We are having a minor scheduling emergency because the decorative cedar ceiling is holding up construction inside as we have been unable to find a good interior stain match that meets our low or no VOC requirement. We were hoping AFM Safecoat could match our exterior cedar but after a two week struggle we got their final attempt today and it was not acceptable. We feel like we have exhausted all of the eco friendly stain options so Philip suggested we try to get a PAINT match in the Sherwin Williams Harmony line (low VOC) and he would try to dilute it to look like a stain. Our stain is pretty dark and unfortunately the Harmony line does not have an ultra deep base so we couldn't do the
match. The great folks at SW did spend quite a bit of time with me today trying to match our stain sample in their conventional line. I was then off to Tru Value Hardware which handles the Benjamin Moore Aura line and they do have an ultra deep base and very low VOC ratings. Tim and his crew there tried for almost an hour adding small amount of pigment and got pretty close but not an exact match. The magic matching machine seems to work well matching paint to paint but not so well matching paint to stain. Philip is going to try his dilutions tonight on a raw cedar board and all fingers and toes are crossed that tomorrow morning we will have an acceptable option to proceed with.
You can never solve a problem at the level at which it was created. You have to go one at least one level beyond.
--Albert Einstein
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