On Nov 4, 8:09*pm, "SteveB" wrote:
"DanG" wrote in message

...

You're expecting way too much. *If you had the original can of paint, it
would probably not be dead on out in the middle of a wall. *Any touch up
painting will always require painting corner to corner, top to bottom.

At last, a reasonable man.

I saved a quart of kitchen wall satin finish paint from when we
painted 8 years ago and when we had to change the mount for our
cordless telephone answering system last month, I mixed a little paint
with the drywall mud and filled in the appropriate areas. Then I
sanded down the entire area and painted it with a 2" roller, doing it
twice. I can't find the edge marks because it blended in so well.
But, the paint is a very mild off-white/yellow color. I washed the
whole wall before starting the patching, and even the sheen matches so
closely that it is difficult where the transition is. But, it was the
exact same apint.

Where I go, to the local big orange box, they smear a heavy coat of
the newly mixed paint on a white paper and then dry it thoroughly with
a hair dryer and check that against the sample you provide. They
prefer an actual chip of the paint to be matched, from some
inconspicuous point on the wall. If they are esperienced, and the
color is a little off, they can add a little of one of the colorants
to the original mix, put it in the shaker and try a second time. Then
they have to change the formula on the paper that they print out to
stick on the can.