How do I match paint to the color on the walls?

[jimmy50]

I'm trying to do some touch up painting but don't know what the exact color on my walls is now. I'm sure there is a way to match the current paint with a new bucket at the hardware store, but I don't know how to do it. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[CraigFL]

Take a razor blade and cut a small square/sample from your current paint --- easy to repair with spackle, and have the store scan it to match.

 

[HDwetPaint]

Hey jimmy50, like craigfl had said you can remove a small sample of paint from the wall and bring it into your local paint store and have it matched. There are a few things to consider before cutting a hole in the wall. Make sure if the area you are touching up is in any sort of direct sunlight it has not faded to the point where repainting the entire wall is needed. next what I do is check to see if the switch plates were painted if so pop one off and take it in, if they weren’t sometimes it’s still not a bad Idea to remove them to see if there is a large enough sample behind them to bring in for matching. Otherwise you may just have to find a inconspicuous area where you can cutout a clean quarter sized sample of paint off the wall, id go with either behind a door, or some curtains. Once you have that bring it in and have them scan it with their photo spectrometer. Good luck and hope this answers your question.
Jeff

 

[SirGSS]

.. You know, so far as matching paint goes, that's.. Incredibly simple. More than I would expect, even though it seems a no-brainer, now. I'll have to file this information away for the next time I need to do some touchup painting!

 

[HDwetPaint]

With all the new technology that paint stores have at their disposal it can really make a DIY'rs job much easier, glad we were able to help.

 

[RD55]

If I were you, I would scrape off a small piece of the paint and bring it into the store, so they can match it up the best they can, and you can always paint over what you scraped off.

 

[itjedi42]

Thanks! I stumbled across this by accident. I didn't think to take some of the paint off the wall and take that to the store. Thanks! When Im buying paint next weekend that will help.