Interior painting tips - choosing colours, cutting in, prepping

Watch this video for lots of tips on painting a room with Devine Color!

Taking the Pain Out of Painting - Roll your own giant chips

Paint is a powerful force in the universe. Its influence is often disguised behind designer names like Contiguous Pout or First Pimple.

Choosing paint colours can pit relatives against each other in a teeth-baring battle over the interpretation of light wavelengths.

 

I knew one paint store owner who refused to sell paint to unaccompanied men.  We called him The Paint Nazi.

“Go home and get your wife,” he would say to any lone male who entered the store.

 “But she sent me.”

 “I don’t care. I don’t want you back in here complaining that she doesn’t like it.”

 “But she told me what colour to get.”

 “Right. Go home and get a note from her. Then I’ll sell you paint.”

 (I’m not making this up.)

To some people, this example seems exaggerated. But only if they haven’t been through a colour scuffle with an erstwhile mate. Yes, paint ends some marriages.

But a marriage that collapses over the two-dimensional subject of paint may have lacked the kind of depth that lets a relationship survive other marital minefields like unreasonable opinions, unexpected body noises and middle-of-the-night conversations regarding which one of you should not be allowed to press her ice-cold bottom against yours.

Chips Ahoy

The culprit in paint arguments is usually the paint chip. Most standard ‘paint’ chips are actually ink on paper, so you’re getting a fake wavelength compared to what the actual paint will produce. And how much can you tell from a squidgy little scrap of colour? Is it even worth arguing about? No. If you want a true gauge of any paint colour, you need a bigger chip.

A few paint companies offer the relief of really large paint chips. The originator of this trend was Devine Color, a boutique paint company from Portland, Oregon. Devine has produced all of their 120 colours using actual paint on large 8”x10” cardboard sheets for the past 5 years. Sweet.

More Chip Tips

The best thing you can do for your marriage and your decor is to test paint on the walls of the room in question, or make your own giant Bristol board paint chips. 

Check how the colour responds to light at different times of day. Check whether it goes post-nuclear under artificial light.

Human brains register big swaths of colour more easily than they interpret a pathetic mewling little chunk of ink with a fancy name like Resolute Pugnacity or Scrofulous Edema. Oh don’t get me started on paint names.

Comments

[Abi]

I like the yellow paint such a pretty color.

I remember watching this video, ah blast from the past. I epecially liked it when Mag said "Oh my heck". shes funny(laughs)

[Kristal]

Thanks for the tips

http://www.house-painting.com/

[Abi]

Mag this new video techinique is awesome, when I logged on and saw this Im like woah, this is new!

[John]

these are good tips for the home owner.Devine Paint is really good Paint also.The reason the paint does not spatter is because it has a additive in it that some paints do not, that keep the paint from spattering.As a Painter for the last 30 years one thing I hate is spatter.I will spend more money for a paint that does not spatter because there is less clean up, and it also tells me that the paint company spent an extra few cents to help you out without you begging them.Believe me there are a lot of paint companies that don't put this additive in there paint.

[John]

I forgot to give you my web address:
www.JohnHowellConstruction.com

I also have some tips on my site if you like painting. Thanks John

[Mark]

Great post. I especially found it important for novices, as a painter I's normaly paint as you did in when you painted the ceiling, with no tapes.
Keep it up!!! with your interior painting...

[Mike]

Thanks for the interesting tips!

[cubbie]

thank you for the tips! my girlfriend watched this before we painted our bedroom and she gave me lots of good tips!

[Mag]

Hi Cubbie, I'm so glad it helped. Always helps a project to have a DVW (dedicated video watcher!)

Mag

[john]

This is good stuff, you need to do some more

[House Painters Seattle]

Meg likes the smell of paint in the morning. :p0

[Seattle Painters]

Educating the homeowner on what to do and how to don it...comes second nature to me.

[Seattle House Painters]

Really...if a marriage would have problems because of painting....there's something bigger going on...but it's not about the paint.

[phoenix landscape design]

Ew, I HATE choosing colors! Worst, thing, ever. I don't know why, I just hate those little color cards!