You've got to try Easy Paint!

While visiting the DC Design House last month, I had the pleasure of meeting Marty Cornish, the CEO of Easy Paint, a professional painting service in the DC/MD/VA area.  I am always looking for reputable painting professionals for our design business, and this is the answer.  Marty gave Powell Brower Interiors a generous offer of a room to paint, so that we might spread the word!  Their concept is so unique and easy to use that I was thrilled to try them.  With your smartphone you answer some quick questions, submit photos of your project, and schedule a time that works best for you. They send back a quote within 24 hours, and assign an EasyPaint crew to the project. You pick your date and they confirm. Done. I scheduled 2 weeks out and were at the house at 8 am.

Do you remember my wall of family paintings in my sunroom?  Well it has been up for close to twenty years, and never been repainted.  This room has been on my to-do list to paint for years, but with the cathedral ceilings, skylights and beams, I could never psych myself up to do it.

I have always painted every room in my home myself.  I am the painter and have never hired a professional for my own home.  I was rudely awakened today though it wasn't rude at all; as a matter of fact, it was eye opening and taught me a lot about the worth of a true professional painter.

 I thought I knew the methods professional painters use, until I saw this crew! 

They were prompt, thorough and spent 1/2 of the day prepping the walls.  They moved our furniture and covered every inch of floor. All I had to do before they came is remove all the artwork and nails.  Their wall prep involved opening up all cracks, nail pops and unsightly seams in the drywall, re-caulking where necessary, and applying joint compound over the repairs. They primed over all the newly drywalled areas getting ready for the first coat.  

Here are some problem areas of my ceiling drywall and molding in sad need of repair that EASY PAINT fixed today!  That was an unexpected surprise!  I have been dreading hiring someone with tall ladders to do the work!

 They sanded all the walls and ceiling to insure a flawless application of paint! 

I was amazed that they primed the ceiling and wall seams in the room. 

{ I have never seen this!}

The new paint below is on the left and the old paint color is on the right. 

 I used Benjamin Moore Ballet White on the walls and Dove Wing on the ceiling.

They painted the entire room with a 6" mini paint roller.

{There were no unsightly thick paint lines from the ends of those large rollers, like I have fought in the past.}

 The crew was extremely neat and tidy and vacuumed the floor as they left.  There was not a speck of drywall dust anywhere, nor were there any paint dots on any window frames or floor.  { I am always finding little dots weeks later that I need to scrape up.}

 It is so fresh and crisp.  They finished in one day, with a crew of 3.  They put the furniture back, but honestly, I just want to enjoy the light and the flawless walls for a while! I don't know if I want to put those paintings back up! 

Thank you Easy Paint! I appreciate the attention to detail and the work ethic of your crew and the flawless professional paint job today!  

If you are in the DC/MD/VA area please contact EasyPaint.com.  They are working on expanding their business to broaden their work area so if they don't come to your area yet, hopefully they will in the future!  I give them a perfect rating and know you will too.

50 shades of white

We just finished painting the girl's room in our latest kidsroom project.  Four people, two days, six hours each day was the manpower it took to take this large room from lilac, green and yellow to a soothing all white (with a few surprise pops of color hidden in special places).  A newly painted white ceiling can be such a thing of beauty.

And fresh white walls can be so soothing.

But they are controversial, too.  Some say it's boring and thoughtless.  Some thing it's too clinical.  I say white, when done right, is a beautiful thing.  Hence why galleries use it to showcase their treasures.  But finding the right white can be such a headache.

[Speaking of headaches, quick diet update:  We are six days in on our liquid diet and there were quite a few times over the weekend when doing labor that I had to sit from the dizziness and lightheadedness.  Not to worry, we are under the strict supervision of doctors and following the program to a tee, but 800 calories a day is no joke.  And for the first week, while we shock our bodies into lower caloric intake, I felt as though I was operating at a higher altitude.  While we will be exercising in the future, their instructions not to burn too many calories in the first week proved to be sage. We can't wait to go to weigh-in on Tuesday to see what the first week yields.]

I read the most helpful quote a while back by the editor-in-chief of Southern Living, Lindsay Bierman, who said "When you just want a room to be "warm white, meaning not too yellow or too peachy or too anything else, then go with Benjamin Moore Ivory White. Don't overthink this—I've already done enough agonizing for everyone and can say for sure that it works pretty much anywhere..."

Brilliant, really.

Looks so fresh in these photos below:

Contemporary Living Room by Toronto Interior Designer Ivey Design Concepts

[Traditional Home]

My personal favorite white that I've used throughout my own home is Benjamin Moore's Dove Wing.  

