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[Oznell]

The paint colors I'm most familiar with are Benjamin Moore, since that's what our closest hardware store carries.

If you know the name of a favorite paint color that one company makes, and you want to review very similar shades made by a different paint company, it's fun to do this:

Let's say, you want to find possibly less expensive versions of Benjamin Moore's "Van Alen Green".

Google: Benjamin Moore Van Alen Green dupes

And the "Match My Paint Color" site pops up with a whole array of greens similar to Van Alen.

You can see below that Behr's "Spring Valley" isn't an exact match, but fairly close.  "Match My Paint Color" will bring up other greens too, from Sherwin Williams, or Valspar, or Farrow and Ball, etc.

I looked up my favorite blue, B. Moore's "Woodlawn Blue", and discovered that the Behr version is VERY close, at least in the online image:

I don't like the name, "Blue Tequila", as well though, ha.

I decided to look up some "designer-favorite" neutrals in Benjamin Moore, like "Soft Chamois" and see what Behr had to offer --

"French Chateau" is a teensy bit darker, with more of a greenish undertone, but not a bad dupe.

Another favorite off-white, B. Moore's "Cloud White" is fairly close to Behr's  "Ivory Keys"--

And they also bring up Sherwin Williams' "Greek Villa" as a dupe for "Cloud White".

Benjamin Moore's "Baby Fawn" is my favorite pale, creamy greige.  It looks like Behr's "Arid Landscape" is a slightly brighter dupe--

Pink is a tricky color in paint.  It can't be too sugary or bright.  Has to be "grayed down" a bit.  "Pink Ground" by Farrow and Ball always looks good to me, so I looked for dupes for it, and came up with B. Moore's "Coastal Cottage".   And its other dupe is Behr's "Conch Shell":

My favorite pale violet is B. Moore's "Nosegay".   It's the perfect delicate lavender, not as gray as it appears online.   And sure enough, Behr makes a very respectable dupe,  "White Lavender".

Anyway, if you are searching for duplicate paint colors, for budget reasons, or other reasons, you could check this out.  The next step would be getting the chip, or ordering a Samplize adhesive paint sample sheet to put on a wall before making that big commitment!

[Kachina624]

@Oznell. Unless things have changed since I last bought paint, you can take a sample to the store and they can duplicate it with their computer.  I did this at Sherwin Williams.

[Desert Lily]

@OznellWhen I had my outside trim painted at my last house on the west coast, the painter took a small unseen sample from underneath to the paint store. (I didn't want to waste months with the HOA for a change of trim color authorization)The paint store matched the color exactly via their computer technology.

[Oznell]

Oh, that's true, @Kachina624 ,  and @Desert Lily .  The matching technology is very much perfected.

BUT,  I prefer the romance of finding similar colors across the different paint companies, that have their own names and histories.  It's kooky, and romantic, but it's like having a vocabulary of different words, or a repertoire of different notes.  Not sure if I can explain it well.

Have always been in love with paint colors, and their names...

[Kachina624]

@Oznell.  Okay, but you'll make yourself crazy.  Lol.

[Oznell]

Ha, ha, @Kachina624 , but in a *good* way....

[kindred cats]

@Oznell . . . I can relate to your paint color love....me too! 

[Oznell]

Absolutely, @kindred cats .   If I really like an interior, one of the first things I want to know is, what's the paint color?

And the lore of the names,  how they relate to the way the color is, and how it makes you feel, is a big part of the fun.  Plus who in the design world has used them, or even who in history has used them, is fascinating.   "Windswept Canyon",  "Arsenic",  "Tricorn Black", "Antiguan Sky", "Castleton Mist", "Afraid of the Dark"....  Paint colors that are just numbered, 01-638,  etc., do not cut it.

Incidentally, my nomination for one of the nuttiest paint names of all--  "Dead Salmon" by Farrow and Ball.  Very popular in English country houses.  Oh, those Brits....

[Somertime]

Love, love Fallow and Ball.................