
In the old days, the only way to match your paint color was to bring in your old paint can or, barring that, a chip off the wall or other painted item with the desired color. We’ll explore the paint-matching process and what you need to know in this article. The answer is yes, Home Depot can paint match, and it’s pretty accurate. Does Home Depot paint match? How close can it get to the original color, and what do you need for them to find the best match? If that’s true for you, you might be wondering where you can get more of the exact paint color you need. Painting walls, furniture, and anything else you can think of make up a huge bulk of DIY projects-and sometimes, you need a specific color for the task at hand.
HOME DEPOT PAINT COLORS FOR WALL HOW TO
(Check out our guide on how to prepare a room for painting.As the biggest do-it-yourself home improvement retailer in the United States, The Home Depot (more simply called, Home Depot) has a reputation to maintain.

No matter what the can says, Handel recommends painting only in a well-ventilated area because any odors can still be unpleasant and distracting. High emissions and exposure to these chemicals-volatile organic compounds, or VOCs-can affect your health, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. You constantly need to retouch it,” says Richard Handel, who runs CR’s paint test lab.Īs you shop, you’ll notice that some paint lines come with claims such as “low odor” or “low chemical emissions.” In fact, some manufacturers claim their paints have “no chemical emissions.” Low- and zero-VOC paints first emerged in the 1990s and are now commonly sold at retailers throughout the U.S. “We don’t want you to get a paint with great hiding performance that might be fantastic when you first apply the paint but then becomes a burden to live with. If a paint hides well, there’s no need to prime. These two tests are the most crucial when it comes to longevity and ease of application. The closer the cleaned portions are to the original coat, the more stain-resistant the paint. We wash the painted panels, then use a colorimeter to measure the color of the paint on the rinsed areas. After it dries, we apply coffee and a substance similar to soot in a strip and allow them to dry. After that coat dries, we use a colorimeter to measure how well the paint has covered the darker shade.įor stain resistance, our testers apply paint to a plastic panel. To evaluate how well a paint hides darker colors, we apply one consistent coat to cardstock that has been painted black. Each base paint goes through two tests to determine how well it can cover dark colors and how well it resists stains. We test nontinted base paints (paint before the color is added). And HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams Showcase, sold at Lowe’s, outperformed other Sherwin-Williams paints. Valspar, for example, has paint that performs well enough to score in the recommended range but also has paint that lands in mediocre territory. In Consumer Reports’ lab tests, we found that paints from the same brand don’t always deliver the same performance. You can’t necessarily shop by brand, either. Pick a poor performer and you’re stuck starting all over again. Home Depot and Lowe’s will let you exchange an opened can of paint within 30 days, while Benjamin Moore won’t let you return opened paint at all.

And ultimately, if you’re not happy, you might not be able to get your money back. The top-performing paints in CR’s tests cost $35 to $62 per gallon.

When you’re faced with rows of stacked cans at Home Depot, Lowe’s, or a specialty paint retailer, it’s impossible to know which paints will look good right after application-not to mention just as good after several years of wear and tear.Īnd choosing the wrong paint can be costly.
