Flooring Matters

"Oh, just ignore the carpet.  We are going to get different flooring for this room".

My new favorite comment during a color consultation!

As a small business owner I know the importance of business networking, so I joined a local Chamber of Commerce a couple of years ago and the benefits are starting to return on my investment.  From a gracious invitation from an established and trustworthy #flooring store owner, I have teamed up with Carpet One/Modern Floors, Walled Lake to help my #color consulting clients find the perfect floor to help their perfect paint color complete the project in their home or business.  

Hard surface flooring

Don't be fooled by offers for 'free' padding or 'free' installation.  Nothing is free, but a trustworthy, established business will work with each client to make sure the products quoted will meet the client's project scope and budget.  I treat each of my client's flooring search as if it were my own so I will not sell them short.  I will look out for their best interest and go through a process of elimination of sorts to find the perfect floor from one store.

Caribbean Mist

There are so many flooring products out there from reputable companies with many price points and specific characteristics.  Carpet One // Modern Floors Walled Lake has access to many manufactures and has the buying power of a big network while remaining locally owned, so you can shop local AND get competitive pricing for your new flooring.

Considering new flooring?  Call me and we will see how we can get you a new floor 'from inspiration to installation'.  

Best,

Jill J. Wallace

Second Coat Required

Ever ask a sales person at your favorite paint store if the paint is darker on the wall than the color chip?

Did they answer what you expected?  

As a color consultant that helps customers a few days a week at Benjamin Moore retailer North Cromwell Paint I have been asked this question many times.  

'Take home' chips are usually 1x2" on a strip of eight colors up to 3x4" individual chips unless the store has some larger chips on hand, so in the store it can be difficult to decipher if a color is going to be dark enough or too dark for a certain room.  

Here's what you need to know:

• When you open the can of paint the paint will look lighter than the paint chip.  It could even look too 'something'...pink, yellow, blue....

• When you first paint the wall the paint will look lighter than the paint chip.

• Once you cut in [a nice wide & feathered cut in so you don't get a 'picture frame' effect] the paint will darken as it dries.  You may not notice it at first, but as you roll on the first coat of paint you will see how the two parts look different.

Cut in line dried to paint color; first coat wet

First coat of paint with old color poking through

• While you are covering up an old color, presuming you did not have to prime, the old color could make the new color look terrible to the point you'll wonder if you are putting the correct new color on the wall.

• So you'd like to get away with one coat eh? Best of luck because even the self primed paints cannot account for normal, typical walls that manage to avoid the roller releasing paint.  It's really just the old color putting up a good fight to stick around.  A second rolled coat should go on rather quickly as your cut in took care of the wall/ ceiling/ trim board meeting spots.

The answer to the question if the paint color looks darker on the wall than on the color chip is no.   

It may be surprising that even a deep color will look like the color chip when you hold it up to the wall, but overall the color will look a little lighter and brighter in the space because it is on a larger surface than 2x2" and has more light to reflect on it.  

Benjamin Moore's Surf Blue

Deep color: a little lighter and brighter

Hope this post sheds some light on the question of how the paint looks on the wall compared to the tiny color chip you can start with from the store.

Don't let the large paint color selection make you frustrated with your project.  Hire a #color consultant for their experience of how certain colors may or may not display your ideal color in your room.  Your lighting and room characteristics are not the same as a retail store. 

 ~Make Your Color Personal~ (click this link for more information about my consulting services)

Best,
Jill

Fresh for 2014

Fall is upon us and we will start to see the newest trends and colors of the year 2014 emerge.  It is a great time to rethink what you can keep or freshen up in your home.

Fall Sky with Nature's Touch

Just yesterday I snapped this picture of the early evening sky. Can you see adding some of these colors to a room in your home?  The blue caught my attention and made me notice how fresh the fall air smelled. 


Benjamin Moore recently announced Breath of Fresh Air as the Color of the Year 2014.  

Classic Color 806

Blues with a muted tone can give a room a non-juvenile atmosphere.  They can be light like a clear sky, or grayed like blue jeans or slate.  They can be deep in value like navy.  

They just may look 'gray' on the color chip, but with fine tuning and 100's of tints and shades of blue available, you can add some blue to your home for a change or update, without the color turning 'nursery blue'....unless of course that is the perfect blue you are searching.  

