Paint websites
When my husband and I bought our first condo, I painted our diningroom what I thought was a nice deep burgundy. At least that's the way it looked under the fluorescent light at the paint store. When we put it on the walls it turned out to be raspberry. It looked great at night when we could light candles and use the chandalier's dimmer switch, but woah! in daylight the room was aglow in neon pink.
What that mistake taught me however, was how to be prudent when choosing colours. For one thing, now I'll paint an old piece of cardboard with a tester first before slapping it up on the wall. I also live by the decorator addage of choosing a colour two shades lighter than I want and if I feel it's not coming out too light, then I'll put on a second coat in a darker colour. Finally, I rely a lot on the advice of the paint experts at local paint stores. I'll take a fabric sample into a store and tell them what I want. The sales people, particularly at smaller specialty shops, really know their stuff and the colours they recommend have been exactly what I'd imagined.
If you're thinking of painting your rooms, the latest tools to help you with colour are provided by paint manufacturers' websites. On many of the websites, not only can you see what a colour looks like in a room's setting, they'll usually pair it with one or two complementary colours to help you pull a colour scheme together. Try out a few of the websites first, then consult the HomeStars directory for reviews of paint stores near you.
Useful paint links:
Benjamin Moore: This site offers you the ability to colour your own walls by inputting your rooms via digital photography. If you don't have a digital camera, they also have their own room selections too.
Para Paints: Para has a "Trend 2008" section as well as a section which will help you put three colours together. Best of all it's fast and easy to use.
Sico: Sico offers an "interactive" method of giving you colour advice. Your mission is to help Maude and Sarah, otherwise known as the "Colour Squad," choose colours for a friend's colourless home while the friend is out. When you make certain style decisions, it is recorded and at the end of the video you go to the virtual decorator to see what you've chosen -- or you can skip the whole process and just go the the virtual decorator.
Farrow and Ball: Like the Para site, Farrow and Ball has a selection of complementary colours to go with the primary colour you've chosen. However, I find the site more difficult to use as it's necessary to go three screens deep (or click three times) to get the result. I'm not sure the effort is always worth the trouble, but if you're a big fan of F&B's colour lines it might be. I do like their wallpaper selection though.
Labels: painting, Useful links
Posted by Cathy
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