Ever Change a Light Switch? A Non-Technical Question💡

[AudioHTIT]

When we built our house about 20 years ago, my wife and I took on many roles, including being the electrical subcontractor, in that role we pulled lots of Romex, installed lots of fixtures, and of course put in many plugs and switches. At the time we chose to use Leviton brand plugs, switches, and cover plates; we also chose to use the 'Almond' color, as opposed to the other popular lighter color 'Ivory'. A few years ago I swapped out all the plugs and plates behind my Credenza for Black, and noticed there was now a larger size of plate, actually there are now three sizes; 'standard', mid-size (3/8" bigger than standard), and large (bigger than that). This got me thinking that I could swap out some of the plates for other switches where the drywall work around the electrical box was ... 'less than perfect'. I don't want to do all of them, but some just don't look good and bother both my wife and I.

So I did a quick inventory and bought some mid-size switch plates at Home Depot, what I didn't really notice, is that the Leviton color is now 'Lt Almond' (as opposed to just 'Almond'). However, once I put the first plate on I quickly saw a difference, the Lt Almond, is slightly lighter and (to my eyes) grayer, or put another way the older Almond is warmer and more yellow. Now neither my wife nor I think this difference is the end of the world, but we both notice it, and if I'm going to go to the trouble of swapping this out for 'appearance' sake (drywall), I might as well try to get the color right. When I search for Leviton Almond, I can find some plates, but only the older standard size, not the newer mid-size I need to solve my problem.

Has anyone else experienced this issue and found possibly another brand of plate that has Decora style mid-size plates that match the older Leviton Almond color?

Thanks for any insight you might have.

Not easy to see in this photo, but the plate and switch on the left are both Almond, the plug and switches on the right are Almond, but the surrounding plate is 'Lt Almond'. What you might be able to see is that both pieces on the left match, on the right the plate looks more of a 'putty' color.

[ttocs]

I'm pretty sure you can get all the colors from a electrical supplier that sells to the pros. Might be an order item, but you should be able to get it. It's truly amazing how many colors and finishes there are.

And yes, I can see the difference, and it would bug me as well.

[vcautokid]

TTOCS is right on. Colors abound. Leviton was our big product in our home integration solutions and wall panels for light switches and dimmers and much more was a dizzying array of choices. Almost no matter wall color choice we could get the appropriate panels to compliment the walls. They looked great. Our Control 4 and Crestron and other lighting products were done with the Leviton finishing touch. There are other vendors too. They escape me at the moment.

[405x5]

Our house was built in 94 and since then, I’ve replaced just about every switch in the place (mostly Home Depot).
Every outlet and switch has its compatible color lineup of plate covers. Almond, white etc. I prefer the metal coated plates that are more rigid and in the ganged boxes I replace everything, even if only one went south (too cheap not to). So long as the colors in one room are consistent, that’s all I worry about.

[AudioHTIT]

Yes, all of your points are well taken, however, I still can’t find Almond, Mid-Size plates — and would not go to the trouble and expense of replacing the plugs and switches just to get a matching mid-size plates (with the exception of the black plates I mentioned — also used in the bathroom to match the oiled bronze fixtures). I’ve also written to Leviton asking for a source of Almond / mid-size … so far, no response.

[405x5]

Sept 24, 2022 3:58:35 GMT -5 AudioHTIT said:

Yes, all of your points are well taken, however, I still can’t find Almond, Mid-Size plates — and would not go to the trouble and expense of replacing the plugs and switches just to get a matching mid-size plates (with the exception of the black plates I mentioned — also used in the bathroom to match the oiled bronze fixtures). I’ve also written to Leviton asking for a source of Almond / mid-size … so far, no response.

I would take a sample plate of what you’ve got over to your local electrical supply outlet and let your guy behind the counter match you up with something that will work for you. A pro worth his salt will fix you up in short order

[LCSeminole]

I had this exact problem two years ago. What prompted me to "TRY" and find the same color wall plates was the fact that the old wall plates were made of a hard/brittle type plastic that would crack around the screw hole and thus make it un-usable. My results were the same in trying to perfectly match the color of the wall plate to the receptacle/outlet. Long story short, I ended up using a company, "Enerlites", but I also decided to replace the receptacles/outlets because I had found several of the original "residential" grade receptacles/outlets were weakened or cracked, thus I ended up upgrading all of the receptacles to either "commercial" or "hospital" depending on usage or how often it was used. Sorry I digressed a bit on receptacles/outlets. I ended up getting "midsize" wall plate to do the same thing as you, so as to cover up some blemishes in the plaster, as well as getting a wall plate that is made of PCT, ie: polycarbonate thermoplastic material that wasn't hard and brittle and wouldn't crack while still being flexible yet resilient to an impact. I ended up with a "white" "mid-size" wall plate from "Enerlites" that matched my new "white" Leviton commercial and hospital grade receptacles and they match perfectly color-wise. I don't know if "Enerlites" can match the exact "Almond" color you need, but they do have quite a variety of colors. I also ended up buying their wall plates in bulk off of Amazon. I do see they have a "Light Almond", just not sure if it would be the same shade of almond.

www.amazon.com/stores/Enerlites/page/D6B54D65-9585-4DF0-9FF7-E0908AF83DB2?ref_=ast_bln

enerlites.com/

[AudioHTIT]

Sept 24, 2022 7:00:42 GMT -5 LCSeminole said:

I had this exact problem two years ago. What prompted me to "TRY" and find the same color wall plates was the fact that the old wall plates were made of a hard/brittle type plastic that would crack around the screw hole and thus make it un-usable. My results were the same in trying to perfectly match the color of the wall plate to the receptacle/outlet. Long story short, I ended up using a company, "Enerlites", but I also decided to replace the receptacles/outlets because I had found several of the original "residential" grade receptacles/outlets were weakened or cracked, thus I ended up upgrading all of the receptacles to either "commercial" or "hospital" depending on usage or how often it was used. Sorry I digressed a bit on receptacles/outlets. I ended up getting "midsize" wall plate to do the same thing as you, so as to cover up some blemishes in the plaster, as well as getting a wall plate that is made of PCT, ie: polycarbonate thermoplastic material that wasn't hard and brittle and wouldn't crack while still being flexible yet resilient to an impact. I ended up with a "white" "mid-size" wall plate from "Enerlites" that matched my new "white" Leviton commercial and hospital grade receptacles and they match perfectly color-wise. I don't know if "Enerlites" can match the exact "Almond" color you need, but they do have quite a variety of colors. I also ended up buying their wall plates in bulk off of Amazon. I do see they have a "Light Almond", just not sure if it would be the same shade of almond.

www.amazon.com/stores/Enerlites/page/D6B54D65-9585-4DF0-9FF7-E0908AF83DB2?ref_=ast_bln

enerlites.com/

Excellent point, I too like the PCT the mid-size (and larger) plates use, though you do have to tighten the screws just right or it warps and reflects differently. Thanks for the tip, I searched for Almond with Enerlites and have just found Lt Almomd, it still might match, I’ll see if my question is answered.

[DYohn]

I'm glad that neither my wife nor I have "color-matching OCD."

[AudioHTIT]

Sept 24, 2022 12:21:53 GMT -5 DYohn said:

I'm glad that neither my wife nor I have "color-matching OCD."

It can be quite a burden, and I’m the worse of the two, however I have managed to live with the three different blues on the Emo processors (now there’s a thread we really need to bring back 😁).