Color Matching Between Paint Brands – Does it Work?
Should you get a paint color from one brand made by another?
No. There, that was easy! But we all know you’re not here from my brevity (it’s my wit and charm that keeps you coming back). Seriously though, you CAN get your paint colors matched, but as they say (whoever ‘they are’), just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD.
Why?
PAINT COMPANIES ARE TERRIBLE AT MATCHING EACH OTHER’S COLORS – FULL STOP
Whether a paint company has a computerized matching system or does it by eyeball, it’s rarely accurate.
Why?
Well, the main reason is that paint companies use different BASES.
So, you know how paint cans on the shelf have ‘Base 1, Base 2, Base 3, Base 4′ or something like that written on them? Well, that’s the BASE, the foundation of the paint. The lighter the base, the lighter the paint color. Base 1 makes white/light colors right up to Base 4, which is used to make dark paint colors. The LRV of a paint color would directly relate to the base needed to create it.
Paint companies often use different ingredients in their bases, so you’re not working with the same foundation when you switch brands.
In the above example, while both samples are still wet (I mean, they aren’t literally STILL wet; surely they’ve dried by now), you can see that Sherwin William’s version of Edgecomb Gray is considerably warmer than the actual color from Benjamin Moore. This isn’t Sherwin Williams’ fault; it’s not their paint color. However, they should tell customers they can’t create a perfect match.
Edgecomb Gray in action…
Paint Color Review of Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray
Let’s take a look at Sherwin Williams Sea Salt…
10 Questions to Ask BEFORE You Hire a Painter
Just look at the variation in undertones! The Benjamin Moore match has more green, which means it could look even greener if you had a south-facing room. This might make Kermit the Frog happy, but I’ll safely assume you don’t like to eat flies or date pigs. You may want to get Sherwin William’s version of their own color, which casts a bit more blue in comparison.
Sea Salt in action…
Paint Color Review: Sherwin Williams Sea Salt
Not only that, but some companies use different colorants or tints to create their colors. For example, Benjamin Moore’s black is black, and Sherwin Williams’ black has a wee hint of blue in it.
To put that in example form, if you choose a popular Benjamin Moore paint color like Stonington Gray, which is made with black, and make it with Sherwin William’s paint, you won’t get a perfect color match because they would be using a different type of black.
If your painter says they can get you a perfect match…
1. Oh, they can probably get you a good match or even a damn close one, but it won’t be perfect; it will be that brand’s ‘version’ of the color you chose.
2. If you’re okay with ‘close,’ that’s okay. However, if you want the color you chose to be the color on your walls, you have to go with that color’s brand. End of story.
But why would anyone want one brand to match another brand’s paint color?
- to save money as one brand might be more affordable than the other
- the painter says they’ll only paint with one particular brand (which is why you should read THIS)
- you’re more COMFORTABLE with the other brand due to familiarity/experience
All of the above are NOT good excuses to get a color match unless you’re okay with not getting the color you went in for.
Let’s just do the math here (not my strong point, especially after two glasses of wine). Let’s say you needed three gallons of paint.
- Brand A: $60 per gallon = $180
- Brand B: 40 per gallon = $120
You end up with a $60 difference and the wrong paint color. If you ask ME, it would be worth spending $60 to get the right color, rather than spending another $120 (plus labor) to paint my walls with the right color, once the wrong one doesn’t turn out as expected.
And, of course, EXPOSURE can play a huge part, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog post.
Let’s look at another color-matching disaster, this time, by Home Depot…
It’s like falling in love with a good white wine from one brand and expecting the same taste from a different winery that uses different grapes to make the same general taste profile (e.g., Chardonnay). It might be similar, but it won’t be the same (but let’s be honest, I’d drink it anyway).
This is also a valid point with paint. If you aren’t too fussy about undertones and are just looking for a color to change your space, you might not care too much (and I’ll slap you with a wet noodle next time I see you). However, if you’re aware of the different undertones in paint colors and want the color you’ve chosen to be the color that ends up on your walls, you’ll want to use the paint brand from which your chosen color came.
Let’s hammer that one down…
If you want the color you’ve CHOSEN to be the exact color that ends up on your walls, you’ll want to use the paint brand that your chosen color came from – moi
FUN FACT 1: Did you know that Samplize Peel & Stick uses each brand’s OWN PAINT (usually from their mid-lines) to make their paint samples? There’s no printing process or computerized matches – it’s the actual paint.
I say this because when you’re getting sample pots made, a) they’re made with a super cheap line of paint, which can make it look different, or b) if you’re not within your brand, it’s a different type of paint entirely, as shown below, and c) don’t waste time getting brand’s to match each other’s colors and do a sharty job of it. Order Samplize from the brand you like and go with it.
Let’s look at a few more examples to seal the deal (I love this stuff).
