Help, matching paint colors!

[TheRatPack]

We purchased some paint from Lowes about 4 years ago and used it to paint our laundry room. It's a blackberry type purple. We usually save all our little paint chips and mark on them which room they were used in, but I can't find that one and since we installed a new sink in that room we have some areas we need to paint (the old sink was larger). Anyhow, we tried to match it this weekend using a paint card and a small piece of the moulding at the store. It is just a shade lighter.

What is a better way to match the color? Anyone have a store preference or way to make it almost exact? This room is not subject to any source of sunshine...etc so it's not faded and I don't think it's old enough to have 'aged' a different color. HELP! I don't want to repaint all the walls LOL

 

[ChristmasElf]

If you painted the walls 4 years ago, they will have faded just a touch by now as paint "cures" and when it cues it fades just a touch and continues to fade each year faintly. So even if you were to have saved 1/2 a can and wanted to touch up an area, you would see a slight variation in color!

 

[TheRatPack]

LOL, that would be okay if it had faded. I think it's getting darker The paint we bought looked like a match, but it's lighter than our current wall color. We tried to match up the new paint to what our walls were now, but it's not working.....maybe a different sheen? Ugghhh, guess I got that huge pack of rollers for a reason

I've got to repaint the living room, my husband went on a patching spree yesterday taking down all the shelving we're taking with us on the move and patching the nail holes now. Then the kitchen we took down a scent thing from the wall and it tore the paint off....so looks like I'm doing that again too

 

[ChristmasElf]

The finish WILL have something do with how the color looks on the wall.
A paint that is green lets say, in semi gloss will look different than the same exact shade of green in a flat or a satin.

 

[Servants of Evan]

Okay here's a tip from the pro's... As long as you're within a shade it will work. You need to paint that entire wall with the new paint -- just don't expect to be able to "touch up" the area. If you've taken in a piece of molding or something else with the color on it (I like using cold air return covers) and they've done the color match, you can still figure it may be a bit different. As long as you paint that entire wall, it'll be fine. The reason is that light hits each wall a bit differently, and as such it isn't noticed. Our brains just don't process information that "trivial" unless we direct them to.

 

[TheRatPack]

Thanks, I painted the whole wall and it looks fine Now on to the kitchen