What do they all have in common? All neutral colors? No. I think Nessie is probably a seaweed green which would make her a warm color.  Actually, they’re all figments of our imagination.

When I get that initial call for a color consultation, somewhere inside of me a little voice cries when I hear a request to find the “perfect” beige.  The idea of a perfect beige evokes fantasies of a color that is not too gray, not too green, not too yellow, not too pink.   A homeowner’s dream of that elusive color comes crashing down in living rooms all across America, when they realize that, of the 300 paint chips they’ve taken home from the warehouse store, none of the beiges are neutral or perfect enough for them.

That is a sad, sad, scenario. But, there is hope! There are secrets to finding that perfect wall color. At the risk of shaking up the faerie tale world, here they are:

1) Sometimes the perfect beige may not be beige at all.  Have you considered other neutrals? Greens, grays, and browns, can give you that simplicity and elegance you crave.  Try this green from ICI, Silent Fog - 884; Try this gray from Benjamin Moore Thunder - AF-685; or this brown from Benjamin Moore, Truffle - AF-130.

2) Pay attention to adjacent colors inside and outside of your home. I recently bought a house with emerald green carpet (what was I thinking?). Every paint sample I tried had a ghastly green cast. Until I replaced the carpet, nothing appeared as expected. If you have flooring with a strong  color, or dark or red-toned wood floors, take that into account when you choose your colors. If everything you believed to be neutral comes out “too something” over and over, look around the room and see what’s causing that.  You don’t have to  remove the influencing color, but you’ll want to take that into account when you make your wall color choices.

3) Every beige can be “too something.” Beige is a tone of brown, which is a mix of a primary colors. When you mix red, blue, and yellow together, something is going to dominate.  The key is to find a beige that has a hint of a color you can live with.  If you are a warm-color person, try this beige from Benjamin Moore, Standish White HC-32; If you like cool colors, try this: Restoration Hardware, Silver Sage; Love those soothing grays? Try this: Benjamin Moore, Clay Beige OC-11.

4) Test your paint colors. Seriously. Test your colors. I test colors for my own home.  It’s just not enough to hold those little paint chips up to your wall. To know exactly what a color will do in your house, you have to test it in your home. Purchase generous paint color samples so you can get a realistic idea of the color in your home.  While I’ve been known to paint test squares all around my rooms, against my better judgement, your best bet is to paint your samples on foam color tester boards so that you can move them around, and have nothing to paint over later.  I tell my clients to live with their paint samples for a few days, watch how the color changes at different times of day and in different corners.

5) Relax.  After spending days or weeks focusing on your perfect beige, the subtle nuances start to take on massive importance. People coming to your home won’t critique the cast of your beige, (if they do, then they get no dessert!)

Armed with these secrets, and access to almost unlimited paint color choices, your perfect beige will leave the murky realm of imagination, and materialize in the real world as your perfect wall color.

Visit MyPerfectColor.com for more information on paint colors and painting.

I’ve been thinking a bit about our current economic situation, and I’ve put it into the context of human history, at least in my own warped way. Hope this helps you keep things in perspective!

Here goes:

1. I sure am thankful I’m not caught in a tug of war between two crocodiles on the Lower Zambezi River in Zimbabwe
2. My village was not raided by 1,000 blood-thirsty marauding Vikings - today at least
3. I have not been reincarnated as a slug
4. I’m not shipwrecked in the Antarctic
5. Wondering how far above the water the fin moving towards me is
6. I’m not dangling upside down from a splitting rope on the side of a Nepalese mountain
7. Not running from a lava flow
8. Wondering how long I need to play dead until the Grizzly goes away
9. Thinking I probably should have portaged as the roar of Niagara becomes really loud
10. And finally, I haven’t been bitten by a Cobra today! (trying to avoid any cobras for the rest of the day)

Whew, today is an awesome day! Hope your day is going as well too.

-Jason

Warped, deranged and thankful founder of MyPerfectColor.com

MyPerfectColor is filling yet another niche. For Facilities Services Companies that need to meet the painting needs of national clients, MyPerfectColor offers some unique and valuable benefits.

MyPerfectColor.com sells paint online. Its huge selection of colors (over 100,000 color matches from over 100 paint brands) means that MyPerfectColor.com can deliver paint to match any spec. And since MyPerfectColor reliably ships paint (for free) to anywhere in the country, it offers Facilities Services companies an easy, hassle-free way to ensure the project manager gets the right paint product to the right stores/facility/office at the right price.

For example, MyPerfectColor is currently serving a client who is managing painting projects for a national retailer that is rolling out new store designs for the Holiday Season. MyPerfectColor is shipping paint to their contractors across the country — all the same color, to spec.

Learn more about how MyPerfectColor.com can help your Facilities Services painting project.

