Paint and Color

I know you are all aching to know what happens during a day consulting on color while in the paint shop.

11:30 a.m. – A very quiet morning, during which time I sorted out the CSP color swatch binder. Now all the 4×8″ sample sheets are in numerical order. This means I’ll won’t be blundering through the binder in search of one color among the hundreds.

11:45 a.m. – A young family returned for more swatches. They are madly pulling together a palette for their place and seem to like doing it on their own. The fun part of their visits for me is their darling 6-year-old, who today chose three more swatches for his collection. Last week he took home several classic blues, bright reds, and acidic greens. Today’s selections were panels of woodsy greens, rosier reds, and a pumpkin orange. I offered him a yellow, but he says yellow is

too bright for him. We chat it up about which color might work for the walls of his room, which color for the chairs he might paint…..Many kids can handle a lot of color; I like to let them have it. Noon: One of my wonderful color clients arrived and found me at my pretend office table. He’s in the middle of transforming, through paint and color, their well-made and elderly kitchen cabinets. We chose colors that, for this family, are a bit daring. A deep Studio Green for the bottom cabinets, and a rich blue for the top cabinets. Oh my, it is going to look very beautiful. There was an issue with the matte finish of the alkyd formula we had decided on for the cabinets, so I bring us to the big guns at the front counter and we talk it through. A decision is made to switch over to a harder Satin finish. Probably the matte would be fine, but we’re taking no chances on the surface being the least bit “touchy” for daily-use cabinetry. 1. Satin and semi-gloss are hard finishes and can take a beating. They work well for cabinets and shelving. 2. Find a small, busy, local paint store and get to know the people behind the counter. In a good shop, they know everything you don’t about paint and getting a good result on your project.

1:10 pm: Another color client is here is search of wallpaper for the TV alcove in the living room. Now that her navy & cream dotted rug has arrived, she is thinking the Chinoiserie pattern we chose may be a bit much. She has a patience and good eye, so finds 8 different patterns in 90-minutes, each paper more gorgeous than the other. We talk prices and I send her off with 8 books which she will bring back within 24 hours because my wallpaper collection is small, curated and in demand. I am hoping she decides to paper the whole gigantic 2-story wall behind the sofa with an off-white and indigo stylized, organic, leafy paper, and adds a dark blue grasscloth on the small wall behind the TV screen. Another option I like is to paint that big wall in the Lime White, as we’d planned, and paper the TV alcove in a vibrant pink & off-white Ikat pattern. So many good choices; enjoy the process and choose what feels wonderful.

3:10 p.m.: Person arrives in search of paint to paint an already painted scuffed-up wooden floor. The counter guys fill her in about product and process. She has already chosen a white and I love a white painted floor, in spite of the care challenges, so my work here is done. When painting a floor (when painting anything!), choose a color that thrills you. I’m not sure who decided that floors are best in battleship gray. If you want a neutral shade, there are many beautiful warm and cool neutral colors that will not read “aircraft carrier”. You can choose just about any color. Chat it up with your paint professional about prep and process.

4:10 p.m.: Person who was in earlier, whom I have not mentioned yet, has returned with a piece of fabric. She has 24 hours in which to choose a color for her new office in her rehabbed third floor attic. Slanting ceilings; two smallish windows; a narrow stairway leading up to it. She is looking a light neutrals, but yearning for jewel-tone vibrant color. A small, space does not automatically have to be painted in a pale color. A middle tone or a deep shade can bring the space to life. Oftentimes, more color is needed in a low-light room so the walls don’t wash out into a sad, dishrag white.

Colors taken home today: Mannequin Cream, New Age, Violet Pearl, Simply White, After the Rain, York Gray, Claret, Shoreline, Silver Bells, Quiet Moments, Rich Cream, Stone Hearth, Clay Beige………

Onward,

Barbara