If the process is daunting, call me, a color consultant, for help.  It is what I love to do: ~Making Color Personal~ !

Best,

Jill

Deck Sealant Made Easy

September is in full swing.  The seasonal weather in Michigan is typically everything but snow....and so far we've had a normal September.  Today's morning temp was 44*F  This afternoon is in the pleasant mid 60s.  As timing would finally have it, between rain, drying time and an open schedule I finished the spindles on our 14 year old deck today!  The forecast is positive for the week so the floor boards will get stain and a clear coat this week.  

Deck in TWP Stain

Our natural cedar deck has always had a cedar color in the past 14 years.  TWP 501 (now TWP1501 with voc changes) had been our go-to product.  It is a one coat system that typically lasts two seasons with the snow and sun hitting the deck boards significantly.  Surprisingly it is the ALKYD (oil) base that can't hold up to Mother Nature's fury, even though oil products and wood are a natural match.

We tried Sikkens SRD077 Cedar (a one coat system) three years ago.  It went on easily and required a maintenance coat.  Sikkens has many products that are specific for certain applications.  Your project's requirements will help narrow down which product will work for your project.

Since it was time to strip the old coating off I chose Benjamin Moore's Arbor Coat Semi Transparent stain to use this time around. As a color change I went with Teak.  Arbor Coat semi-transparent has a mix of acrylic and alkyd properties, so it will soak into the wood but has water clean up.  The down part is the floor boards are a two step process requiring the stain and a clear coat for protection.  The upside is the product went on so easy to the spindles and rails, it was not smelly like the oil products and clean up was quick--water, no thinner!

Spindles and rails complete with Arbor Coat. Floor boards next.

As a service to my clients I use my deck and house walls as a guinea pig of sorts.  If I am going to recommend paint and stain products I need to know the nuances about them.  That being said, if you don't have the time or want to make the time to prep properly and follow the manufacture's directions for application hire a professional!!  

If you have a new or older deck, I can help you find the right product and color to keep it looking new.

Contact me at Color ReDesign for a consulting appointment.

Best,
Jill

What's In a Name?

Congratulations,

You have searched and compared many off-white paint colors for your walls, ceiling or trim.  Of the 150+ off-whites to choose from you have narrowed it down to Navajo White, or maybe antique white.  But who's Navajo White?

  

Navajo White chips in Sherwin Williams, Pittsburgh Paint and Benjamin Moore

The same color name does not mean the paint color will be the same!

You may have stopped into a couple of stores to get paint chips, but your painter has told you about the benefits of the specialty paints and / or you always use a particular paint, like Benjamin Moore products.   Based on the color you chose, it could be another company's color that you want mixed in your preferred paint.  For example you stopped into Lowe's and picked up an off-white paint chip that just really works in your room compared to the other off-white chips.  There's just something about the color you like it best.  From your research you know you want to buy paint from your local Benjamin Moore owner instead of using the products offered at a big box or commercial store.

You know you want to use Pittsburgh's Antique White in a Benjamin Moore Matte (washable flat) paint, but did you relay the details to the painter or to the store employee taking your order?  While it should be a question poised, "Benjamin Moore's or someone else's?" from someone some where along the order process, it doesn't always happen. 

I strongly recommend to have the paint chip with the person placing the paint order and to clarify the details as to the brand and sheen of paint being used on the space.  Ideally you want to get a paint color made by the company you are getting the paint mixed in, but it isn't a perfect world and sometimes you just really like a certain color for a certain reason.  All is good.  If you go with the cross over of color and product, just have the store open the can and make sure the color is close.  If it is a non-company color it will never be 'exact', but it shouldn't be noticeably different either.

Happy Painting! 

Exterior Colors Gone Wrong

This was an incredibly long, cold, wet spring  in lower Michigan that delayed exterior paint projects.  With anticipation of helping clients find new or different or updated exterior colors for their existing, remodeled or new construction home I used the uncooperative weather to 'window' shop and see how local homes were trending.

We have many inland lakes in the area, so on some drives I found quite a few different home styles with color combinations that really work.

