How to Match Carpet Colors & Paint Colors

Color Matching by Eye

• 1

  Gather paint color chip strips for each color you're considering or that is in the carpet. Borrowing or purchasing a complete color fan from the paint store can make the process of matching much easier than guessing at the correct chip swatches to grab.

• 2

  Take the color chip strips or color fan to your home or office if matching installed carpet, or to a flooring store if shopping for new carpet. Lay the chips or fan deck pages on the carpet to be matched and determine the closest match. It helps to squint a bit and to make sure there is adequate lighting.

• 3

  Borrow carpet samples to bring to your home or office if matching existing paint where the color chip code is not known and there is no paint available to paint out a sample.

Digital Color Matching

• 4

  Scan the carpet with a handheld scanner, such as those offered by Benjamin Moore, as an alternative to matching color by eye. Both Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams offer the same technology in the form of free smart-phone applications, as well. The scanner will return the closest paint chip code and name to match the color scanned.

• 5

  Take a close-up photo of the carpet with a digital camera or scan in a sample using a flatbed scanner. Load the image to a computer and adjust color if necessary.

• 6

  Use a free or commercial pixel grabbing program (set to RGB capture) to get the color of any pixel in your image. Most graphics, illustration, paint and color programs, such as ColorImpact (tigercolor.com), have them built in. Search freeware sites for many free versions, such as Instant Eyedropper (instant-eyedropper.com).

• 7

  Input the RGB code into a program, such as easyRGB (easyrgb.com). The program will allow you to select color collections from most major paint companies and will return the four closest paint matches along with their names and color codes. Most major paint company websites, such as Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams, also have capabilities to convert RGB codes to paint colors in their collections. Pick up the actual color chip strips using those codes from the paint store.

• 8

  Print out a rectangle or square of the RGB code captured on an accurate photo quality printer as a final option. If the color is a good match, the paint store will be able to scan it in and mix a custom color paint formula directly from it.