In the above example of Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray, the proper Benjamin Moore sample shows the nugget of green tucked inside it. The color match from Sherwin Williams shows very little green and is also a bit darker.
In this next example, we have Sherwin Williams Aesthetic White, a popular off-white paint color…
Sherwin Williams Aesthetic White in action…
WHY DOES MY PAINT COLOR LOOK DIFFERENT THAN I EXPECTED?
FUN FACT 2: Sometimes, paint companies have difficulty getting their own paint colors right, but never mind other brands. #thingsthatkeepmeupatnight. That’s right. You might order Benjamin Moore White Dove for your walls and trims but find that your walls look different than the trim – even though it’s the same color from the same brand. Let’s look at why…
1. How a paint color looks changes when you choose different sheens.
It’s normal to have matte or eggshell walls and a satin finish on your trims and cabinets. However, light bounces off the sheens differently, which makes the color look different depending on how the light hits – nature of the beast.
Check out this bathroom and notice the subtle shift between the wall and the trim—both of these colors are Benjamin Moore White Dove (the shiplap is Sherwin Williams Network Gray)…
Is there anything you can do?
First off, it doesn’t happen all the time; it just seems to be between different lines/sheens. Assume everything will be fine, but if not, go to your paint store and ask them to tweak one or the other so they match.
Second, even if there is a subtle shift between walls and trims or cabinets, with the change in sheen and how each reflects light, there’s a lot of forgiveness as how it looks can change based on where you’re standing!
2. As you change ‘lines’ of paint within a brand, the formulation of the ‘base’ changes.
Let’s say you choose Benjamin Moore Aura for your cabinets and Regal for your walls and paint them the same color. Even though they’re the same color, their FOUNDATIONS or bases are different because they’re different paint lines. This means that the tints they add to each gallon will vary.
Again, assume everything will be fine. But on the off-chance it’s not, these reasons could be why!
In this next image, the same paint color (Sherwin Williams White Duck) is on the walls, cabinets, and fireplace. Notice how the cabinets look lighter than the brick and walls. The brick and walls are likely matte or eggshell, and the cabinet has a satin finish.
Even if the actual ‘color’ of the two types of paint changed (wall paint vs. cabinet paint), natural light works its magic with the two different sheens, and you’d hardly know it!
3. If you’re referring to differences between your walls and cabinets, some painters/manufacturers…
a) do a bad match as they ‘say’ it’s a specific brand/color, but they attempt to match it into a different paint line.
b) use alkyd paint, which can make a color look a bit warmer or yellowed than the original version.
In this next image, notice how the cabinets look softer and warmer than the bulkhead and ceiling…
There you have it! Have you ever had a bad match? Tell me about it! Had a good experience? I’d love to hear about that, too!
READ MORE
The 12 Best ‘Whole Home’ Gray and Greige Paint Colors
LRV and Paint Colors: The Ultimate Guide You Need to Read
10 Questions to Ask BEFORE You Hire a Painter
NEED HELP?
Check out my Online Paint Color Consulting; I’d love to help!
ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN 2021, UPDATED IN 2024
Wow, I’m so glad you shared this! I chose Edgecomb Gray for a room and we don’t live close to a Benjamin Moore store so I had SW make it. It was awful…it felt like orange undertones. Now I know why.
I had this same experience. The SW version of Edgecom gray was very peachy toned, definitely not the same as the BM brand. So thankful we found a painter who would use the correct brand! Thank you for sharing Kylie!! ❤️
It’s CRAZY who often it happens, I’m so glad your painter listened ;).
Confession: I did this with SW Agreeable Gray mixed by Benjamin Moore and I love it. (Hubby prefers to use BM—what’s a girl gonna do?). But I also tried it with SW Nacre mixed in BM paint. It was a complete disaster. It was YELLOW. So you’re definitely on to something, but I guess I like living on the edge! Keep up the good work! Love the blog!
When you pick up your paint if it is not a good match you can insist the store tweak it until it’s an exact match. I am a professional painter and often get asked by a client for a colour in a different paint brand. All my local paint stores know me and know I won’t accept their machine matches. They know I expect an exact match so they either tell me up front a 100% match can’t be made (extremely rare) or they ask for a few days to tweak it. It does take more work on their end but they can do it if you insist and give them enough time.
Thank you for this, you’re right, some of the techs are great at getting it, given some extra time!
Sadly, I learned this lesson the hard way! After much research and testing of samples, I finally decided on BM Edgecomb Gray. I was so excited for a fresh new look. And of course you guessed it, my painter had it color matched at Sherwin Williams. I got the exact same result as your samples above. No one really wanted to take responsibility for the difference and now I’m living with a color I really don’t love. So disappointing. Now I’m saving my pennies to have it repainted!
