How to Match Colors for a House

Start the matching process with color chip strips.

Whether you are trying to cover up a patched hole on your house's exterior or repair an area that has been scratched, you need to accurately match the color of the old paint to the new paint. Finding a premixed paint color that matches your house exactly can be challenging, and repainting an entire wall by buying a gallon of new paint to cover one small repair simply isn't practical. By blending a close color with a little bit of white, you can create a patching color that is only imperceptibly different on your own.

Things You'll Need

• Soap
• Water
• Rag
• Color chip samples
• 1 quart white paint
• 1 quart flat paint
• Small paintbrush
• Measuring spoon
• Paper cup

Instructions

1. Wash the walls around the area to be painted with soap, water and a rag to ensure all dirt and grime has been removed--dirt can cause the color of your walls to appear to be a different color than they actually are.

2. Visit a painting supply store to find color chip strips that resemble your house's color. If possible, bring a scraped-off sample of the actual paint from the side of your house with you.

3. Hold the color chips against your wall in a variety of places throughout the day, on a sunny day if possible. If the area to be painted is on a wall that receives direct sunlight, also compare the color chips to a wall that does not receive direct sunlight to determine which is the best overall match to the rest of the house--walls that receive direct sunlight fade over time, and this may have altered the original color.

4. Purchase a quart of flat paint that is slightly darker than the color chip you are trying to match.

5. Brush a small amount of the paint on the wall. Allow to dry thoroughly.

6. Mix 1 teaspoon of the colored paint with 1 teaspoon of the white paint in a paper cup if the dry test area is darker than the original house color.

7. Brush this mixture onto the wall and let it dry for 20 minutes.

8. Adjust the ratio of colored paint and white paint if the paint does not dry as an exact match and reapply to a different area on the wall. Continue to adjust the ratio of colored paint to white and test until you get a matching color; make sure to jot down the ratio of color mixes that you create for each small area on the wall.

Tips & Warnings

• Rinse the measuring spoon and dry it off before inserting it in the next paint can.

• Use a blow dryer to accelerate the drying process during testing.

References

• Ask the Builder: Matching Paint Colors Perfectly