I love paint.
How wierd is it that I have never blogged about my paint passion? When I started blogging, I thought that paint would be a big player in my posts. But somehow I've never gotten around to writing about it. Shame on me. What kind of painter am I anyway?
Paint is the easiest and cheapest way to transform any room, furniture or object. You can paint almost anything, if it sits still long enough. (This would exclude toddlers.) The other possibilities are endless!
First, let's start with my favorite brands. I like Sherwin Williams the best: it is nice and thick, and covers well. There are several types to choose from, from contractor grade to environmentally "friendly". They even have a scrubable matte.
At Home Depot, Behr is the brand I use. Before we got a Sherwin Williams in our area, I would always have my Home Depot mix up a Sherwin Williams color in their Behr brand. Just ask them to look up the competitor brand in their computer and then apply it to Behr.
At Lowe's, Valspar is my choice. For doing a faux finish, the Valspar glaze is what I always use, but I'll talk about that on another post.
Now, let's talk about picking a color. Almost EVERYONE struggles in this area. The best thing to start with is a fabric or tile or carpet or SOMETHING that gives you something to work with. Find an accent color in a drapery fabric and start there. Take your fabric swatch to the paint store and start holding up colors to it. Use the little aparatus that lets you see the colors in different lights.
Then, buy a sample of two or three of the colors you think might work. Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore and Ace Hardware all have small sample sizes you can buy so that you don't have to buy a full quart. Great idea! Don't paint your room without trying a sample first. You will regret it, I promise.
Now, this is the best advice I can give you:
Rather than painting a small section of your wall, paint a 1/2 piece of poster board with each of your samples. Tape the poster boards up onto the wall so you can see them at all times of the day. The light coming into the room will change what the colors look like. Flourescent and incandescent lightbulbs have enormous effect on what a color looks like as well. Flourescent lights should be banned, but alas, I can only do so much.
Finally, check out a brand new selection of colors, called Concepts in Color from Sherwin Williams. Click on the "Color Visualizer" and you can see the whole collection. I love this collection! There are only 250 colors, all simply delicious. You will want to paint something immediately when you see them.
To Be Continued.
