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[14. If you’re painting one wall in a dramatic color as an accent wall, make sure you call attention to the CORRECT wall.]
Painting an accent wall is a common way to add a design element to a room or to use a color you like but that might be too overpowering if it were on every wall. However, not all walls are created equal. “A lot of times people ask me to paint one accent wall,” says Hearst. “You want the wall that has the least interruptions. If a wall has two windows and a doorway, that’s not a wall you should accent.”
Another reason to use paint as an accent is that with all the finishes available (think Venetian plaster and color glazes), paint can be more than just a color on your wall. “My favorite finish is a lime wash, which gives you a mottled effect,” says Wryn. “A lot of people use accessories to bring color into a room, but you can also do that with paint.”
[15. When Assessing paint colors, don’t just paint a big square of the coloR in the middle of the wall.]
If you’re unsure whether or not the paint color you’ve chosen is one you’ll really like, paint a sample area to see how it looks on the wall near other colors in the room. “Colors are influenced by each other, and they’re always relative to the colors they’re next to,” says Miller. “I like to take into consideration the relationship between walls, trimwork and ceiling colors.”
The best way to examine that relationship is to put up the paint sample under consideration where you can see it against the other colors. “Pick an area where the trim and the ceiling colors can be seen as well,” says Hearst. “That way you can stand back and see how all of the colors work together.”
[16. save samples of wall, trim and ceiling colors in a way that makes for easy touch-ups in the future.]
While most people hope that their pristine freshly painted walls will stay that way, the reality is that sooner or later someone will scratch the paint job. After that happens, you don’t want to have to go into your garage and sift through three rows of unlabeled gallons of paint filled with dried-up paint blobs in order to find the paint you need to repair the ding to the wall.
“I like to leave half a gallon of each paint color with my customers,” says Hearst. “Just make sure the lid of the can is on properly so air can’t get inside.”
If you have additional leftover paint, the professional painter suggests you recycle it. “I end up with a lot of leftover paint at the end of the year,” he says. “I dump all the paints together in a five-gallon bucket and take it over to Metro for them to recycle.”
When you store your paint, come up with a labeling system that prevents mix-ups. “It’s always a good idea to mark the lid and the side of the can,” says Wryn, the owner of Western Accents in Aloha, Ore. “The reason to label it on the side of the can, too, is that you might have two or three cans of paint open at the same time and the lids can easily end up on the wrong can. Some paints look alike, and you might not notice until after you’ve touched up that you’ve used the wrong color. If it’s also on the side, then you can match A with A and B with B.”
[17. Use your painting contractor as a resource.]
Often, your painter may have experience you can benefit from that goes beyond putting paint on walls. “A good contractor will offer all the services he or she can up front,” says Hoge. “If you call up your contractor and say, ‘Hey, can you paint my house?’ and the answer is just, ‘Yes,’ that’s not really enough. You want to talk about the problems you saw that made you decide you need to have your house painted. A good contractor won’t be afraid to protect you if he or she sees something wrong whether it’s a problem with a window or a roof. Your painting contractor should at least make you aware of any other issues.”
[18. When hiring a painter, make sure that you and the painter are clear on the details of the job.]
A paint job involves more than just putting paint on walls. When you hire someone to work on your house, you need to make sure you communicate exactly what you want done. For everyone to be happy with the result, both you and your painter need to be clear about your needs and expectations.
“I make sure I get answers to certain questions,” says Wryn. “I always ask: ‘Is there repair or wall prep work that needs to be done? Are those pictures on the wall going back in the same spots or should the holes be filled in? Is there a utility sink where we can clean our brushes? Does anyone in the family have health issues that will affect our paint choice? Will the trim be painted?’ Ask a lot of questions so everything is understood before the job starts.”
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