Painters' Palette by Suzie Paints

No one cares more about your money, your home or your life than you do! You are the only one who has your best interest in mind, knows how you want things done and knows what is most important to you. Honour what you want by doing your homework before choosing contractors for your project. Decide in advance what is the most important part of your project to you- is it getting the lowest price? Is it getting the best work? Is it getting the project done in the shortest amount of time? Is it having a great, hassle-free experience even though your life is being disrupted by your project? Knowing what part of your project is most important to you helps you find and hire contractors whose project-values match your own. Checking out a contractor’s marketing material like pamphlets, brochures and their website will help you decide if their project-values match yours, but the real scoop comes from talking to the contractor’s past clients.

Don’t listen to what the contractor, sales person or marketing materials say about a business- they’ll never tell you they do a poor job! They all will tell you how great the company is or how great their products are and how you can’t live without them. The marketing material will throw the word ‘quality’ around like it’s the magic, make-them-buy-now word- whether or not it’s actually the truth. Your contractor’s marketing materials will never say ‘contractor does not show up on time’ or ‘workers take 3 hour lunches’ or ‘beware: you’ll have to listen to music you hate being blasted at painful levels while workers are present.’

You owe it to yourself to do some investigating and find out what it would really be like to have that specific contractor in your home. Do an internet search for the specific contractor or business and see what is being said about them. Do an internet search for horror stories about your particular project to find out ways other contractors have done a horrible job or scammed their clients- knowing where the potholes are in the road to your completed project is the first step to avoiding them.

Do NOT believe Angie’s List is a blanket list of good, reputable businesses just because you pay for the information and past clients write the reviews. My clients have told me about other contractors they’ve hired giving discounts for good reviews on Angie’s List and even trading deep discounts (even though the contractor did a horrible job) for a good review instead of a bad one. Several of my clients have learned the hard way there is no substitute for talking to a contractor’s references directly instead of believing glittery marketing promises.

Always ask the contractor for a reference list and then use it. If you don’t talk to people on the list how do you know the contractor didn’t put down a bunch of phony info just to look good? Remember earlier where you chose what part of your project is most important to you? Use that what’s-most-important-to-you part to have specific questions you want to ask the references and write down their answers. Later you can compare different answers to the same question and remember who said what about the contractor. If your internet search turns up any unhappy customers, try and contact them for a more detailed report on what really happened with the contractor. Sometimes the contractor is horrible and sometimes the client is just plain unreasonable; you’ll have to make that decision for yourself.

See for yourself how Suzie Paints cares for you & your home!

There are a lot of contractors out there for you to wade through, but if you know what’s important to you and do your homework accordingly you should be able to end up with a happily-completed project and hopefully the name of some great contractors you can refer to your friends and family.

People know a lot about black, but that knowledge gets lost when they think of painting. We know that black essentially ‘goes with everything’ and is a slimming color when talking about your wardrobe. We also know that black makes awesome accents and accessories like lamps and jewelry. However, black isn’t even a blip on most people’s radar when they are deciding on paint colors for their homes. Even when I suggest black as an accent wall, trim or just a door the thought of black brings people up short- almost like I asked them where they keep their purple unicorn and magic fairy dust. When used sparingly and in the right places, black makes quite the difference in your decorating. It can add just the right amount of zip and pop to your room while making your guests pause with an approving ‘oh wow’ about how nice your room looks.

Here are five ways our clients have used black paint to spice up their homes; how are you going to use black in your home?

• The Accent Wall: One of my client’s sons wanted a black bedroom. That much black was too over-the-top for his mom so they compromised. He got a gunmetal-gray bedroom with the door wall painted black so mom couldn’t see the black from outside the room. The black accent wall was just enough to give the room a dynamic look and both people were happy with the bold paint colors.

• The Trim: Skip the standard dark-stained or white trim by painting your trim gloss black. The gloss sheen shines brighter on black than it does on white and your walls will be more striking trimmed in black. Think of black trim for your room like the black accents of your wardrobe. Especially if you have stronger tones for your wall colors, a nice dash of black on the trim can give you the striking look your room craves.

