Selecting Paint by Calgary Interior Designer
There are a few key things we like to consider when selecting paint for your home. Whether it be a neutral blank canvas for all of your walls, a dramatic feature wall or cabinet paint, we want to ensure that we are selecting the correct colour the first time because painting is an invasive, costly part of the renovation.
Benjamin Moore’s Coventry Grey In our Elbow Park Project.
The first rule when picking paint is to always pick it in the space that is going to be painted. The colour can change dramatically from when we initially pull the swatch in our office to when we see it on site. We also like to get samples made up so that we can test the paint in a few different spots in the space. The colour can also change based on the time of day so we will leave you with it for at least 24 hours so you can make an informed decision. You can see above that Coventry Grey by Benjamin Moore looks very different in our Elbow Park project than it looks in the digital swatch. We initially picked this paint off site and when we saw it in the clients home we were considering reselecting - but she loved the cooler tone it took on in her home!
Above Left: Benjamin Moore Fatigue Green, Top Right: Sherwin Williams Needlepoint Navy, Bottom Right: Benjamin Moore Narragansett Green
The same applies when selecting a darker paint for a dramatic office or dining room feature. The undertones have the potential to look different on site and the depth of the paint could be too much at a specific time of day. This is also relevant when selecting a “white” paint for the remaining walls in your home. Believe it or not, there are thousands of shades of white and some of them won’t compliment your home in the way we are hoping. This graphic that Studio McGee has on their bog features some of their favourite white paints. It also showcases how different they all are once you see them side by side.
Lastly, when we select paint for cabinets we always want to see samples beforehand. When a sheen is added to the paint so that the finish is suitable for millwork, the paint reflects more light than it would applied to a wall with an eggshell finish. This results in the finish product reading darker than the swatch.
Above Left: Benjamin Moore Oxford White, Above Right: PPG Witchcraft PPG1037-7
While selecting paint is just one part of the large scale projects we do, it is an important one!
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