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Are You Making These Mistakes With Your Accent Wall?

Have you ever taken a tour of the home for sale and been put off by the supposedly fun colors on the walls? Or have you ever painted your own accent wall, only to repaint it a few months later when you realize it’s just not working?

Accent walls sound like the perfect solution to every homeowner’s decorating dilemma: How do you incorporate a more fun and interesting color when you’re not quite sure if you’ll like it, or when you think the color might be too strong for the whole room?

But accent walls are trickier than you’d think to get right.

As a painting contractor in the greater Seattle area, we’ve seen countless homes with all kinds of actual accent wall – some that work, and some that don’t; some that homeowners love, and some they can’t stand.

Avoid a case of homeowner’s regret by doing it right the first time: avoid these common mistake with accent walls.

 

Mistake #1: Making the room too dark

One reason a lot of homeowners decide to paint an accent wall is to brighten the room up. After all, adding in a fun color like bright turquoise, orange, yellow, or blue seems like the perfect way to brighten up an otherwise boring off-white room…right? But the deeper hue, though it may be more interesting than the paint color for the rest of the room, will almost certainly end up darkening the room overall. So unless your room gets a lot of natural sunlight, make sure you don’t choose too dark of a color for your accent wall. Or, if you do, make sure the room already gets lots of great natural light.

Here are two good examples of accent walls that work and allow the room to remain bright – one light, one dark:

 

Christopher
Project in Progress

 

Mistake #2: Going overboard with color

Accent walls are supposed to be fun, right? So, isn’t going overboard kind of the whole point? The problem is, what looks fun and quirky on a paint chip will look much stronger – and more overpowering – when it’s covering an entire wall, hovering over you while you eat breakfast every day. Err on the side of caution and pick a color that is more conservative than you think you want. That way, you can still change things up in the room, but you won’t have to repaint it again in a few weeks when you realize the color is way too strong.

Here’s a great example of a unique and beautiful accent wall that isn’t too strong:

Anders Perssonsgatan 11

 

Mistaken #3: Picking the color without thinking of the furnishings in the room

This is probably one of the most common mistakes with accent walls. Here’s something you might not of considered before: it is much cheaper to find a paint color that matches the specific furnishings you want to put in the room than it is to find a specific furnishings to match the pain paint color. In other words, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a beautiful yellow vintage dresser to match your mustard accent wall, why not paint a violet accent wall to mach the purple throw pillows you already own? As an added bonus, taking this approach will allow you to make sure you actually do like that color, because you already have furnishings the same color in that room.

The accent ceiling in this room matches the pink ottoman perfectly:

tineke triggs

 

Mistake #4: Painting an accent wall in a room that’s too large

Accent walls are perfect for small rooms like bathrooms, bedrooms, and even small nooks like a breakfast nook or an office nook. But if you have an open floor plan, and large walls that can be seen from everywhere on the floor, that single accent wall will end up over might end up over powering everything else, turning it from an accent wall into the dominant color in the room. Avoid this problem by keeping accent walls confined to smaller rooms, or at least smaller nooks in larger rooms.

Here’s a bright orange accent wall that works well in the breakfast nook:

Kenwood Kitchen

 

Mistake #5: Not doing an accent wall at all

Sometime, when you’ve fallen in love with the new color and you just want to see it everywhere, it may be frustrating to start with an accent wall when you just want to paint the whole kitchen and be done with it. But it is much cheaper and easier to paint a single wall first to make sure you like it. So if you want to try a different color that is way outside the current color palette of your home, be sure to stick to accent wall first. That way, you can be sure it works in your home, and in the room you’re thinking of, before taking on the huge project of painting the whole room.

We hope these tips have been helpful to you as you plan your accent wall. And if you need a professional painting contractor in the greater Seattle area, get in touch to get a bid. We’d love to help!

Kitchen Paint Ideas For Your Design Style

Choosing kitchen paint colors can be a headache. The kitchen is often the heart of the home – the place where you spend a lot of your time, whether cooking, eating, washing dishes, or raiding the fridge for between-meal snacks.

