[Bricktrix]

Long story short, replacing fireplace with a quick fix rather than redecorating almost the entire lower part of house due to colour.

Old "Focus" paint that I kept has all gone solid, took the can into a Homebase to try and colour match. Their machine is a Dulux machine and gave 2 options for the colour, one very slightly too dark, the other very slightly too light.

Had a test pot made (which is the amount I actually need) of the too light option, once dried its too dark to match the original colour.

Has anyone had any experiences with better colour matching, or exact matching? i.e. would be trying B&Q be a better option, or a more specialised place, etc?

[Richtw]

Best option is to mix some white in (assuming you need it lighter) and test, repeat until you get the shade bang on! That or do you have a BS number for the original paint colour?

Not hugely helpful I know!!

[PurpleTT]

Blimey that's a coincidence I did this yesterday!

Needed to patch in where I'd removed some screws for tiebacks and around the TV etc.

So I chopped a bit of wall away inc the plaster about 1" sq and toddled off to Homobase.

They used the spectrum analyser thing on it and that came up with two shades that looked different on screen and the guy said the first one was a marginally better match. Have to say in the tin after mixing it looked almost luminous green but then again they always look lighter when wet.

After some careful application using a mini roller on the areas I'd filled & sanded to recreate the textured appearance of the original rollered finish I am 99.9% happy. Actually, no, it's 100%. I was shocked and very pleased. It seems it is programmed to take account of the darker-when-dry aspect.

So my recommendation is to take a bit of wall in to be analysed.

Good luck, if all else fails paint that wall a completely new colour and say it's your feature wall!

[Mrklaw]

Just paint one wall. Either a different colour, or the same (similar) colour. Any tiny difference in shade should be masked pretty well by the change in shading naturally occurring because of the different angles of the adjacent walls.

[Palexr]

Originally Posted by PurpleTT

... Homobase ...

Really?

[Bricktrix]

Thanks guys

Mixing white in was 2nd option, painting entire wall was 3rd option. Painting just the fireplace a different colour was 4th.

Luckily, I managed to get a few inches at side of old can where paint was still okay (rest was rock solid) and its been enough to roller the new arear, PERFECT MATCH now its dried!

Now to buy the new wall hanging fire tomorrow eve....