Welcome to the new blog! I wanted to start a design blog to chronicle my learning experience as an interior design student, offer insight and know how to essentially crack open anyone's design style.
I am in the process of preparing my house for a facelift. New paint, new look, new home. The neighborhood is filled with lots of houses painted in grays, greens and tans so I wanted my little humble abode to stand out from the rest. In my head I visualized a dark brown on the body with red orange accent on doors and windows followed by a lighter beige on the main trim.
Choosing a color can be daunting as natural and artificial lighting can play tricks on the eyes and affect the hue's outcome.
Confident in the color pallete, the vision began taking shape after sorting through Sherwin Williams paint chips and fan decks in hues of browns, gray-browns, reds, oranges, red-oranges. After careful studying, the first color selected was Wheat Penny as the accent trim for doors and windows. Next, two options for both the body and main trim were chosen to compliment with red-orange accent. Remember to always purchase samples of each color and test out on design boards and paint a small section on the actual exterior before committing to the color. For my home, I created four boards. The first being actual paint chips arranged to determine the best combination. The second being finger painted cards of each sample to file away in the design notebook. Third is a 24x36 foam core board painted in large stripes of each color and lastly, actually testing sections on the house. I painted small squares of each color on two sides of the house - one that gets the most sun at all times of day and the second in a shaded area.
On paper, Utterly Beige was a nice contender for the main exterior body with Realist Beige as the main accent trim. But when painted on the house, Utterly Beige looked very gray and Realist Beige turned very creamy and not the cool white I expected.
Down Home, a warm brown with orange tints, looked beautiful on paper and even more gorgeous on the house in both morning and mid-afternoon sunlight. Diverse Beige provided just enough contrast against the rich brown and the right compliment to red-orange. The vision was realized and the colors chosen. The next step is the actual painting.
Tips of the Trade:
- Don't be afraid of a little sheen and opt for a satin finish instead of flat.
- Always pressure wash and clean before any exterior painting begins. A little dirt can affect the paint application.
- Thinking of using Reds on your house? Use a gray primer. It will save you paint and labor costs as it will take less coats to cover.
- Be careful of using hues of yellow and white. Both can fade rather quickly and become washed out over time.