A gorgeous, warm, welcoming kitchen can be an oasis and a source of comfort in a home. But an unattractive, cluttered kitchen can be just the opposite – stressful, depressing, and frustrating.

Below, we’re sharing some of our best advice for choosing paint colors for your kitchen, depending on the design style you love. Because what works for one home won’t necessarily work for another; and what one person loves might drive another person crazy!

Kitchen Paint Colors For Your Favorite Design Style

Contemporary Style

Contemporary kitchens do well with simple white cabiness and stainless steel appliances, like the first example below. But you can also incorporate interesting finishes, like high gloss (second example), or eye-catching paint color combinations like navy blue and orange (third example).

Jonathan

 

Contemporary Residence

 

Retro home SF

 

Eclectic Style

If your home style is more eclectic, you can incorporate more fun paint colors in your kitchen beyond the simple white that so popular for kitchen cabinests right now. A soft grey would change things up and let the other colors in your kitchen really pop. On the other hand, a mix of different materials like wood and brick combined with bright colors like turquoise and pink creates a warm, comfortable feeling in your kitchen.

Coastal Elegance

 

My Houzz: Emily Danforth

 

Modern Style

Modern kitchens tend to be simple, well-ordered, and functional, with an emphasis on strong lines. Black and grey paint colors in your modern kitchen help to highlight planes and show contrasts well.

High Street Project

 

2017 BONDI VALAIS

 

Beach Style

Coastal style is all about whites and blues. Keep things bright and airy with your kitchen paint colors if you’re going with a beach-y style.

Ocean Front

 

Saratoga Pool House

 

El Segundo Town House

 

Farmhouse Style

White or cream paint is the classic color for a farmhouse kitchen, but you can have fun with this style too: incorporate a light light blue as an accent, or play with a mix of black paint and wood materials as a contrast to all the white.

Open, airy kitchen in Rutland, UK
Contemporary Farmhouse Style
The Leicestershire Kitchen in the Woods by deVOL
Country Farmhouse

 

Industrial Style

Industrial style, with all its exposed brick and metal, does well when pared with black paint for cabinets and accents. You can brighten things up with metallic touches, like the copper sink in the third photo.

Division Street
Industrial Kitchen
The Old Fish Cellar Mousehole
  • 6 Things to Consider Before Painting a Room in your Home | Central Sound Painting | Painting Contractor Serving Pierce, King and South King County

6 Things to Consider Before Painting a Room in Your Home

Undertaking an interior painting project is a big deal. If it goes well, you’ll have updated a room and made it a space you love to be in without spending a fortune on new furniture or art. But if it goes poorly, it will result in hours of wasted time, wasted money, and the misery of getting stuck with a room you hate (or having to repaint it all over again).

Here are 6 things to consider before painting a room in your home:

How long do you plan to remain in your house?

This is an important question because the next residents might not be as crazy about bright purple or deep navy blue as you are. Answering this question will help you determine whether you want to go the DIY or professional painter route and what paint color to choose for that room. If you’re planning on selling within the next year or two, choose something timeless and hire a pro – otherwise either you or the new owner will just have to redo it when you sell. But if you’re planning on staying in the same house for the next several years, you have more freedom and flexibility to choose something a little different and go with the budget and approach that works best for you right now.

Is the color timeless or trendy?

Along with the question above, this is an important question to answer if you don’t want to be redo-ing the room in the near future. In general, neutrals are timeless, and certain other shades enjoy a fairly short time in the trend spotlight before they start to look dated. Just compare the Sherwin-Williams color forecasts for 2015, 2016, and 2017 to get an idea of how quickly interior paint color trends can change.

Do you have the skill/patience for DIY work?

It can be tempting to get excited about a new interior paint color for a room that needs an update and jump right into repainting it this weekend. But a lot of work goes into painting a room well. Protecting furniture and floors, prepping the walls, planning, the actual painting walls, ceilings, trim; and of course, clean-up. Add on to that the fact that a DIY job is often clearly distinguishable from a pro job by anyone looking closely (like potential home buyers). On the other hand, not everyone has the budget for a professional painter either. Not sure how much it would cost? Contact us to get a bid here.

Is this same color somewhere else in your house? And do you like it?

