All things PAINT!

Alrighty, I don't assume to know much. But I have picked up a few things about paint in da "biz" that I wanted to share with you. So here. we. go. OH, and I'll throw in a few of my paint colors in here to, so I can link up to Melissa's Paint Party!

Family Room: Sisal, Ralph Lauren/Behr

Picking out color:

MOST of the time, it is helpful to start with some sort of inspiration and work off of that. A pillow, fabric, a vase...anything. When you start with the paint color and go from there, it gets more difficult to decorate around it. Ask me -- we picked a color before moving in for half of our house, and now I know it is really hard to work with. Really hard.

Obviously, you can pick out a wall color first, if it's a neutral, like a cream, tan, gold, etc.

*You can color match just about ANYTHING. Take your inspiration into the store and ask them if they can color match it. Then, you can ask them to adjust the shade according to what you need.

*BEFORE you buy your paint, pay a few bucks and get a sample. Take it home and paint it on a poster board. Hang it on the wall and live with it for at least 24 hours. Look at it during the day, at night, on a cloudy day...you will be shocked at how different the color will look in your own home, in your own light. I cannot stress how important this is. I know how hard it is to be patient and wait that extra day, but you will not regret it.

*If you have a home that is more of an open concept, I always recommend picking a color you love and working off that paint chip -- lighter for some rooms, medium for others, darker for some. This keeps it in the same family but they all work together.

*There are three rooms I think you can totally have fun with and get dramatic if you want -- laundry rooms, powder rooms and dining rooms. That's just my personal opinion though, it's YOUR house and you can do what YOU want and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's just paint.

Master bedroom: fireplace wall, Mossy Aura, Valspar; walls, Tornado Watch, Valspar

Picking a finish:

If you have ever had a builder, decorator or painter pick your finish, they will most likely ALWAYS pick a flat sheen. This is because flat paint ALWAYS looks better, on any wall. It hides all imperfections in the wall.

BUT...if any of these people have children under ten, they would NOT put this sheen in their own homes. Flat paint is awful awful awful, uck, yeck, blah!! It is impossible to clean. When you wipe it, it wipes up to a shiny sheen. You cannot get marks out of it without making a shiny mark on the wall.

*For living spaces, I like eggshell or satin. You can wipe it off if needed, and it hides imperfections pretty well. For any space that may get messes on the wall, a glossier sheen is best. I use a gloss for our bathrooms and laundry room. (I should mention, I should not have used this in our master bath. With the super high ceilings the glossy accentuates all the roller marks, which annoys me every. day.) I always use high gloss for moldings and trim.

*There are new wipeable flat paints, which I am liking. I used this in our powder room and so far, so good.

*I always use latex paint. Oil holds up better (from what I hear) but I've never had a problem with latex. It's so much easier to work with.

Living room: walls, Beechwood Grey, Porter

darker accents, French Toast (I think!!), Porter

(Porter changed all of their colors about a year ago and the closest I've found now is Thumper and Ranch Mink.)

Painting:

I always use the following every time I paint:

1. Blue painters tape. Masking tape also works.

2. Cutting in tool – spongy-type thing that you can use to paint the top of the wall and around windows and doors.
3. Angled paint brush.
4. Plastic paint trays – you don’t need to buy the expensive metal ones. The plastic ones work perfect.
5. A couple rollers

*I highly recommend Behr paint from Home Depot. You really don’t need to buy the expensive paints (Sherwin Williams/Porter). If you find a color that you like in one of these lines, take the chip to the big box store and they'll match it.

*Make sure you get more than enough paint. It is recommended you do two coats – I never do, but always wish I had. There are calculators online that can tell you how much you’ll need, or ask the paint department employee. It is important you get enough because no two batches will be exactly the same. If you run out of paint and have to get more mixed, you will most likely notice a difference in the paint color. This is incredibly frustrating...so avoid the frustration. :)

* If you have a house with an open floor plan, it can be hard to figure out when to start and stop colors. Most of the time I don't recommend stopping in the middle of a wall to start a new color, but there are exceptions. (I say this because I'm about to do it.) A general rule is to make your colors flow with the direction of the rooms -- as you walk through them. (From the front door, through the house.) So if you are questioning where to stop a color at a corner or break in the wall, consider how the space flows. I hope that makes sense!

*One of my best tips is this -- when you stop for the day, take your paint brush and roller and put them in a large ziplock baggy. Or put them in a few grocery bags and tie them up, airtight. Some recommend to put them in the fridge, but I find you don't need to do this. This keeps the paint on the brush/roller wet so you can pull them right back out hours later or the next day to use them again.

Office: Fired Brick, Sherwin Williams (matched at Home Depot). This looks orangey in the pic but is really a nice brick red.

After you are done:

Keep the paint chip in a file, or better yet, write down all of the paint “codes” and keep them – it is so frustrating to not have the exact color written down when you need it. Just about the only thing you can’t color match is your wall!

*If you have small airtight jars, this is a great way to hold some extra paint and keep in handy for touch ups.

Nursery: Pale Sand 1, Pale Apple 1, Apple, Apple 4, Lowe's

OK, any other questions? If so, I'll edit this and add to this post. In the meantime, check out everyone else's favorite paint colors at Melissa's place!

Laundry room: Manila Tint, Behr

Have a GREAT weekend!

P.S. I know many of you had questions about how I did my sign in the last post, so I added some details to the end of the post for you. And I'm trying to visit all your Goodwill transformations, but it may be next week before I can get to all of you! Keep linking up and enjoy the inspiration!