Hi Kylie!👋 I thought it was just whites they couldn’t match ? Thanks for sharing!
Oh, no, it’s all colours!
I wish I had read this a year ago, I wanted SW conservative gray for my kitchen, I had painted the living room with the real SW paint color and had it color matched for the kitchen and it turned out a muddy ugly green gray. Not at all the beautiful color in my living room. I am now repainting my kitchen !
Thankfully, I’ve never had this happen, because I have access to both Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams stores where I live. So, if I like one of their colors, I go get it from them. What I wanted to mention was if you think these samples are bad matches, go to one of your big box stores and try to have them match a SW or BM paint. While they can match it, they frequently cannot match it repeatedly and usually the color is off. I have rental properties and started out with SW paints, but due to the expense and frequent repainting I’ve used the big box stores to match the paint! Mistake! I’ve purchased paint matches from the same brand of big box stores, but in different locations and the paint color does not match at all! So I guess the moral is if you are going to use a big box paint, just use one of their colors….it will make your life easier. Or better yet just stick with SW or BM!
Thank you, this is SO TRUE!
I work for a paint company. If we have a color standard we can match ANY color from ANY company.
Hey! Which company? That’s great!!!
This is totally incorrect Benjamin Moore uses Genex tint machines and they are spot-on if they’re not then the guy mixing the paint should be able to doctor it up a little bit. The colors are exactly the same you cannot tell the difference with the naked eye. When you paint the room out it is impossible for you to tell the difference if it is off by the slightest bit. I’m a painter I’ve been one for twenty years I’ve also worked for Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams. Stop making it more difficult for people to pick colors. If they don’t match exactly it has to do with either the tint machine or the person mixing the color.
I appreciate your comment Tom! If I hadn’t experienced this first hand on many occasions myself, and have clients write to me telling me about their colour matching frustrations, I would have to agree! I appreciate ALL feedback and I’m glad you’ve had some great experiences. My goal is never to make it harder, rather inform readers based on 20 years of hands-on experience. Having worked at both Home Depot in the paint department as well as Benjamin Moore, the best advice was ALWAYS to stick with the brand you’ve got for a perfect match! And if it’s up to the paint tech to fix it, there are many talented employees for this, and others who actually WON’T play around to improve things. I’ve also had employees actually wreck the original colour, trying to get it closer, as they don’t have a knack for it.
I so wish I could include a pic. No, Tom, you are dead wrong. In fact, right as we speak the reason I found this post is because I’m stating at bright white cabinets and now yellow looking walls. Same color. Guess the difference? The brand. We used SW Alabaster in the entire house. Our painter only used BM and said he could match it. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. They’re not even done yet but there’s a thick line of their paint on our walls by the cabinets and it looks like primer compared to our walls. You can see the color difference right out of the can when I put theirs next to ours. Thousands of dollars down the drain.
Oh, Jessica, I’m sorry to hear this! And whites really are the HARDEST to match. Even within the brand itself, they have a hard time getting a consistent white between wall paint/cabinet paint. I’m sorry to hear you had this experience…
You ARE correct. In my opinion, people should buy whichever color of paint they want from THAT paint company. Matches CAN be done by some people at some places if they care enough and are skilled enough to do it. People commenting about the technicalities of paint when they don’t know what they’re talking about is extremely annoying.
Thanks for your opinion and input Maxine! Having worked at 2 different paint stores and having dealt with various companies and clients for 20 years, I know what I’m talking about – I’m just here to help homeowners avoid mistakes that are being made daily :). Good luck with your colour matching!
So glad I read this article! We’re restoring a craftsman home and getting ready to paint. The colors I like are in BM And Sherwin Williams. Local hardware does one but not the other so very glad to know there is a difference!
I’m so glad you found it helpful, thank you, Carolyn!
Hi Kylie! A small reminder that all the reason you’ve mentioned above are very logical and so true. These companies can’t get a perfect match unless a talented employee will be willing to do the extra steps to match it well. I really want to thank you for your detailed post. It’s been extremely helpful!
Thank you for this! I thought I was going crazy! I picked up a gallon of a chosen color, and a sample of another color for a different room. I LOVED the sample in every tested spot. It was a Sherwin Williams color, color matched to Behr. I forgot that it had been a color match, so when I went back to buy a gallon, I went to Sherwin Williams. It immediately looked different, but I just thought it was because it was wet. Nope. The entire room has a blue undertone that was not present in the Behr version. Lesson learned. Now I’m just hoping that color matching back to Behr will give me the same color I loved from the start.