This is especially important if you’re choosing a non-neutral paint color. Sure, bright orange is your favorite color, and seeing it never fails to put some pep in your step. But do you have a bright orange rug, dresser, or throw pillow elsewhere in your home? That might be a good place to start. After all, it’s a lot easier to exchange a throw pillow you aren’t loving than to repaint an entire room if it turns out the color isn’t working.

What are the key pieces already in that room, and do they complement the color?

Furniture, pillows, rugs, and artwork all have a big impact on the look and feel of a room. You can always move furniture that doesn’t work to a different room, or shop around your house to find things that are more complementary. But make your job as easy as you can. After all, wall color isn’t in a vacuum. It’s only one part of the room as a whole, so consider how the other items in the room fit in.

Is the room small, dark, or cramped?

If this is the case, it’s a good idea to choose a lighter, more neutral color rather than a fun and different color, for the simple reason that darker shades – even if you love the color – will make the room look even more cave-like, and the lack of natural light will affect the way the color actually looks on the walls.

 

  • Autumn Color Palette for Interior Home Painting | Fall Foliage | Central Sound Painting | Painting Contractor Serving Pierce, King and South King County

Fall Color Palettes for Interior Home Painting

Central Sound Painting provides residential, commercial, interior, exterior, and deck painting services for Greater Seattle, Renton, and King and South King Counties.

Here in the PNW, we are starting to get more and more beautiful fall foliage as we progress into fall. Check out this link for great places to enjoy the changing leaves in the Seattle area (from Red Tricycle).

A lot of people love fall. Why is that?

Maybe it has something to do with the cozy, warm, stay-in-and-snuggle feelings inspired by fall – from the weather, the changing leaves, the new school year, and the coming holidays.

In fact, fall is such a beloved season that many people consider using an autumn-inspired color palette when to paint the interior of their home.

Worried that it will look out of season once fall is past?

Cozy, warm, welcoming feelings in a home never go out of season. And the nice thing about an autumn-inspired color palette for your home is that it can be bold and interesting without feeling cold or overwhelming. And after all, who doesn’t want a home that always feels warm, cozy, and welcoming?

Not that there’s anything wrong with a cool, wintery color palette for your home’s interior. That might be a future blog post of its own.

But the joyful and warm feelings inspired by fall colors can create a special atmosphere in the home, one that is welcome any time of the year.

To help you get started with picking colors for your home’s interior, we put together several interior home painting color palettes inspired by iconic fall images.

Related posts:

7 Surprising Tips For Choosing Interior Paint Colors

The Best Tools For Choosing Paint Color

Interior Home Painting Color Palettes Inspired by Fall Colors

Autumn Flora

Autumn Color Palette for Interior Home Painting | Fall Flora | Central Sound Painting | Painting Contractor Serving Pierce, King and South King County

Sweater Weather

Autumn Color Palette for Interior Home Painting | Sweater Weather | Central Sound Painting | Painting Contractor Serving Pierce, King and South King County

Country Barn

Autumn Color Palette for Interior Home Painting | Country Barn | Central Sound Painting | Painting Contractor Serving Pierce, King and South King County

Fall Foliage

Autumn Color Palette for Interior Home Painting | Fall Foliage | Central Sound Painting | Painting Contractor Serving Pierce, King and South King County

 

Most Popular Exterior Paint Colors

What are the most popular exterior paint colors of 2016?

It depends!

Liz Olech writes at Trulio that for siding, the best colors are those that don’t clash with (or copy) your neighbors’ homes. Since the siding is by far the most visually dominant color of a home’s exterior, it’s important to get this one right. She recommends picking the siding color first, and only then moving on to pick trim and accent colors.

She recommends a few of the top colors for each category, listed below. But what do these colors and similar concepts look like in person? We combed Instagram to put together examples of real homes putting these color concepts into practice so you can see how it looks and decide if that’s something you’d want for your home.

Siding Color

For siding, Liz Olech suggests Benjamin Moore – November Rain, Sherwin-Williams – Avenue Tan, Benjamin Moore – Boston Brick, Olympic – Coast of Maine, and Benjamin Moore – Wedgewood Gray.

