Paint...on a budget

I have wanted to paint our piano room since we moved in. I spend many hours a day there, I teach there, and I need it painted. Like now. But I couldn't decide on a color. It needs to exude relaxation and peace, at the same time be welcoming and inviting. Enter Restoration Hardware paint in Silver Sage, like this room below:

contemporary dining room design by sacramento interior designer Kerrie L. Kelly

eclectic kitchen design by austin interior designer Van Wicklen Design

contemporary family room design by los angeles interior designer Zuniga Interiors

It's blue, it's green, it's gray...and it can hold it's own as a neutral. I love it. Our beautiful dark mahogany baby grand will look stunning next to this color. Normally it's $39 a gallon...yowza. I will need 2 gallons for the room, so I told myself to research some more. I called RH and it's on sale right now for $33, that's pretty good. Still not good enough.

Benjamin Moore makes a color that's a 95% match called Grey Wisp, according to a great website Color Charts that let's you search any color and find matches in other brands.

Shermin Williams makes a color very close called Comfort Gray. If you read this great great thread here you will see that a couple people actually have RH Silver Sage on their walls used SW Comfort Gray and despite the color charts looking different, it's an EXACT match. I believe that.

Quite honestly I don't trust the big boxes to get my color right. It's a delicate blend of blue, green and gray. Any more blue and I wouldn't like it, and more green and I would hate it. This color is really perfect for me.

Alright, now to price it out. BM and SW are still pricey (in my opinion). What I found out though, SW is starting a sale tomorrow 4/20/12 and paint is 40% off for 3 days. That's more my speed. High quality paint at very affordable prices. I'm heading over tomorrow morning to grab a couple gallons of their high end paint and get to the piano room painted!

 I'm so excited.