Lesson learned!

You. Cannot. Trust. Home Depot. To. Mix. Paint.

EVER.

With the start of my "secret" room that I am working on, I needed paint. No biggy right? most home decorating/remodeling takes paint.

I oohh'ed and ahhhh'ed over swatches for days, mocked up schemes on my walls, sat, pondered, asked fellow Facebook followers for input, sat and pondered some more, slept on it, dreamed of it, drank coffee with it...... You get the idea.

I started with these images for inspiration:

From Luxe Chandelier

 and 

From: Lonie Mae Blog 

Which led me to this:

 

You all gave me your thoughts on Facebook.
I in turn went to my walls with paint again asking for thoughts.

With the jury weighing in on colors, I went to actual samples. Narrowing down my choices to 3 and working with the paint I already had.

Again, you all voiced your opinions on Facebook. Whatever would I do without you?!

So the color was chosen and I went to pick up the paint after a hectic day. I headed to the neighborhood Home Depot, with my color swatch in hand. Now, I don't know about you, but I am a fan of Benjamin Moore paint. It applies well, durable, easy to use --but comes with one draw back, price. I am keeping this project budget friendly for obvious reasons...so a paint budget isn't large as I would rather spend money on other things to get the room "just right."

So at the local Home Depot I hand over my swatch reluctantly. The counter had a hand written sign stating, "Color Match machine is down." I sighed as the associate came over to help. She stated that since I had the color name and number they could just "look it up". "Groovy" I thought! I kindly asked for 1 Gallon of Behr Paint and Primer in 1, Eggshell finish, Interior Paint. Within minutes the colorant was added and my lovely gallon was in the shaker getting mixed.

Moments later the associate returned, plopped the gallon on the counter, popped open the lid and ****GASP**** Brown/Taupe paint!!!!! Really? Say it isn't so!

She dabbed the paint on directly on my swatch and we waited for it to dry. I protested and stated that the color was completely off. I proceeded to ask if the other location had their color match machine up. The associate double checked, confirmed that they did. I grabbed my fan deck, my keys off the counter and headed to the second Home Depot location across town.

There, I met with the associate at the paint counter. I explained my dilemna and she said we could mix into a tester. Perfect. She did just that. The sample was mixed, the lid taken off and AGAIN...Brown/Taupe paint!!
What the heck?! So she tried color matching the swatch and the computer returned the same code as typing in the sample, she re-callibrated the machine and tried again. Again, brown/taupe paint to no avail. Definitely not my beautiful grey color I was going for.

Defeated I left, walked out to the parking lot and looked on my phone for the information for the Benjamin Moore store. We recently got one back in town. The economy has taken a hit to small independents.

So, I called the store, talked to Brad, the owner and explained the situation. Gave him the color information, what finish etc I needed it in etc and asked if he could mix it for pick up. The store closed at 5:30.. it was already 5:15.. Can you feel the pressure?

Dodging in and out of traffic I made it to Brad's place by 5:24. Thankfully another customer was in the store, and I highly doubt he would've closed up knowing I was on my way.
I was never so happy to see the blown up paint can!!

My paint was waiting for me at the counter and I was in the meantime schooled on WHY Benjamin Moore paint's can accurately be color matched.

So basically, Benjamin Moore uses a more "pure" colorant that the competitors. The bases are different as well. Benjamin Moore also has a true clear colorant that's added, whereas competitors have a tint which adds to your final paint color making it slightly off.

I'd be interested to see how Lowe's does on color matching my selected color. As for now, I am happy to have the correct color... Even if I had to pay $50 for the gallon.

Let progress commence!