And these are a few of my favorite things!

I've had a few emails since my last post about organizing paint swatches.

Some of you asked what "favs" I have in paints colors ...

Well ... that's a LOADED question :O)
If there's something to jaw about ... it's paint color!

Here are some of my current passions
and I must say most are from

Benjamin Moore Paints

:O)

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White Sand by BMPaints
(mixed at The Home Depot in eggshell finish)

... well, IT CHANGED MY LIFE!


I went from picking out a
different color for each room
to...
"lighter - airier" looking rooms.


Do you ever stand back from a room

and say, "WHOA!"

That's what White Sand did to my little brain :O)

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Now I'll share a little tip with you ...
you can take any paint color and
have the home improvement store
make it lighter or brighter by
10%, 25%, 50%, ect.


What? What does that mean? That means
I took my White Sand and had BMPaints
darken it by 200% ... which turned out
to be "Natural Linen".
(mixed at Benjamin Moore Paints in pearl finish)


I put Natural Linen on the stair treads
going up ...




So what's a stair tread?

It's that part of the stairway you step on :O)

I wanted the color of the tread to be darker

so that it would hide the dirt better!

Yes ... we are dirty little piggies
around here :O)

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So ... what's so important about graduating
colors by percentages?! It helps you
stay in the same family of colors.

That is soooooooo important! Burn that
into your brain ... you can travel
an entire house with the same color ...
just adjust it darker or lighter to taste!

YeeeeeeeHaaaawwww!

Again, this will help with

F O C U S I N G

on what you like!

MORE IS LESS ... YES?

:O)

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So what's the trim color in our
COTTAGE-IN-THE-MAKING?

Decorator's White by BMPaints
(mixed at The Home Depot in their
Kitchen & Bath Paint which has a semi-gloss finish)



I'm so glad you can't see a close-up
on the fire-place trim ... wow does
it need some serious caulking!

We caulked it before we painted it w/
BM's Decorator's White BUT it still
split in the dry winter months.
NEWMAN!

The living room above is ...

Bronzed Beige by BMPaints
(mixed at Benjamin Moore Paints in eggshell finish)

it's actually a yellow color
but very buttery, warm

YELLOW IS A VERY DIFFICULT COLOR!
There are so many yellows out there ...
wowsers!

TAKE YOUR TIME

DO NOT RUSH THIS

YOU WILL REGRET IT!

:O)

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Elemental by BMPaints
(mixed by Benjamin Moore Paints in eggshell finish)

is such a yummy, warm olive green.

It makes you want to take a nap in a meadow :O)

And Oh the love of black paint.

I've been painting everything I can get my hands on ...

B L A C K!

Where do I buy it?

The Home Depot

Do I have them mix it with a sheen?

Nope ... most of my projects take
a flat black paint ...
then I change up how I finish the piece.

Sometimes with polyurethane

Sometimes back-sanded and
then finished w/ wipe on poly

Sometimes I dry-brush over the black
with accents colors to give it a distressed look


this is an example of a piece that I painted
w/ flat black paint and then brushed on
a satin polyurethane ... lovely :O)

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More "favs" to come ... it's time to go nigh-night ...

So many paints colors ... so little time.

Happy painting :O)