 

Commerce MI

West Bloomfield, MI

     

In the North / Mid East there are some colors that do not belong aesthetically on a home's exterior.   Some colors do not work for technical reasons: drastic light reflective value (LRV) changes; for example very light siding color to two or three shades darker.  Some colorants, therefore some paint colors, do not handle UV rays even though the exterior paint bases are significantly improved to handle fading and nature's elements.   Home Owners Association Rules are often scoffed at, but they really do prevent hideous colors from popping up in a neighborhood.

    

Some stores have home items.  Homes are not stores and can look eye catching without bright and saturated hues.

IKEA

This subdivision purposely painted repeated colors.  Some are deep tones, but none are saturated and overly bright.  

Canton, MI

Please keep in mind that you cannot close a door to an exterior like you can to the bedroom, den or basement that you gave creative colors.  Your exterior doesn't have to be 'builder beige' but its color should represent the neighborhood well.

If you are really stuck, color consultants, such as myself, can help you navigate the barrage of color choices and color placement.

    

Cover Switches White or Painted?

Question for you:
Do you paint your wall cover switches the wall color, do you leave them white or do you go for the decorative switch cover?

  

      source                                           Source

I used to always paint my switch cover plates the wall color to help them disappear.  Now I'm kind of liking the contrast with the white cover switches. 

  

One thing I will continue to paint the wall color is the cold air return vent and the wall plug cover switches.  I do not want them to get unnecessary attention.

           

Do you have a preference of how your wall switch cover plates look? 

Thank You! Best of Houzz 2013 Award

Extremely excited and pleasantly surprised today to find out I have earned the 2013 Best of Houzz award for Customer Satisfaction!  

The "Annual Survey and Analysis of Community of 11 Million Monthly Users Reveals Top-Rated Professionals and Design Trends".  The Houzz community rated me as one of the designers at the highest level of customer satisfaction. 

Please read the press release Houzz sent to me:

Color Redesign of West Bloomfield, MI Receives

Houzz’s 2013 ‘Best Of Houzz’ Award

Annual Survey and Analysis of 11 Million Monthly Users

 Reveals Top-Rated U.S. Professionals

West Bloomfield, MI  --  January 21, 2013 – Color Redesign of West Bloomfield, MI has been awarded  “Best Of Houzz” 2013 by Houzz, the leading online platform for residential remodeling and design.  The 6 year old Color and Redesign company was chosen by the more than 11 million monthly users that comprise the Houzz community.

The Houzz “Best Of Houzz” award for 2013 is given in two categories: Customer Satisfaction and Design. Customer Satisfaction award winners are based on homeowner members who rated their experience working with remodeling professionals in 12 categories ranging from architects, and interior designers to contractors and other residential remodeling professionals.  Design award winners’ work was the most popular among the community of 11 million monthly users, also known as “Houzzers,” who saved more than 124 million professional images of home interiors and exteriors to their personal ideabooks via the Houzz site, iPad/iPhone app and Android app.

Making Color Personal


“Houzz provides homeowners with an in-depth, 360-degree view of building, remodeling and design professionals through images of their work, reviews and an opportunity to interact with them directly in the Houzz community,” said Liza Hausman, vice president of community. “We’re delighted to recognize Jill J. Wallace among our “Best Of” professionals for exceptional customer service as judged by our community of homeowners and design enthusiasts who are actively remodeling and decorating their homes.”

With Houzz, homeowners can identify not only the top-rated professionals like Jill J. Wallace, but also those whose work matches their own aspirations for their home. Homeowners can also evaluate professionals by contacting them directly on the Houzz platform, asking questions about their work and evaluating their responses to questions from others in the Houzz community.

About Jill J. Wallace

Jill J. Wallace’s expertise is in residential and commercial color, organizing techniques and redesign.  She leads her clients through the color choice process for new construction, renovation and blank spaces.

Jill earned her Marketing degree from Oakland University, Rochester, MI.  Using her 20+ years of business experience, customer service skills and continued training in color theory and knowledge Jill works closely with her clients to help her motto ~Making Color Personal~ become a tangible client result.

About Houzz

Houzz (www.houzz.com) is a leading online platform for home remodeling, providing inspiration, information, ‘advice and support for homeowners and home improvement professionals through its website and mobile applications. Houzz features the largest residential design database in the world, articles written by design experts, product recommendations, a vibrant community powered by social tools, and information on more than 1.5 million remodeling and design professionals worldwide who can help turn ideas into reality. @houzz_inc

Have you stopped by Houzz lately?