How do I get a paint sample from my already painted walls to take to the paint mixing place?

Question

I am moving out of my rented house in a week and I have repaired some minor nail holes in the walls. I need to do some touch up painting and was wondering what is the best way to get a sample of the color to bring to the paint mixing place? I can't think of anything but to take a picture(color might not match) or to try to chip off a piece large enough(i don't want to ruin the wall anymore than i already did).

Answer 1

I'm a landlord if all you have is small nail holes leave it alone if you mess it up you will make your landlord even madder I've been there the tenant left me with more work than if they left it alone

Answer 2

Choose a place to get the sample that won't show. Put a piece of clear tape, like some good strapping tape on a spot on the wall, rub it hard and yank it off quick. It should pull some paint off the wall. If the walls were painted before the baseboards were installed you could pull a piece of baseboard off, a short one if possible and use a chisel or putty knife to work off a piece of paint, or even the paper layer on the sheet rock with the paint on it. If your paint is not under the baseboards, then perhaps a closet would work. Maybe a digital photo would work, but the print must be a good match for the paint store to put it in their analyzer. Good luck! Usually, landlords are glad to provide a small quantity of touch up paint for this purpose, did you ask?

Answer 3

What you do is you buy a color system or whatever they are called in a local hardware store. The color system shown in the following picture: http://www.redlotusconsulting.com/Choosing_paint_colors.jpg



The color system I am talking about are the strips of paper with all the colors on them behind the paint supplies in the picture. Only when you buy it i comes in a couple hundred attached sheets with thousands of different colors all named. You match one up with your wall, see what it is called, and just buy the color at you local hardware store. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Go to Home Depot and get a bunch of colour samples (from Berh or CIL )that is closed to your wall colour.

Then test one by one by putting on the wall and apply clear tape.

Make sure you test under sunlight and pick the closet one.

Even you had the colour code of original paint, it would never match ( depend how old of the original paint and type of paint)

I recommend to paint the whole wall.

Answer 5

You named my two ideas.



If you take a picture, put it on the wall, and see if it matches right. If it does, any place that does color matching will get it exactly.



option 2, take a scraper in a discrete corner and get a chip of paint.

Answer 6

use swatches that the store has and make sure you get glossy if the paint is glossy and flat if it is that



nail holes are small, you could always grab some small bottles of paint from the art section in walmart and keep mixing until you find the right hue but that takes up time