As we have rolled into 2020 we have seen more and more customers moving to the lighter side of color!  Ultra Whites are the latest trending colors with our clients in Colorado.  

For so many years, the trend was to have an all-over color with wall accents to pop throughout the house or in a specific room, but now the trend is seeming to go the other way.  Wall accents are no longer in trend!  In fact grays are slowly going away and leaving room for fresh, clean white walls and white ceilings as well as trim and doors.  

Paint sheens can be difficult.  We have mentioned this in other blogs as to what sheen is for what purpose, but as we are here in the Spring of 2020, we thought we would do a refresher course.  

For typical exterior work, wood and or cementious siding, we would recommend using a satin for both body of the house and the trim of the house.  Also, when you have an accent, like the front door, this is a good sheen to use.  

On this 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we make a commitment to you, and the planet, that we will strive to reduce our footprint, recycle materials, reduce waste and contribute to our beautiful planet in a positive way.

In the construction business, there can be a lot of waste, with plastic, trash from prep materials etc.  As a company we have always, not just around Earth Day, but always cared for our environment and taken precautions whenever possible to use paint that has low or no VOC (volatile organic compounds), and recycle the paper that protects the floors or the plastic that protects the fixtures and furniture.  

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After announcing the 2020 Color of the Year, Behr also released their 2020 Color Trends palette featuring softer colors that were inspired by the natural elements, Earth, Wind, Water, Fire & Sky. These colors are meant to invoke the feelings of travel and adventure through nature.

Bringing these colors into your home will inspire and bring invigorated life into any room. If you are ready to start exploring these, or any other color design options for the interior or exterior of your home for your next paint job, we can help.  Click to schedule a Free Color Consultation

Behr has released their Color of the Year: Back to Nature.  They are hailing this color as "calm, gracious, and balanced".  

As we have been watching the trends happen both from Paint Manufacturers like Behr and Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore and watching trends from our customers, it seems that the latest color trends are leaning towards the lighter shades.  

Painting the exterior of your house is critical.  It is the first line of defense that your home has against the weather here in COLORado.  Paint manufacturers recommend that you paint every 5-7 years and when the climate is harsh, like ours in COLORado, you should paint sooner.

Here are the signs to look for in your house to see if your house is ready for painting:

What is a Paint Sheen and Why Does it Matter?

Paint comes in a variety of sheens:

Wow, so you just bought a new house and its beautiful and you're super excited!  There's just a couple things you need to do before you move in, and one question you have is, Should I Paint Before I move In?

We would recommend it, for sure!  

Okay, All the big guns come out with their predictions of the Color of the Year and this year, Behr is coming out with theirs: Blueprint S470-5.  It's similar to the Color of the Year last year from Sherwin Williams, which was Oceanside, but the color sets are very popular which ever company you choose to use.  

We would love some feedback from the public as to what they think about the Behr Color of the Year.  If you would like to leave your comments below, we would love the feedback.  

The quick answer is yes.  However, there are caveats. 

The temperature must be right, or the paint will fail.  If the temperature is too low, below 45, it gets really sticky, no pun intended.  The temperature of the air is important but also the temperature of the house.  Both have to be above 45 and not just for the application of the paint, but the drying process as well.

Every year, Sherwin Williams names their color of the year.  It's inspired by different components, different ideas and mostly does its best to inspire people to be BOLD and DARING.  

This year, Sherwin Williams chose "Oceanside" (SW 6496)!

Selling a home is a big deal, it's one of the biggest, if not the biggest purchases you've made in your lifetime and when you want to sell, you want to maximize what you can get for it.  Take it from us, a bi-partisan player in the real estate market.  In our experience over the last 13 years of business, we have experienced a higher and faster percentage of sale after realtors have used H3 Paint to come in a help out with some color and fresh wall paint.  It applies to both interior and exterior color changes.

In this latest example, Bryan Hubbell, Exit One Realty, requested that we provide his client with a free no hassle estimate to paint their home, which is for sale. After providing the quote and viewing the home, we were informed that the biggest draw back for potential buyers was the color of the exterior.  Being a painting company, we totally understand this dilemma.  Certain paint colors can be off putting to some and create an inability to look past it, serving as a blockage to being able to move forward with viewing something that otherwise might have been a close to perfect home.  

Every once in a while we get a client that requests something special. This time it was Baby Birds.   

This particular client had a special request, save the bird nest and baby birds that were at the front porch. We honestly had not had this request before.  Usually a client will ask us to clean up and remove an old abandoned bird nest, or wasp nest (we have not yet received a request to save any wasp nests!) so that we can paint and seal the home properly.  

