So I'm kickstarting 2018 by finishing some of those DIY jobs that are half-done - you know, when you start something all excitedly and then run out of steam and it just gets left. For an eternity. Yeah those kind of DIYs.
We started renovating the Conservatory waaaaay back in 2016 - we gave it a new roof, sorted the plumbing, added electric, we even plastered and insulated the external walls. It then took me a WHOLE YEAR to do the DIY Patterned floor (although in my defence it had become a room used for storage whilst we did the kitchen) and now another 6 months on from that, we're finishing the rest of the room off.
So that means no more raw plaster-coloured walls and it also means actually giving this room a purpose rather than just being four walls and not a lot else. I wrote about our plans for this room waaaay back here and whilst those plans have changed a little, I'm still planning on using it as a indoor/outdoor garden room filled with plants as a kind of summer snug, somewhere to chill out with a good book and garden view. Well once all that rubbish has been cleared at least!
The first job to finish in here is obviously painting that plastered wall and so it was the perfect opportunity to try and test out Valspar's colour-matching service, which I have been intrigued about for quite some time. If you don't know what this is - well in a nutshell, the Valspar paint range is so infinite that they can literally create any colour possible. Thanks to super awesome clever technology they can scan any colour and recreate it, as an exact match. So if you need to touch up some kitchen doors but don't have the paint for it - well, you can bring the door in and they can create the exact paint for it - genius! Or maybe you've seen an amazing colour in a magazine you want to recreate - now you can. No need to buy a bazillion testers or stand about comparing swatches to find the nearest match. Just a quick scan and it's all done for you.
The Valspar colour matching also works for creating colours from other brands too. You all know how much I love the colour range F&B paint offers but absolutely hate the price tag - well with Valspar you can get that colour for a considerably lower price. It's perfect for those of us on a budget and means we're no longer priced-out from having those colours.
I was really fortunate enough to be gifted some paint vouchers from the team at Valspar in order to put their paint to the test and so I finally had the perfect opportunity to try out their colour-matching service. How matching, was colour-matching? And does it really work? Well, I was about to find out.
First things first though - freshly plastered walls always need mist-coating even if they've been left to dry out for more than a year. I use a 50/50 mix of basic white emulsion (the cheapest one you can find works just fine!) and water. Once that's dry I then go back over with a 70/30 mix of Emulsion to water. And once that is dry - you can then go over with the actual coloured paint. If you forget to mist-coat new plaster then any paint (Valspar or other paint range) won't adhere properly and you risk it peeling right off.
So what actual colour emulsion have I gone for, you're wondering? Well, you'll be surprised to know that it is in fact NOT on the grey spectrum as I had always imagined, but PINK. Yep you read that right, we're going pink in the conservatory!
As much as I love grey (obviously!) it's slightly taking over our house. We have a grey kitchen, grey wall in the dining room, grey in the spare bedroom - hell, even our panelling in the bathroom is a blue-grey. It's everywhere! I absolutely love pops of colour, so I wanted to go for something with more colour, something different, something that compliments grey and would also make my plans for a ton of greenery in here pop against it. So I went for pink. A trendy, cool, grown-up kinda pink, one that doesn't look like it belongs next to a crib in a baby's room.
My initial thoughts upon opening the tub were very much "oh shit, have I made the wrong call here?" but once it started to go on the wall, I could totally see the exact sophisticated pink I had been after. The pink I colour-matched to is called 'Calamine' in the F&B range. It's not a baby pink or a sugary sweet pink, but one with a hint of grey. It's calming, cool toned and the exact grown-up version of pink I had been imagining. It also has quite an undertone of grey in it, which I think is probably what the reason this particular pink called to me so much.
Having never used any Valspar paint before, the thing that surprised me the most was how far one coat of paint went in regards to coverage. I was not expecting it to be so richly pigmented and if I had been a little more careful with application I truly think one coat would have been enough to do the whole wall. I've never used any other paint like it.
It's quite a bit thicker than actual F&B paint and from a 2.5L tub, I barely used a quarter of it for painting this wall. And as I say, I think I could have used even less if I had applied a little more carefully. I also went over the skirting board with it to give the whole wall seamless floor-to-ceiling drop backdrop of colour.
And you can already see just how great this colour looks against the floor! It compliments it so well, which I think has a lot to do with the grey undertones in the pink. If anything the pink wall makes the floor even more of a feature, which I freaking love and it totally deserves after the hours it took me to paint ;)
So the REAL question, is how matching was it with the actual F&B colour? Well, here's a little comparison and of course you can mind your own mind up for yourselves but I'm 100% certain it's pretty much as exact as you can get.
Needless to say I am really really impressed! If you have the fear of going colour-matching in case it's wrong - then don't be! I've been sharing the conservatory decorating over on Instagram (go follow me here!!) and had to many messages from fellow Instagrammers who said how much they love the Valspar colour-matching too and how much it's saved them not getting "the real deal" so to speak.
So here's a final quick look of the room with its new freshly painted pink wall. Of course I'll be doing a little more to this room still (pallet seating on the way!) but isn't it amazing how quickly paint can transform a room?
I'd love to know if you've tried Valspar's colour matching service out? And whether you were as impressed as me?
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*I was gifted Valspar's paint to feature in this blog. All words, thoughts and opinions are my own and as always, I only recommend products I would genuinely buy myself. Thanks for supporting the brands who support this blog :)
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from http://www.kezzabeth.co.uk/2018/01/colour-matching-with-valspar-paint.html
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