In shopping for paint jobs, a common mistake that I see homeowners make is to invite a bunch of painters over, point them to the project and, without providing any additional guidance, ask them for a quote.
Maybe those homeowners just didn’t want to offend contractors with excessive job descriptions or perhaps they thought that a professional would know best. It is true that professionals should know best but, modified by individual experience (or lack thereof), one painter’s approach to a job may be completely different from another. For example, one bidder may include an extra finish coat – maybe this is how their old boss always did it. Another bidder may entirely omit the prime coat – perhaps this is the only way they can outbid the competition. Yet, someone else may not include a light well – maybe they did not notice it or did not think it needs doing.
What will likely happen, with the aforementioned proposals, is that the scope of work, job specifications and price will be all over the place, which will make these proposals nearly impossible to compare. This can leave the homeowner with the need to redo the bidding process from scratch or, even worse, with the need to revisit the process, in the middle of the ongoing job, when it comes to light that something the homeowner wanted painted was not included in the “winning” proposal.
Homeowners can easily avoid such confusions by simply providing all bidders with a project description. This description does not have to be very complicated, just as long as it is exactly the same for every bidder.
As a painting contractor, the most common question I hear from clients is: “What color should I choose?” This is a very good question indeed! After all, it is a decision that they will have to live with for a very long time, and a lot of people struggle with it.
It is generally understood that color combinations that appear pleasing are made up of colors considered to be in harmony, or agree with each other. Colors that do not agree with each other, or that clash, are not in harmony.
I always start with the main color – the color of the wall. What will your wall color be? Well, look around. What colors are other homes in your neighborhood painted? Do you like them? Look at the clothes inside your closet. Seriously, this may give you a clue as to your color preference because color associations are very personal.
Some colors will already be established for you by things such as the color of your roof, shrubbery and the color of buildings next door. Your color selection does not need to be wholly determined by those other colors but it should not clash with them either. The color of your furnishings can guide you in the selection of interior paint colors. Once again, your goal is to harmonize.
Once you have your main color, you can apply some easy rules and formulas to create a harmonious color scheme. One way to come up with a harmonious color is to use contrasting (lighter or darker) versions of your main color. Another good way to add a color to your scheme is through the use of a complementary color, found with the help of a color wheel.
The color wheel is a tool that can be used to help you think about color. It is basically a circle of colors represented in the color spectrum. The basic color wheel is laid out so that the primary colors (red, yellow and blue) are divided by secondary colors (orange, green and violet). Complementary colors are direct opposites and lie directly opposite each other on the color wheel. (You can pick up a color wheel or a Color Computer in any good art supply store.)
I read an article the other day that 78% of America lives with white walls. I have nothing against white, it does go well with just about anything and clashes with nothing. Yes, white is very safe but it’s also rather difficult to get “WOW!” about it.
In my 30+ years painting, I’ve painted a lot of white walls for clients, and I have some white in my own home. Your walls may be white, and may be this the way you love it! But, if those walls are white simply because you weren’t sure what other color to use, well perhaps now you can give it another look.