We knew we had a challenge.  When spraying the paint onto the surface of the home, there is inevitably overspray that occurs, even a small amount and although we try and minimize this, it happens and if this overspray were to cover the bird nest and or get on the baby birds, the mother would most likely not return.  And yet, we could not touch the nest or again the mother bird would not return and the baby birds would not survive. To make matters worse, the mother was hanging back from the nest while we prepped and painted the home, so we were already on a time limit!

What to do, what to do.  

We devised a way that we could wrap the nest with a thin film of 3M plastic while we sprayed as close as we could without causing any trouble.  Then we carefully removed the plastic wrap.  

The birds were still safe.

Next we let the body of the house that had been sprayed, dry out.  

Last, we carefully hand cut the trim and siding around the birds nest.  We were careful not to touch the nest at all.

Im happy to report that the mother bird came home every night while we were on the jobsite. She seemed to watch from afar as was reported by the homeowner.  The baby birds are safe and all is well.

Most of us living in Colorado know that with our 4 seasons, the weather can be harsh on our homes.  During the winter seasons temperatures can reach far below freezing and then the summer heat can reach above 100.  Thats quite a difference between temps!

So, now you ask yourself, where am I going with this?  Well, all of those climate changes in our beautiful state of COLORado produce moisture.  This moisture can wreak havoc on your home and here's how.

Hiring a professional painter can be challenging when there are so many to choose from, why not just do it yourself? In this article we will describe the benefits of "doing it yourself" versus hiring a professional painter.  Are we biased, no way, it's just the facts ma'am!

1. Perfect Results

The coating of paint on your home's exterior is the first layer of defense against our harsh Colorado weather!  You know the saying, "If you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes!" With the extreme hot and cold that we Coloradans experience, having a solid coat of quality latex paint paint on your home's exterior is key to keeping your house protected.

Okay here are the top reasons to get your house painted in the Spring!

How is it, that painters can create perfect paint lines?  More often than not the answer is caulk and tape.  But that’s not the whole story and it’s not the only answer.  A very good brush and a steady hand can create perfect lines.  Very good brushes, for example, are Purdy brand brushes that are 2.5” with an angle for cutting. For taping and caulking, you must have the correct tape and the correct caulk and then you have to follow the directions.

Why Hire a Color Consultant.

1. Save money.  A color designer will help to pick the right color to avoid costly mistakes with color or paint products.
2. Save More Money. A color designer will often get discounts on paint and painting supplies and can pass that savings on to the client.
3. Creative choices.  A color professional can suggest colors, placement, sheens, and decorative finishes that are unexpected and out of the box.  Your home will have a custom feel.
4. Product Knowledge.  A color designer will have expert knowledge of paint and products and be able to suggest the correct products for your specific job. 
5. Color sells. Professionally color designed homes can sell faster and for more money.
6. Big Impact. Color is the most effective way to completely change the feel of your home, it can rejuvenate old spaces and enhance forgotten beauty in your home.  

How are trends determined?  

Who said in the nineties that peach and light teal were going to be the hot trend?  How come you can see specific colors and it evokes a memory of a certain time in history.  Colors come in groups, they are sold to us in a package, if you walk through a department store you can see certain colors that are prominent in fashion, home decor, paint, and any imaginable item one could spend money on.  For example a few years back sand-colored tans, rich chocolate browns, and robin’s egg blues became very popular in everything from dishes, skirts, baby bedding and office supplies.  I was enamored by this color scheme and had pillows, rugs, and paints with this scheme and wore these color religiously.  This is when I first realized the degree of influence the color marketing groups have on our day to day purchases.  When this small and influential group of people determined these were the colors of the future they then informed the dye makers, paint industry, and anyone who wanted to be on what seems like the cutting edge of color.  When I saw this trend so strong in all aspects of our lives it made me think about color combos of the past and more importantly color stories that were going to be given to us for the future.  I researched trends and looked for what fashion gurus and influential designers were talking about and what I heard over and over again was all about smokey grays and sunny yellows.  I immediately fell in love, like a sucker I was hooked, and decided this was how I wanted to redo my own master bedroom.  I shopped online and looked everywhere I could think to find these colors in linens and decorative items but it was not to be found anywhere.  My only option was to settle for colors that were not quite right or make custom pieces.  If only I had waited for 6 more months I could have bought exactly what was in my minds eye and even found it at discount stores like Target.