiful. Great job!
I had paint matched from a paint stir stick when I needed touchup paint before moving last time. True Value, perfect match. Very handy!
Mostly, though, I use paint swatches for one brand and have it matched in another brand! Cheat!!
Spectros have to be calibrated every four hours if you're being really precise. But I have a feeling big box stores probably don't do it that often. I don't mean that like "They suck!" but that the paint match doesn't have to be as spot-on as the work I do.
glad to hear that most people had luck with home depot. I had home depot color match a paint chip from lowes (b/c I was too lazy to drive an hour to lowes!) - they did great on the quart size for my wall sample, but the 2nd time I went back with both the chip and the quart, the gallons came out too light. so...I'm not sure what to make of color match at home depot...
I currently work for a paint store as a decorator where I have worked for 3 1/2 years (Porter Paints; not nationwide).
The difference between some stores and others is whether they simply mix paint for your from what the equipment reports or take the extra time to match a color by hand. In my store, we first scan the sample, then reduce the formula to 75%. We mix the reduced formula, then add colorant in increments, checking for accuracy in several lights after each addition, until the match is perfect. While you might get lucky with certain colors, a store that matches by hand is the only way to get consistent perfect matches.
Some more information: spectrophotometers require at least a quarter size sample and do not read well materials that are not solid. Many fabrics that are loose-weave or simply have too much texture or variation will not read well. Photos of colors (e.g., magazine clippings) almost never come out close based on the machine alone. Always look for a paint store that will provide the customer service to make a perfect match for you even if the spectrophotometer isn't up to the job!
Thanks Seaside!!
When we first moved into our first "real" apartment together, me and my boyfriend bought a white Expedit from Ikea. We brought the thing to Home Depot and had them color match the white so that we could paint another piece of pre-existing furniture to match.
Seriously.
Of course the Expedit is long gone, but we still have that other piece of "Expedit White" to remind us. And neither of us can even fathom why we thought it was a good idea in the first place.
liana: I matched an RL swatch with Behr at Home Depot once, and it didn't come out quite the same. It could have been the different in finish (I think the swatch was eggshell, and I wanted semi-gloss.) or just a difficult shade to match (a deep orangey red), but that's the only time it didn't work, so proceed with caution!
It was great to read all these positive comments about people’s experience with spectrophotometers or “spectros” for their paint color matching needs.
I just want to mention that I work for X-Rite (www.xrite.com) which produces “spectros” for the hardware stores.
Just wanted to chime in with some information regarding this topic, I hope you will find this helpful.
Yes, spectrophotometers need to be calibrated, but how often varies between the type of spectro and who the manufacturer is. X-Rite for instance has one spectro which only needs to be calibrated once a week, while another model requires daily calibration. So be sure to check with your paint store to make sure the unit is calibrated per manufacturers recommendations so that you can be sure to get the most accurate color match for your sample.
In terms of what type of material and the size of the sample not all spectro can measure everything. X-Rite latest spectro MatchRite iVue (http://www.xrite.com/ivue) can measure samples that are as small as 6mm and can also measure samples of almost any size and fabric samples because of its non-contact nature. Of course some of the other spectro models cannot provide accurate results with fabric samples.
For those of you looking for a handheld device for the home (like the one mentioned in the article), that can take color samples and match them to the nearest color on fandecks check out CAPSURE (www.xrite.com/capsure). This instrument can grab colors off of textured samples, and multi-colored patterns.
If you have any more questions feel free to email me.
can someone tell me the closest Tiffany Box Blue Shade there is at Home Depot or BM? I've got samples of Waterfall and Fun-n-games from BM?
Just read the blog posting by The Beverly Hills Organizer who showed pictures of Moore's custom color Tiffany Box #547-1X, bought at Cox Paint Center in Culver City, CA. Wondering can one get custom colors such as this that are enviro-friendly?
You can also ask Roger Nickell of Streamline Painting for many great ideas when it comes to paint colors. He knows more about this kind of stuff and you can be pleased with his ideas too. Bringing stuffs for color matching is a great idea as well.