The easiest, most accurate way to match paint is to carefully remove a quarter-sized chip of the paint and take it to a specialized paint store (like Benjamin Moore or Sherwin-Williams) for a digital scan. Store computers will analyze the color and mix an exact match.
The secret of how to paint straight lines between wall and ceiling is to use painter's tape. Run the tape along the edge of the ceiling to prevent any little drips or drops. When you take it away, you'll have a perfect line.
Color Match the Current Paint: Bring a 1" x 1" sample of your existing wall color, either from a removed piece of drywall or a scrape from an inconspicuous spot, to a paint store. They should be able to scan and match the aged color more accurately than just using your old paint code.
Five Star Painting shares easy ways to match paint colors without a sample.
The best apps to match paint colors use your phone's camera to analyze a photo or object and provide a corresponding paint brand equivalent. Top free options include:
Whether you're refreshing your home's look or trying to match a specific shade for a creative project, paint-matching apps and tools offer convenience, accuracy, and creativity. From AR visualization to hardware-supported precision, these solutions make choosing the perfect paint color simpler and more enjoyable.
Yes, Home Depot can match paint colors from a picture. They offer two primary methods to do this:
Home Depot offers free color matching in-store. You just pay for the cost of the paint itself. A standard 8 oz. sample pot typically costs around $4 to $6, while a full gallon ranges from $20 to $70+ depending on the brand and finish.
Cool gray is being replaced by "mushroom" neutrals (warm taupes and greys with subtle green or violet undertones), warm earthy khakis, and soft, natural sages.
We know that paint matching is not an exact science. Each brand of paint has their own colors, which they've designed to look how they look in that company's unique paint products.
Glidden® Color App
Our mobile app makes finding your next paint color easy. Match paint colors, find your perfect paint color, get free color swatches, and take the paint color quiz. Find your inspiration and explore different color palettes all at the convenience of your phone.
Red is universally considered the hardest paint color to cover. Vibrant red pigments are highly transparent and inherently prone to bleeding through subsequent layers. Other notoriously difficult colors to cover include black, dark blue, dark green, and bright yellow.
To match an existing paint color, bring a physical sample—like a piece of a wall chip or a cabinet door—to a local paint or hardware store. Use their digital spectrophotometer to scan the sample, which will output an exact color formulation. For best results, also request an accurate sheen match.
Use an Angled Brush
If you are going to try to paint a straight line with just a brush, be sure that it is an angled brush. Brushes with rounded tips will not be able to create the same straight lines that angled brushes make.
10 Common Mistakes on Room-Painting Projects
Yes, Home Depot mixes paint and tints for free if you are buying the base paint. You only pay for the cost of the unmixed paint can. They also offer free color matching and will shake old paint you bring in from home.
Color matching from picture
If an object is too large to bring into the store, or your neighbor with the beautiful accent wall won't let you remove a large enough chip, we can also match from images. Bring in a photo of the color you want for your walls and we can find a close match.
Yes! You can match an existing paint color on your wall by taking a physical sample to a hardware store, or by using mobile apps and digital scanning tools.
Interior designers generally advise avoiding bold, highly saturated, and overly stimulating hues for bedroom walls. The bedroom should be a calming retreat for rest and relaxation, making these specific colors the ones to skip:
The most accurate way to match a paint color on your phone is by pairing it with a handheld, pocket-sized colorimeter (like Nix Mini 3 or Color Muse). These devices block out ambient light and scan any flat surface, providing an exact paint match formula across thousands of brands in their companion apps.
Grab a spool of thread
If you don't routinely sew, buy several different shades that seem close at your neighborhood crafts store. Once you have a range of spools, place them against your paint color and see which is the best match. Then, bring that spool to the paint store and ask the staff to match the color.
Yes, Home Depot can match paint colors from a photo, but the method depends on how accurate you need it to be.
To match paint colors at home, take a paint chip or scrape off a small piece of the existing paint and bring it to a paint store for color matching. "Scrape some paint off the drywall behind the tv and get it color matched at the store."