Here we used black trim to dress up the lobby of a local business.

• The Front Door: Almost nothing can beat the very-sharp and classy look of a high-gloss black front door. The high-gloss sheen helps protect the paint job so it lasts longer and stays looking nice. If black is too bold, remember you probably don’t go in your own front door that often so you won’t have to see it. Make your home stand out and your neighbors jealous with your good taste and bold attitude.

• The Interior Door: While the high-gloss black front door is my favorite, nothing says you can’t paint an interior door black too. You don’t even have to do both sides in black- one side is fine and can be a great starting place. You can easily pair black trim with a black door to really jazz up a room.
  

This is an interior door into a workshop. This is the bold side and the back side is plain yellow.

• The Faux Finish: You can go as big or as small as you want with the versatility of faux finishes. You can do a whole wall or room like this movie theater room we did in a day-care or you can use it as the accent over a plain color like this faux.
  

This faux is designed to look like crushed velvet & enhance the movie theater experience of the room.

This striking faux went in a bedroom and the black was used to tone down the neon green just a bit.

• BONUS: Just because we’re talking about going bold with black doesn’t mean you should forget one of black’s primary jobs: to show shadow. Keeping shadowing in mind, go read my post on The Easiest Thing To Overlook for another idea on how to use black.

The most important thing you can learn about painting is this: paint doesn’t stick to dirt!

You can always use the Hand-Test to see if there is dust or dirt on the wall. Run your hand all over the wall and a clean hand = paint time!

Proper cleaning is more necessary for painting than it is for your home. If you want your paint to stick well and last for awhile, you have to clean the surface properly. Paint also doesn’t stick to grease, soot or smoke.  Which means areas like kitchens, rooms with fireplaces and rooms where candles have been burned require not only proper cleaning, but definitely a primer coat as well to seal in any left-over residue.  I’m sure you don’t really want to do your painting all over again because of technical difficulties (trust me, it’s always harder trying to fix the ‘short cut’ than just doing things right in the first place).

Proper preparation is always crucial to a good paint job- not just once, but every time. If the first layer isn’t done properly, then it won’t stick well. Then every additional layer adds weight to the first layer that didn’t stick. All the additional weight increases your chances of having the paint come off all the way down to the first dusty layer that didn’t stick. One of our clients learned about this the hard way.

A couple of years ago we were called in to fix some ceiling texture and repaint the ceiling. Some of the original texture had come off when their handy-man changed a light fixture- not a large job or a big problem. But it became a large job and more than quadrupled our original time-frame when we found the only place the texture was sticking to the ceiling was on the drywall tape joints.

Everywhere else we could just pick the paint off with our fingers or drywall knives and it came away in long sheets- all the way back to the raw drywall. Nobody had cleaned off the sanding dust from the original taping and whoever painted the ceiling just painted right over the dust. Remember: paint doesn’t stick to dirt!

Now, we had to strip the whole ceiling back to where the paint & texture was actually stuck, clean the surface, prime the raw drywall, re-mud the whole ceiling so it was all the same level, sand it, clean it, re-texture, prime and paint it. A one-day job for two people turned into four long days for three people because somebody cut some corners. Just imagine if this happened to you when all you wanted to do was re-texture a spot and paint a ceiling. One person cutting corners caused a huge problem later on and one big headache for the home-owner.

I’m sure you know the saying “do it right the first time so you don’t have to do it again.” This applies to painting on general and especially to the Do-It-Yourself-ers who might not know all the ins and outs of the painting biz.

In short:

* always clean your surface before you paint- whether it’s from dust you made or just dust in general.
* always clean the surface after sanding for any reason- no matter how small of an area.
* always clean the surface if there are animals in the house- nobody wants pet hair stuck to their paint.
* always clean the surface if someone smokes in the house- paint really doesn’t like to stick to cigarette smoke.

