As much as I wanted to paint our art studio building as soon as we moved in a year ago, it was worthwhile taking the time to consider my color options as we gutted and repaired this cool old place.
Here's a quick look at my process for choosing paint colors for any building, and how it helped me arrive at the perfect color for us.
Consider the set things:
What do you want to create?:
Narrow down your options:
Consider the colors that stand out to you:
I ordered an 8 1/2 x 11 COLOR Swatch in Steiglitz Fog and a few other colors taping them to several areas on the building so I could step back and take a good look.
Steiglitz fog felt the best, so when my painter was ready to start, he brought a COLOR sample quart tinted to this color so we could get a really good look.
My general rule for placing color is that I only paint elements like trim and doors in a different color from the body if they're beautiful pieces of architectural.
In my case, painting the trim would've highlighted the mismatched windows and awkward scale of the overhang. So I chose to paint everything blue except the new metal flashing at the top and utility boxes on the back in their natural metal color for an industrial touch.
Taking the time to consider the style and details of your house, the landscape and surroundings, and how you want to feel when you pull up to it every day will help you narrow down your options to the perfect color for you.
We have so many color tools available to help with you that. Shop our 8 1/2 x 11 COLOR Swatches and Swatch Collections, purchase THE essential COLOR SET fandeck and THE Historic COLOR SET fandeck (or both for a savings!), or order COLOR Sample Quarts in any of our 1,721 beautiful colors.
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