Touching up paint - old paint seems to be faded now

[MustISO]

We had our first floor interior painted about 5 years ago. At the time we were left with one unopened can of the same paint. We took that can to the store and had them shake it and test it to make sure it was still good, they said it was.

The problem is that the paint in the can is darker than the existing paint on the walls so we can't touch it up. Do we just need to paint the entire first floor again, can we lighten the existing can of paint we have?

 

[glenn1]

Why not put up a swatch of the "new" paint in an inconspicuous spot, and see if it dries to the same color as what you have now?

Also, is there a certain area you're wanting to touch up, or just want to use the can since you have it, or ?

 

[nerp]

Originally posted by: MustISO
We had our first floor interior painted about 5 years ago. At the time we were left with one unopened can of the same paint. We took that can to the store and had them shake it and test it to make sure it was still good, they said it was.

The problem is that the paint in the can is darker than the existing paint on the walls so we can't touch it up. Do we just need to paint the entire first floor again, can we lighten the existing can of paint we have?

If you can take a sample of the existing paint to the paint store, they could try to match it closely. There's a chance it can work, but remember that when the new paint begins to fade, it might start to become more apparent as time goes on, so you might want to paint the whole thing now and use it as an opportunity, I guess.

 

[MustISO]

We already did that, it's darker even after it's dried. We were looking to touch up some small marks on the walls then when the paint dried we saw how different it was.

 

[ManyBeers]

Originally posted by: MustISO
We already did that, it's darker even after it's dried. We were looking to touch up some small marks on the walls then when the paint dried we saw how different it was.

In that case you will have to repaint all of that wall. That is if you have touch up on say 2 walls of a room paint all of the two walls that need touching up and leave the others alone.