Can Home Depot Paint Match? Plus Which Brands, and If Paint-Matching Works

Wondering ‘can Home Depot paint match?’ Keep reading for the answer, my personal experience, and whether or not I think it’s a good idea.

Home Depot is a one-stop shop for any home project, including painting. If you’ve fallen in love with a color by a paint brand Home Depot doesn’t carry, you’ll be happy to know that the Home Depot paint match service allows you to replicate colors from other brands including Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams and certain Farrow & Ball colors.

So yes, Home Depot can paint match.

I’ve used Home Depot paint matching countless times in my journey as a homeowner and landlord/Airbnb host over the last twelve years. Sometimes, it was because I didn’t live close to the paint store whose color I wanted to buy. Other times it was to save money. But, I’d estimate I’ve used Home Depot color-matched paint at least 15-20 times in the six homes I’ve owned in the last 12 years.

I’ll admit, I’ve had vary degrees of success with it, and there are certain instances where I now will not use color-matched paint. I’m sharing all the details, below.

How does Home Depot paint matching work?

There are two ways to match paint at Home Depot.

If you’re looking for a paint from a big brand like Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams, you can literally just walk up to the paint counter and tell the clerk the brand and color you want to use (i.e. Benjamin Moore Hale Navy), and they can look up the color formula in their computer system and make the paint for you.

Home Depot’s computers have paint color libraries that allow them to paint to match Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams and Farrow & Ball shades (in addition to colors from the brands Home Depot carries in store, Behr and Glidden).

The second way to do color matching is to bring in an item that you want the store to match the paint to. So, for example, I’ve had Home Depot color match paint to the wallpaper both in my daughter’s nursery and in our front entry. To do this, I just brought in a swatch of the wallpaper. I also did it when I needed touch up paint for the exterior of our house. I found a paint chip from the siding and brought that into the store.

Home Depot has a little machine that scans the items and creates a paint color code to match.

You can also use this method if you want a color by a smaller paint brand, i.e. Clare paints or Little Green. You can just bring a paint swatch with you, and they can scan the paint swatch to color match it.

Overall, this practice is a little more risky because the color can vary under the “eye” of the color matching machine.

It’s also a good idea that, if you have a paint color matched this way and you like the color, to take a picture of the color formula and save it in your phone, so you know the exact shade if you need the color again. I learned this the hard way when I needed more paint for our entryway, and brought in the wallpaper to be matched a second time, and ended up with a slightly different paint color than the first time.

Why color match paint?

If you’re wondering why you would choose to color match paint instead of just buying the original, there are a few reasons, a couple of which I mentioned earlier.

The first reason is that brands like Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, and Farrow & Ball tend to be more expensive than brands like PPG, Glidden, and Behr. Depending on the paint grade, Benjamin Moore paint can run from $50-95 a gallon, and ditto for Sherwin Williams. Farrow & Ball is $110. Behr, on the other hand, is $25-$40/gallon.

And two, getting paint Home Depot is usually more convenient if you’re working on a home project, because there’s a good chance you’ll be there at some point anyway. I’ve always lived closer to a Home Depot than I have to a Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams.

How good is Home Depot paint matching?

I’ve used Home Depot paint match dozens of times, and my answer is: it depends on your project .. and also your personality type.

If you’re painting a room from scratch, then paint matching is a great option. I find the colors to be very close to the originals. I’ve used Benjamin Moore Simply White in probably eight different occasions in various homes, both purchased from Benjamin Moore and purchased at Home Depot. I’ve never noticed that the color is different once it’s on the walls.

That said! If you’re super picky about paint color and are in love with an incredibly specific shade, you may not want to risk it. Just go for the original. Home Depot paint match colors are not the exact same shade, since each brand has its own color pigments. I’d say they’re a 90 percent match.

Here’s a good example. When I painted my bedroom, I used Sherwin Williams Alabaster. I sampled the color with actual Sherwin Williams paint, and then didn’t feel like driving all the way back to Sherwin Williams to get the rest of it, so I went to Home Depot and had it color matched instead. The top half of the paint swatch in the below photo is the color-matched version, and the bottom half is the Sherwin Williams version. It’s close, but if you look hard, you can see a difference.

Also, if you have already started painting a room with a can of Benjamin Moore paint in a Benjamin Moore paint color, I would not go to Home Depot and get a color-matched paint to finish the job. It’s better to stay consistent, because even a slight color difference will be noticeable, say, if you paint one wall in the actual BM paint and the other in a color-matched paint.

I also learned this lesson first-hand with a Sherwin Williams paint in our green powder room. It’s painted Sherwin Williams Palm Leaf, and we didn’t have any paint left over, so I went to Home Depot to get a color-matched sample to use as touch up paint. While the paint colors were close, they were ever so slightly off, so I was able to notice where I did the touch ups. I ended up getting the real thing at Sherwin Williams,

Can Behr match Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams paint?

Behr is one of Home Depot’s most popular paint brands. If you’re wondering if Behr can match Benjamin Moore paint, or Sherwin Williams paint, you’ll be happy to hear that the answer is yes.

There are actually two options for getting Behr paint in a Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams color.

The first is, like I mentioned earlier, to simply go up to the counter and ask for the Benjamin Moore color you want to use, since Home Depot has Benjamin Moore color formulas in its library.

However, if you’re looking for one of Benjamin Moore’s most popular paint colors (or Sherwin Williams most popular paint colors) you can also choose a shade form Behr’s Designer paint collection. These colors are basically Behr’s version of the most popular Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams paint colors. There is a Behr Match for colors including:

• Benjamin Moore SImply White (Behr Natural White)
• Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White (Behr Statement White)
• Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace (Behr Whipped Cream)
• Benjamin Moore White Dove (Behr Blank Canvas)
• Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter (Behr Vintage Pewter)
• Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige (Behr Even Better Beige)
• Sherwin William Agreeable Gray (Behr Tranquil Gray)

Does Home Depot Sell Benjamin Moore paint?

In case you were wondering, Home Depot does not sell Benjamin Moore paint, which is why color-matching is a common practice if you’re looking for a Benjamin Moore color, but don’t live near a Benjamin Moore store.

Aside from Benjamin Moore stores, BM paint is sold at ACE Hardware locations, and specialty paint stores (like Ring’s End in New England).