Here are a few beautiful homes with siding paint colors that work well:

Cream

A photo posted by Philomena (@pebblelane) on

Gray

Dark Blue

Trim Color

Trim, Olech suggests, should be painted a little lighter than the siding so as not to stand out too much, which might make the home look “off” and small. You can also use the trim paint color to “hide” the less beautiful parts of the home, so they don’t stand out as much. Clever! For trim, she recommends Sherwin-Williams – Panda White and PPG Paints – Oatmeal for warm-hued homes, and Benjamin Moore – Frostline for cooler homes.

Here are a few great examples of real homes where the light trim pops without being overpowering:

Accent Color

Accents are where the excitement happens. Just remember to keep your accent colors complementary to the other colors in and outside your home, and err on the side of classic, especially if you plan on selling your home any time soon. Here are some of the colors she recommends for your home’s exterior accent color: Benjamin Moore – Super Nova, Sherwin-Williams – Indigo Batik, Benjamin Moore – Breath of Fresh Air, Glidden – Rusty Red, BEHR – Cinnabark, and BEHR – Black Lacquer.

Here are a few homes with beautiful accents for your inspiration:

A photo posted by Philomena (@pebblelane) on

A photo posted by Jadie (@home_loves_homes) on

Home Improvement Project Tracking Tools – The Ultimate List

Home improvement projects are notorious for being complex, expensive, and sometimes out-of-control.

That is not a good thing!

Like any other type of project, proper organization, communication, planning, and budgeting can reel in an out-of-control project and turn it into a great one.

So we put together the ultimate list of project management tools for home improvement. Most of these tools are free; some are premium but very inexpensive. Take a look and make use of these resources to make sure your next project is a success.

The Ultimate List of Home Improvement Project Management Tools & Templates

General Maintenance Home Improvement Tracking Templates

First, let’s forget those dream kitchen makeovers, room repainting, and new decks. Let’s start with the basics: general home maintenance.

Here are some great resources for keeping track of the minor maintenance projects you have to tackle every once in a while as a homeowner:

Make a Home Repair Journal & Maintenance Log (Heartland Luxury Homes) – Be sure to download the Home Maintenance Hard Copy at the bottom of the page for a simple way to track what you’ve been doing to maintain your home and when you need to revisit each thing.

Month-by-Month Home Improvement Plan (BHG) – Not quite sure where to start when it comes to updating your home? This monthly home improvement plan from BHG gives you simple, practical ideas for a new thing to tackle each month of the year.

Monthly Maintenance Guide (Porch) – Finally, this fairly exhaustive monthly maintenance plan from Porch will give you a checklist of seasonal home maintenance tasks to take care of.

Home Remodeling Project Management Templates

Now let’s get into the nitty gritty. Home remodeling projects can encompass all kinds of things, so we are including many, many options here. You’re bound to find one that is going to work for you!

Excel Construction Project Management Templates (Smartsheet)

Estimating Budgeting Worksheet (Building Advisor)

Home Construction Budget (Office Templates)

Renovation Budget Spreadsheet Templates (Rachel Rossi)

Home Improvement Binder (Tip Junkie)

Renovation Checklist (Sweet Remodel)

Remodeling Tools (Sweet Remodel)

Project Worksheets (Lowes for Pros)

Home Remodeling Tips (Cygnus Real Estate)

How to Develop a Home Remodel Timeline and Budget (The Wanderlust Kitchen)

All-Purpose Project Management Templates

Spreadsheets and examples can be powerful, but what about keeping track of tasks, collecting inspiration, or coordinating with a team of different people and contractors? A general or all-purpose project management tool would be very helpful with any of those things, as well as keeping a record of your communication and decisions. (Or you could just hope everyone remembers that one phone conversation sometime last month…)

Try one (or all) of these project management apps and get organized once and for all:

Trello

Asana

Evernote

Basecamp

Wunderlist

Podio

Bonus: Moving Plans!

Often, home improvement projects coincide with moves – you’re moving to a new house and want to tackle some projects before your stuff is scattered everywhere, or you are moving out and want to polish the place up to put it on the market. Either way, wouldn’t it be nice to have that move be as organized and painless as possible?