It has the perfect hint of grey and isn't too cool or too warm.  It's on my bedroom walls, here:

[photo by Dancer Burns]

Dove Wing featured in Domino Home years ago:

In this particular project we are working on, we are using pops of an orchid color so it was imperative that our white was warm so as to avoid bringing the fuchsia to the purple side of the scale. We also needed it to be warm to counteract the purple in the closets.  If it was too cool, it would look much more blue than it does.  So we went with White Dove by Benjamin Moore.  It looks super crisp with white (BM Blanco) trim and a white ceiling!  Here's an iPhone pic:

The closet doors are painted with the trim paint, but if you look to the left, you'll see that the wall color is warmer than the trim.  I loved it, in all different lights! But I believe I feel about White Dove how Lindsay Bierman feels about Ivory White.

Here's White Dove in some other rooms:

[Looking a bit more grey here]

[posed as a warm neutral white here]

I've also heard that Decorator's White (BM) is a great cool white.  I tend to stay away from cool whites, because I decorate with so much blue and green and it can get a bit too sterile.

As seen here:

[via]

[via]

Paint colors can be a thing of mystery.  I find that I'm especially anal about undertones and what the colors pick up based on colors near it.  Other people don't tend to over-think it too much.  And that's why a quick correction to a wall color can do wonders for the direction of a space.

What's your favorite white?  Do you tend to veer towards warm or cool whites?

-Bethany

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A brief primer on paint

Painting is like a drug.  It's addicting.  When you start painting one thing, you want to paint more things.  I'm starting to feel less enthusiastic towards paint due to the number of projects I'm juggling simultaneously that involve it.


Mom and I spent countless hours at the local hardware store Sunday morning picking out paints for the One Room Challenge.  From my other dissertations on paint, you must know that I'm a bit of a paint nazi.  I won't say 'snob' because it's not about name brands or price.  It's about finding a color that conveys on the walls as it does on the chip.   If you aren't a total spaz or didn't envelope yourself in the art education track, you may not be as fussy about tones, hues and shades as I am.

Fact:

I abhor paint. The aforementioned drug reference is oh-so-true for me, especially as I go from brand to brand hoping to find my  fix.  When I tested out Sherwin Williams/Duron paint after many botched projects with Behr, it was like a beacon of shining light. An upgraded seat on your flight.

When the color I chose for my guest room remodel turned out to be Benjamin Moore, I tracked it down at said hardware store and gave it a whirl.  This time, it was like going from a good, solid Japanese-made sedan to a maneuverable European sportscar.  It came out like mousse in the paint tray and went on like butter.  We went with the mid-grade petrol of Ben's lines and were super happy with the result.  The coverage is remarkable and the $15 increase from the mid-grade at Sherwin Williams was well worth it. 


Here's the thing:
Everything in life has a scale.  There's always an economy class and a first class within almost any category of things in life.  Cars, plane tickets and paint.  
If you are happy running up to your corner home improvement store and getting a can of paint for a project, go right for it.  There's no right or wrong.  If you're happy with it, there's no reason to change.

If you are looking for a professional finish and immediate, mind-numbingly thick coverage, you're not going to get it there.  If you are extremely picky about what actually comes out of the can and goes onto your walls, their paint isn't always true to form.


You can spend $15, $30, $50 and upwards of $80 on a gallon of paint, but as with most things in life, you get what you pay for.


The best example I can give is Mom's kitchen.  Ten years ago, she decided to personify her love for blue and white porcelain on the walls of her kitchen.  She choose an intense royal blue from our local chain store and went to work.  One coat of primer and seven coats of blue paint later, you can still see some streaks on her walls if you know what you're looking for.  And what a labor of love.  Luckily for her, her love for blue transcends most of the trends, but we both rue the day she decides to get rid of it.


Yesterday, we painted my builder's grade matte finish walls with B. Moore's midgrade paint (about $35 more than a can of the other stuff) and got full coverage and deep color in one coat. The difference in the texture and the viscosity of their paint is better, but their richness in the finish is what was the kicker for me.


Just like switching to Yves St. Laurent make-up, I was hesitant to do it because I knew there might now be any turning back.  I will hold off on Farrow & Ball for the same reason.


There are always a million rules you can follow while painting.  And if you listen to all of them, they just start to contradict each other. My advice is to break them all.  If you want to put a signature on something, do what makes you feel good.  Like white after Labor Day… hello… winter white…  

See what I mean?  Rules are meant to be broken.

Two unrelated observations:

#1 - You must never wear perfume or a sports bra into a home improvement store unless seeking a husband. 

#2 - 'You can do it, we don't help' is not the way of the local hardware store.  Much more helpful and knows a thing or two about your project.

-Bethany

If you are looking for help with your home, we'd love to work with you! Contact us for a listing of our services and prices. 

 Nancy and Bethany

Gorgeous color

       My yard is in bloom this week. Let's see what Benjamin Moore paint colors come close to these:

The paint certainly isn't as "clear" and brilliant as the colors are in nature. Wonder if any other paint brands come closer? What is your experience with more "pure" paint color brands?

Have a great weekend friends!

~ Nancy and Bethany