Nope. I have mixed many brands of paint through my 30+ year career in the painting industry and have only had two times where I couldn’t match the color sample. My career started at a time when there was no “color matching machine” (unless you count the two eyes located on the front of my face). If I didn’t get the color right after three trips to the tinter, I needed to go home and rest. Later in my career, when the store got a “color eye” it would mess up about every 10th match. Matching a color by eye is a lost art, I’m sad to say. Plus….now days I hear far too many times in the paint store that a color match will take “a day or two”………oh, please. Seems to me that the issue is employees who don’t want to take the time that is necessary to get it matched “spot on” rather than “close enough”. In my opinion, close enough is just wrong. When the color is tinted on a 1/32 scale rather than a 1/48th scale, it can be tough….but a little time, it can be dialed in, for sure!
Yvette, why can’t you live near ME? YOu’re the kind of employee I love workign with, as you get it, and you CARE enough to really get it. Thank you!!!!!
Hi Kylie!! I have been reading your blog for 2 years now as we have gone through building one home for my parents and are now building our home. You’ve been tremendously
helpful AND entertaining 😂 what are your thoughts on paint stores “color matching” prefinished cabinets?? Because of budget constraints the cabinets we will be getting are RTA. Sherwin Williams color matched the white to Extra White and the Dove White to Alpaca. To say I’m disappointed with those options is an understatement. I have no clue what direction to go in bc I have a crush on Alabaster. I may be asking for a consult package with you for my birthday! Any guidance is much appreciated!! You are wonderful!! I love your blog.
Hey Katie, sorry for the SUPER delayed reply – I finally have some time to catch up on comments!
Sometimes, color matching premade cabinets is all a store can do. I wish cabinet companies just went with BM and SW colors for their cabinets, as their clients would then have something familiar to work with! As for accuracy, it TOTALLY depends on the person doing it. They never get a 100% match, as different brands have different bases, but they can get pretty close!
Well, for some of us professionals, we will only use Benjamin Moore, because it’s American owned. Sherwin Williams is owned by Blackrock and George Soros. BM is owned by Warren Buffett. Behr is a Canadian brand.
Ahhh, interesting, I never thought of that! Now I’ve looked up SW and it looks like it’s US too. I also love Behr, but their sheens are a little wacky compared to BM and SW – I only use them for odd projects.
I love your website. I wish I would have seen this 2 days sooner, before spending $300 on paint at SW, none of which match the paint colors I asked to be paint matched, including within their same brand. The clerk recommended their duration rather than Emerald Design and said they could match it. Now I have $300 worth of paint I can’t use.
Oooooh boy, I’m sorry to hear this. People swear the brands can do it, but it’s just not a thing. If you order a Samplize sample of the color you wanted, it’s painted with 2 coats of each brand’s ACTUAL paint (so they can’t say it’s a printing error). Paint a sample board with 2 coats of what they gave you and show them the difference. If they say they CAN match, and they don’t, then it should be on them.
Hi Kylie, I painted my walls “whirlpool” with BEN by Benjamin Moore and my cabinet “whirlpool” with aDVANCE by Benjamin Moore.
They are completely diff colors. Could it have been a mistake by the paint tech? I understand diff bases… but this is totally off 🙁
Oh jeez. Yes, there can be a small difference, but it shouldn’t be SUPER noticeable. Would you mind sending me a few pics close-up and far off, so I can see what’s shakin’ and give you my thoughts on it? kylie@kylieminteriors.ca
I’ve had 2 professional cabinet painters tell me they don’t use either Benjamin Moore or Sherwin William “cabinet” paint because those are really just high-end trim paints that don’t harden to a true furniture finish. But obviously these paint companies have some of the best paint colors. These professionals claim to be able to color match from these 2 companies, but as you detailed above, I’m skeptical. Any thoughts. To get the color I want do I have to forego a true “furniture finish” or are there hardners that can be added?
Hmmm. With them calling them ‘high-end trim paints’ I have to agree, but that’s a GOOD thing – they’re like high-end trim paint – and trim and door paint is pretty darn hardy and washable! A lot of painters prefer a paint with an alkyd/enamel, but this tweaks how the color looks. I’ve had painters who swear they do a great match and it’s not close enough (my own kitchen being one of them). This isn’t to say their paint isn’t good, it’s that they formulations are different and they CAN’T get the same color
(especially with whites). If you go ahead with them, I would ask them to do up a sample door of the color you’ve chosen. I would also get a quart of that color in the ACTUAL brands paint/line/sheen that you would use if you went with the brand, and compare the two! Maybe it’ll work, but I’d double-check for SURE.
Do you think I would be able to bring a “samplize” sheet to SW paint store and have the technician color match a BM color using the manual color matching not just punching in the paint code? Would that result in a better color match? Reason is, I have a free gallon of untinted SW paint and I wanted to use that for my next project.
I think it’s worth a try. They might START by doing the computer match – then check it to your sheet. If it’s not good enough (as it will never be perfect), a good technician can look at the difference and hopefully make the small adjustments to get it closer!