It all boils down to words to live by: Paint Doesn’t Stick To Dirt!

You know what you like and I like that.

You don’t need to hire some ‘interior decorator’ to tell you what you like or what’s hot this season. You pick your colors, your window treatments, your furniture and your accessories to create something YOU enjoy. But whether you do your own painting or hire it out, don’t forget the wall vents!

You can see right in there can't you?

I know you’re thinking the vents can’t be that important and you’re wondering who ever really looks at them anyway? But they ARE noticeable until you push them back into the background where they belong. When vent shafts are painted a light color, especially the “builder-blah” color of a new home, all the dirt buildup in your ventilation system can be seen- right along with all the dirt sitting on the vent covers themselves.

You don’t want to display your dirt so you paint the vent shafts the same color as the room. You get points for this since most painters don’t even bother with the vent ducting. But, painting your ducts the same color as the room means repainting them every time you change the color, and for some of us that can be quite often. Not to mention the dusty hassle of painting in that little space in the first place or the fear of dropping a nice $30 brush down the shaft into the black abyss.

So Suzie came up with a great lifehack for the eternal problem of the vent ducts. You don’t have to worry about what color to paint them or dropping tools down the shaft. You don’t have to decide to paint them in the first place or get annoyed at all the dust you can see through your vents. The fix is simple, cheap and totally DIY.

You heard it here first folks, exclusive tip from Suzie Paints: Black.

Paint your vents ducts black. Get a can of FLAT BLACK spray paint from your local hardware or paint store and just paint your vent ducts black.

Don’t forget to do the sides and get the paint as far as possible into the vents on both the top and bottom. If your vent has a 2×4 in it, paint that too. Paint everything behind the vent cover black and you’ll never have to worry about them again. It will blend in as a shadow, conceal otherwise visible dirt buildup and release you from trying to figure out the correct way to put the vent covers back on.

Even when the cover is put on upside down you only see 'shadow'.

P.S. Yes, there is a right and wrong way to replace the vent covers. The cover fins should point upward inside the room blocking your view of the inside of the vent and also helping to hide any dust or dirt buildup.

This one is right: black ducts and the cover is on correctly to further obscure your view.

My clients want faux finishes for several reasons but mostly they want that unique look only a personalized faux can give. Faux finishes are a way to express your individuality and creativity to get ‘just the right look’ for your space.  By choosing the patterns you want in your own color schemes, Suzie Paints can truly give you the personalized look you crave.

These small stripes go a long way to making this small bathroom feel much taller.

You can use faux finishes to make a room look and feel bigger than it actually is. Put a vertical stripe in a small room like a bathroom or hallway to accent how tall it is. Put a deep color and striking faux on a single wall to make the room feel wider and deeper. You can even color a medallion on your ceiling in the same bold color drawing your eye to the ceiling and making the room feel taller.

A bold faux on one wall draws your attention to it and makes the room feel bigger.

If you have a lot of wall damage from bad drywall or other repairs, wallpaper or constant nail pops, busy or dense finishes in multiple colors are great for helping hide major wall imperfections like those. Use the faux finish to cut up the wall surface and your eye focuses on the interesting finish instead of the problems- which would be glaringly obvious with just a plain color on the wall.

This busy and dense faux is being used to cover the bad drywall in this commercial bathroom.

You can go as subtle as you can bold with faux finishes. We have plenty of finishes we call ‘tone on tone’ where we create a finish using two paints of the same color but different sheens (shines). With the tone on tone fauxs, your walls mostly look one solid color but with the right light at a hard angle from a window, door or even a large chandelier the faux suddenly flares into sight. Stripes done in this fashion are really cool, as are feather finishes- you can even use the tone on tone to make a wall look like velvet.

This is a tone-on-tone rag finish designed to look like velvet.

These are just a few ways our clients have used faux finishes to enhance their homes and lives.

How will a faux finish help you enhance YOUR life?