Colour Matching & Mixing
The Decorator Centre

Finding the right colour and perfect shade is essential to many of our customers. We can spend time with you to help identify and narrow the choice from our current and archive swatches. Three paint tinting machines on site provide you with a tremendous bank of shades to choose from, as each machine offers different colour collections. We are also able to mix colours from other universal colour systems such as NCS, BS & RAL. We tint Dulux Trade and Retail, Johnstone’s Trade, Crown Trade, Sadolin, Cuprinol and Hammerite bases in varying sizes to help keep wastage and cost to the minimum.

If you have a sample of the colour you’d like, bring it in and we can scan it. We have scanned everything from skin to cars, toy TARDISes to welly boots and paint flakes to lumps of render! If the scanned match is not exact, we’ll search all our swatches until we find the closest match. If it’s still not close enough, we can send the sample away for a bespoke recipe to be created especially for you.

Perhaps you already have a favourite paint colour from a previous home. In which case let us know, as most old recipes are still available via the tinting machine software. Maybe our archive of colour charts will hold the answer…

Choice made, we will advise you on the coatings and sheens available, together with relevant primers and undercoats suitable for the surface you are painting. Coatings and sheens will depend on your chosen shade, but generally include interior and exterior wall, wood, metal and floor paint plus transparent and opaque wood stain in a choice of water or oil based formulations.

If you wish, we can tint a matt emulsion tester pot for you to try at home; this is an essential step if you require a particular shade, as different light sources will have an impact on a colour’s appearance. Once you are completely happy, we will mix your final choice.

We look forward to sharing colourful language with you at The Decorator Centre in Bridport, Dorset.