Color is on the move. The bold, saturated hues that have dominated palettes for the past few seasons are yielding to more complicated, toned-down shades. Our eyes are ready to relax and fall into dustier, more interest provoking undertones. Gray is the new MVP in the palette- it has an increasing role in cooling down our interiors by becoming the new neutral in residential spaces. When choosing paint color, designers and individuals are piloting toward these calming new shades of gray. For example, some fabulous muted blue-grays and green-grays like Benjamin Moore Smoke 2122-40 and Gossamer Blue 2123-40 can make any room feel like you are a step closer to entering that spa room you always wanted or perhaps feel like you are sitting in a beach chair by the ocean.

Grays can be gorgeous. Gray them selves range from barely there in warm, quiet tones like those found in the neutral landscape of the environment such as wood, stone and natural fibers (colors like Sherwin-Williams Wool Skein SW-6148) to cool, water inspired tones like Benjamin Moore’s Iced Slate 2130-60.

So don’t be afraid to use these wonderful tones and undercurrents to really soothe, relax and update your palette. They are not necessarily cold and icy- they can be warm and earthy and a nice, new update to your home.

So what is the story with low voc paint? What does “voc” stand for and what does it really mean? These days the environment is top of mind for us all - from high gasoline prices to clean air and water - and using low voc paint or zero voc paint is one way to make a difference. Read more… Read the rest of this entry »

If I could redo my room I would put cork board and chalkboard paint behind my bed, covering the whole wall. I would put a corkboard behind my bed because I am a Disney Channel addict! I would hang up all my favorite stars, for example Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus. I would also hang up pictures of my friends and I. Then even if they move I could still remember them. Lastly, I could hang up study guides so I can simply take down my study guides and study. Then, when I’m done studying I can hang my study guide without losing anything and with it get an A+!

After that I would paint the three walls. I would paint my walls a colors from the Behr paint color chart I like, for example purple , green, pink, or a turquoise. If I painted my walls purple, I would put designs on my walls with the other colors, like Hawaiian or tropical flowers, one of my favorite symbols like lol, bff, and ttyl (laugh out loud, Best friends forever, and talk to you later) or peace signs and hearts.  I would put molding surrounding the top and bottom of the wall and on the top and sides of my closet. I would paint the molding a white.

Now, its time to pick out a bed. If the cork board wall is a small wall then put a twin, but if its a bigger sized wall put a full bed. If you put a twin bed try to get a pull out bed underneath so during sleepovers you don’t have to be cramped in a bed or in a sleeping bag on an hard floor. The bed would be in a white color and I would center the bed in the middle of the wall.

I think all kids rooms should be fun and full of things that make us smile and feel happy. I know Mom’s dont love posters and crazy colors but we do and we change our minds a lot so pretty soon we wont like that stuff, either!

Chips. Salsa. Cookies. Crackers. Donuts. Soda….Did you ever spend WAY too much money at the grocery store when you shopped while starving? Me, too. Uncontrollable urges to eat poorly trump the logic of healthy eating when you are famished in the misdst of snacks in aisle 7.

One would say this rule may apply to all avenues of shopping. Especially when shopping for products that create, dictate, change or determine your mood. Like paint color. Its ALL about mood. And so selecting a color palette when your emotions are on high alert may not be a good idea.

I recently did a color study Read the rest of this entry »

Probably one of the most confusing terms in paint is “solid color stain“. Not only does this confuse customers, but it confuses new paint store employees, too. So if you find yourself wondering what the difference is between solid stain and paint, then you are not alone. Read this article to learn the differences… Read the rest of this entry »

My wife Kelly and I will never agree on this one. In my opinion, when it comes to painting projects, it is OK to cut some corners. In her opinion it must be painted, even if you can’t see it. But, even I will agree that it sometimes it does matter.

When we were painting our kitchen, we learned a bit about each other — I’m sloppy and she’s squeaky (my clean code for another word). There is a strip of wood underneath our sink - way underneath. In fact, not only is it underneath, but it is underneath, up and back. It is a strip of wood that will never see light, and no one will ever see that it isn’t painted. Unless you are Kelly inspecting her husband’s handiwork - or according to her after seeing my omission, “sloppy work”. I’m a practical guy. If it doesn’t need to be painted, then I’m not going to use one moment of my limited time on this earth painting it. But to Kelly it matters - she knows it isn’t painted, and therefore it needs to be painted. Like I said, we won’t agree on this one.

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We often get requests from people wanting to know the specific paint color used on a TV show, movie or magazine set. If you’ve ever tried to figure something like this out, it can be a frustrating experience. Typically the last thing on any studio’s mind is keeping track of the paint colors used on a set, let alone making this available for people who are interested. Can you say “Wild Goose Chase”?

The Break-Up

I recently watched this movie called “The Break Up” with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. I love the color that their condo is painted and have looked all over the internet to try to find the name/brand of that exact color. I was wondering if you would be able to help me find it. I would be eternally greatful!!

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