Buying Paint Samples, Valspar VS. Sherwin Williams

So, I'll be buying Sherwin Williams paint for our new house.  I prefer Benjamin Moore, but my discount is with SW.  As I plan to paint 14 different rooms, and preferably all different colors, before I move in, I thought I should go the safe route and buy samples of the colors I'm considering. Some of those colors are bright and I know from experience that bright colors don't usually work out the way I think they will.  So, I went to SW and could only afford to buy four samples, and then I was told that the samples are not actually paint and would require a topcoat (says the same on the label).  So I spent a little over $20 on four quarts of paint that isn't technically paint according to the manufacturer.  I don't know about you but I thought that was a bit of a rip off.  I don't need a quart of non-paint to figure out if I like a color. 

SO, a few days later I went to Lowes with my SW fan deck and bought eight samples of Valspar paint tinted in SW colors (well, one was a Valspar color: Leaf Bud) for $3 each.  Lowes assured me that I could paint with their samples.  So 4 quarts of sample non-paint for $20 or eight 8oz samples of paint for $24.  I think the better value is obvious. 

So, I will still paint with the samples I bought from SW, but with the knowledge that something might not work out right with them.  No worries.  Of course, I intend to update with the results.        

Here are the "boards" I painted with some of my sample colors.  I prefer to paint poster board because you can move them around the house and just tape them to the wall without making your walls look like they're *waiting for a paint job*.  Also, practically speaking, I can't paint the walls of a house that doesn't yet belong to me even if my agent is super nice and let's us walk through it whenever we call him.  But when I walk through the house, I can tape the colors here or there, and ponder.     

Yes, I like blue and green and aqua.  These are actually the toned down colors in my imaginary color scheme.    I'll detail the colors in a later post.