When we first purchased our house, the first thing we noticed is how much we loved the living room we stepped into. It was bright and airy, with vaulted ceilings, high windows, toasted bamboo hardwood flooring, and the most soothing gray/green paint I’d ever seen.
Depending on the light, this room could be gray, greenish, or creamy. It was both clean and warm. We hoped to use the same color in this room when we needed a touch up. We tried a number of custom matches, as well as some commercially available colors in hopes that something would be close enough, and this is what our wall ended up looking like: 🙁
By the way, about half a dozen of these colors looked exactly the perfect match when painted on an index-card!!!
Later (much, much later), we found out that the color was discontinued years ago and that a custom mix was made in Kelly-Moore. Up to this point, we had only used Sherwin-Williams paint in our house because we loved the Harmony line of paints. Long story short, we ended up making our own custom mix, which was great, as we could test the color right away on our wall. I was so relieved when we figured it out! We were so grateful to the people at Kelly Moore who were willing to help us out and give us some colorants so we could tweak the color at home. Here’s our living room now:
First, however, we needed to understand the information on the paint label. Specifically I wanted to understand the colorant formulation/recipe. It was strange, but I could not find a lot of information online, and had to ask multiple paint-store employees. I figured I’d do this little post to share what I learned about Kelly-Moore and Sherwin Williams paint labels.
Let’s start with Kelly-Moore:
At the very top right hand corner, the store code, address, and phone number where the paint was purchased is shown.
On the left-hand side, we see the date the paint was made, and two additional lines of numbers (in green box below):
Here’s what it means:
550 – 222-1Q = (finish type) – (base type) – (volume)
Example: 550 finish, which is flat – 222, which is the medium tint base – 1Q meaning 1 quart.
*note: The tint base is important, as the same colorants interact with different tint bases differently.
18 – 0580 – 0233 = (last two digits of year) – (code, if custom) – (store code)
Example: year paint made, which is 2018 – the custom color code for this paint is 0580 – and the store code is 0233.
In the middle, above the bar code, is the name of the paint. If you have a custom mix, you get to choose a name, or sometimes, the person helping you is inspired.
Example: Name of this custom paint color is “Crazy Green“.
To the right side of the label, the colorant system used is indicated. Due to various environmental regulations in your state, paint companies might use a different system to be compliant. See green box below.
Example: “CCA” colorant system
Below that, the formula, or recipe for the colorants used in this paint is shown. I’ll just go over the first line.
B 0Y 12.5000 = (Colorant used) (number of oz. of colorant) (number of drops of colorant)
Example: The black (B) colorant is used here, and the total amount of color used is zero ounces and 12.5 drops. The colorant codes I am familiar with are:
B = Black (blue undertones)
C = Gold Yellow
DU = Green (blue undertones)
L = Brown
*note: Kelly-Moore uses a system of 48 drops/fluid oz. You can use this conversion to calculate how much of each colorant is in your paint. However, keep in mind that there are variances between stores, between equipment used, and well as operator handling. We converted this to metric milliliters so we could tweak and record our results. In case you’re interested, 1 US fluid oz. is ~29.5735 ml, so one drop of Kelly-Moore colorant is (1/48)*29.5735= ~0.616 ml.
*note: Our local store told us that 1/8 of a drop (or 0.1250 in the above number system) is the smallest increment they can add to tweak a paint, but best check with your local store. At these quantities, store/equipment/operator variance can really affect the outcomes. In case you’re interested, this is (1/8)*0.616 ml = ~0.077 ml.
Now let’s take a look at Sherwin-Williams:
Sherwin-Williams has more information that is immediately understandable on their labels.
On the top left hand corner, the store code and phone number where the paint was purchased is shown. On the right hand corner, the date and order number is shown.
Below that, you have information about the paint. Sherwin-Williams is pretty good about writing out what the paint is.
Interior = Whether interior or exterior
Emerald = Line of paint
Flat = Finish of paint
Below that, you have the name of the color. See green box below:
Example: The name of this paint color is “MANUAL OPALINE“, which is a CUSTOM MANUAL MATCH
*note: If you buy a Sherwin-Williams formulation, the name is usually the color code followed by the name (i.e. “7558 MEDICI IVORY”), and the statement, “SHER-COLOR FORMULA”.
Below that, the formula, or recipe for the colorants used in this paint is shown. See green box below. I’ll just go over the first two lines.
CCE*COLORANT OZ 32 64 128
= (Colorant system) (number of oz. of colorant) (1/32nd of an oz. of colorant) (1/64th of an oz. of colorants) (1/128th of an oz. of colorants)
B1-Black – 3 – 1
Example: The B1-Black colorant is used here, and the total amount of color used is zero ounces, 3 of 1/32nd of an oz., zero of 1/64th of an oz., and 1 of 1/128th of an oz. I won’t go into the colorant codes, as their full names also appears on the label.
*note: Sherwin-Williams uses a system of fractional fluid oz. Their labeling system refers to the part of an oz., but you can also think of the above as 32 drops/fluid oz. In case you’re interested, 1 US fluid oz. is ~29.5735 ml, so one drop of Sherwin-Williams colorant is (1/32)*29.5735= ~0.924ml. If you think of it this way, the same example above is now:
Example: The B1-Black colorant is used here, and the total amount of color used is zero ounces, 3 drops, zero half drops, and 1 quarter drops.
You can use this conversion to calculate how much of each colorant is in your paint. However, keep in mind the variances mentioned above.
*note: As you can see, the smallest increment that can be noted here is 1/4 of a drop, therefore, the smallest increment of a colorant that can be added is 1/4 of a drop. In case you’re interested, this is (1/4)*0.924 ml = ~0.231 ml.
Below that, the volume of the paint and the tint of the base is shown. See green box below:
ONE GALLON EXTRA WHITE = one gallon volume extra white base tint.
As for that little X at the bottom of this, this is usually where they daub a bit of the paint itself.
I hope this was helpful in having a better idea of what colorants and how much is going into your paints, in case you ever find yourself fallen in love with a mysterious paint that you must recreate in Kelly-Moore or Sherwin-Williams!
Happy painting!
