Kimberly Reyes Lifestyle by Design: Blog Savvy4Less: Buying Paint to Create Your Design

I am going to keep focusing on color and paint.

It's always the easiest way to transform a space for very little money.

Color is complex and picking out paint is harder than people think. I have been working with color for over 30 years and represent 3 of the largest Commercial Paint Companies: picking out colors for homeowners all over the Bay Area and beyond.

Here are a few tips to help you save money on your paint purchases:

Miss tints are part of the industry. Most places that mix paint for customers will sell what they call miss tints. A miss tint is paint that was custom mixed for a customer and for what ever reason the color match did not turn out right. It had to be redone for the customer. The mistake is called a miss tint and sold a dramatic discount. An example would be a gallon of paint that normally sells for $27.00 may sell for $5.00-$7.00. Five gallon buckets may sell for $15.00-$20.00. Inquire at the paint store to see if they sell them. If they do, they will be kept in an out of the way area. The down side is that you will not really be able to get more. So, make sure that you have enough to finish your project at the time of purchase. Miss tints don't really take to color matching well.
Sign up for email lists ShermanWilliams.com is a good example of a paint retailer that sends out coupons online with a greater discount than my professional trade account. Home Depot offers rebates and sales regularly. Labor Day and three day weekends are big sale weekends for paint at Home Depot. Not all paint retailers have sales.
If you are planning ahead, I highly recommend painting color samples on your walls before painting the entire room. Unless you are very good with color this will save you time and money and keep you from having to paint more than once. Although paint is an inexpensive fix, it is hard work and time consuming. Plan ahead and paint once.
Paint retailers like Sherman Williams, Benjamin Moore and Kelley Moore will order paper 8 1/2" X 11" paint samples for you and send them to you in the mail for free. This will save you a lot of money on paint samples if you plan ahead and can wait for them to arrive in the mail. When you get the paper samples, tape them on the wall just like you would apply actual paint on the wall and you will get a good idea what the color will look like in your space. Large Box stores like Home Depot do not offer this service.