Here are some great resources for planning out and organizing your move:

Home Moving Kit (Etsy)

How to Move Yourself (Tip Junkie)

Moving Checklist (Real Simple)

Moving Planner (Start Planner)

Planning a Painting Project?

If you’re planning a move or a home improvement project, chances are you’re going to be doing some (or a lot) of painting. Central Sound Painting is the perfect partner to help ensure your project is excellent from start to finish. Get in touch now to find out more about how we can help.

 

 

Choosing a Painting Contractor Infographic

If you decide to hire a professional rather than going the DIY route with a painting project, of course you expect the job to go smoothly, look great, and hold up for a long time.

But that’s where hiring the right painting contractor for the job can make or break the project.

We want to make it a little bit easier for you to ensure success, so…

We put together an infographic based on this blog post about how to choose a painting contractor. Use this infographic as a checklist the next time you’re hiring a contractor and make sure you run through every last question on the list!

Infographic for How To Choose a Painting Contractor

Infographic for Choosing a Painting Contractor | Central Sound Painting | Pierce, King and South King County

Amazing Blogs For Paint Color Inspiration

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Looking For Color Inspiration For Your Interior Paint Project?

Choosing colors for your home’s interior can be exciting, overwhelming and challenging – all at the same time. Will you go with multiple colors in a single room? How will you choose? What if you don’t like what the final product looks like? (By the way, I can recommend some online paint color tools to help with that last question!)

There are a lot of creative ways you can make choosing your interior paint colors a little less stressful and risky, such as testing out one small room or picking colors that are already in your home. Read more tips on choosing paint color here.

But sometimes it really helps to see what colors other people are using in home interiors, and that’s where finding a good blog can make all the difference.

Here Are 3 Great Blogs For Interior Paint Color Inspiration:

Favorite Paint Colors Blog

Favorite Paint Colors Blog simply contains photo after photo of interiors with a note on the paint color used. They invite submissions from around the web and categories them in a very detailed (and useful) way. Check out a great recent post showcasing the color Irish Mist by Behr:

Irish Mist by Behr | Amazing Blogs For Paint Color Inspiration | Central Sound Painting | Pierce, King and South King County

Irish Mist by Behr | Source: Favorite Paint Colors Blog

Houzz

Houzz is a website that brings together homeowners, contractors, designers, decorators, and home goods retailers to provide inspiration and ideas for home projects. It’s always a good source for home decorating and remodeling inspiration, but it’s a good place to look for specific paint colors that you like too. Check out this great post on 12 Tried And True Paint Colors For Your Walls, including a great color for a kitchen – Farrow & Ball’s Ball Green 75.

South Shore Decorating Blog

The South Shore Decorating Blog has an amazing list of 200 paint colors and examples to check out, sorted by color. This would be the perfect place to get some inspiration if you’re a visual person and you need to see a lot of examples before you know what you like.

Here’s a great color from that post – Storm by Benjamin Moore:

Storm by Benjamin Moore | Amazing Blogs For Paint Color Inspiration | Central Sound Painting | Pierce, King and South King County

Storm by Benjamin Moore | Source: South Shore Decorating Blog

The Creativity Exchange

The Creativity Exchange is a blog with tons of different posts on paint color inspiration, such as the 2016 BHG color palette color palette of the year or the most popular cabinet paint colors. Be sure to check it out for paint color ideas for your interior.

Here’s the inspiring image from the BHG 2016 color palette of the year:

2016 BHG Color Palette Of The Year | Amazing Blogs For Paint Color Inspiration | Central Sound Painting | Pierce, King and South King County

2016 BHG Color Palette Of The Year | Source: BHG via The Creativity Exchange

 

Working on an interior paint project in Pierce, King, or South King County?

Get in touch and find out how I can help. And be sure to read my post on how to make sure you choose a good painting contractor.

 

  • The Easy Way To Incorporate Multiple Paint Colors In One Room | Central Sound Painting | Pierce, King and South King County

The Easy Way To Incorporate Multiple Paint Colors In One Room

A lot of homeowners planning a painting project have questions about a somewhat delicate subject: incorporating multiple paint colors into one room.

More than one paint color in a single room adds depth and interest, but it’s possible to take this too far – to go from depth and interest to chaotic and stress-inducing.

There’s a great solution to this problem for homeowners who are interested in building in multiple colors but want to do it well: use a monochromatic color scheme.

What is a monochromatic color scheme?

“The basic definition of monochromatic color is to use a single base color and shades, tints and tones of that hue.” [source]

But how do you apply that to incorporating more than one color into a room? Here are some really good tips from an article in SF Gate, “How to Use Dark & Light Shades of One Color to Paint a Room”:

  1. Pick up paint swatches in that color family from a paint store or home improvement store. Select one of the palest shades and two of the medium shades to be your paint colors. Save the darkest shades on the swatches for accent colors in your upholstery and accessories.

  2. Look at the amount of natural light in the room. If the room gets lots of light, select the palest shade in your color palette as the primary wall color. If the room is naturally dark, select the darker of the two medium tones as the primary wall color.

  3. Choose the opposite extreme for the trim, which includes baseboards, door frames and window frames. For example, if your room is naturally bright and you picked the palest shade for the walls, pick the darker of the medium tones for the trim; if you use the dark shade for the walls, use the palest shade for the trim.

  4. Use the middle color for any molding on the walls, including wainscoting and chair rails. If the walls have panels, paint the surfaces that extend farthest into the room in the middle color and the flat surfaces inside in the same color as the walls. This heightens the three-dimensional effect.

  5. Paint high ceilings one shade darker than the walls. Paint average ceilings slightly lighter than the walls.

Read the article for more tips.

Wondering what this looks like practically?

Here are some great examples of this monochromatic approach to interior paint color in real life:

See if you can spot how each example dealt with the different aspects of the room – primary wall color, ceiling, molding, trim, and furniture / accents.

The-BEST-Neutral-Paint-Colors-via-A-Blissful-Nest-011[1]

Source: Laura Lee Clark via A Blissful Nest

Common-color-mistakes_monochromatic-colors[1]

Source: Freshome

yellow-seating-area1[1]

Source: Jeff Andrews Design via Freshome

  • The Best Value Home Makeover Project | Central Sound Painting | Pierce, King and South King County

The Best Value Home Makeover Project

Tags: , , |

Everyone thinks that home makeover projects have to cost thousands of dollars and include knocking down walls, new appliances, hard wood floors, and more.

But there’s actually a sneaky, simple little way to completely make over the feel of your home for free.

It might be that you don’t really need a new kitchen, a bigger dining room, or a different couch.

The biggest impact (and most affordable) home makeover project for you might be simply this: declutter.

The Unexpected Danger Of A Cluttered Home

Clutter doesn’t just make your home feel less enjoyable or less beautiful. It has actually been associated with higher levels of cortisol (stress hormone) and other very bad things:

A piece of startling evidence that emerged from CELF’s work shows, for the first time, that clutter can be so bad for the health of women it should come with the sort of warning they put on cigarette packs: clutter kills. By recording how people feel about their homes and testing them for the stress hormone cortisol, UCLA psychologists Rena Repetti and Darby Saxbe found that women who have issues with clutter have the signature pattern of cortisol that is associated with people who have chronic fatigue, post-traumatic stress disorder, and a higher risk of mortality. Source: TIME

To really experience the benefits of decluttering in your home, says Marie Kondo, don’t just organize the clutter; get rid of it!

Her method is extreme: Purging must be done all in one go. No procrastinating. No “maybe” pile. “Keep only the things that speak to your heart. Then take the plunge and discard all the rest,” she advises. “When you put your house in order, you put your affairs and your past in order, too. As a result, you can see quite clearly what you need in life and what you don’t.” — Marie Kondo | Source: The Wall Street Journal

Marie Kondo’s book The Lifechanging Magic Of Tidying Up has become a cult classic in this area, but many other bloggers and writers are sounding the same call. We have too much stuff, and instead of bringing us happiness, it is stressing us out and stopping us from truly loving our homes.

So before you jump in to your next big budget (or even small budget) home improvement project, tackle decluttering – then you can tell how much work you really still need to do.