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Monthly Archives: May 2013
Three colours that will never go out of fashion
Picking paint colours might not have been at the top of your list when you took up your job, but for many people in property manager, motel owner or unit manager-type roles, it is part-and-parcel of the work you do.
If you want an interior design scheme that will never go out of fashion, you can head into your nearest Resene for a chat with the experts in store, or you can have a go with using one of these hues.
Neutrals
This one might seem obvious, but cream really never will age. Neither will your usual whites, beiges and 'off-white' colours. If you’re unsure of cream, opt for a lighter green edged variant like Resene Thorndon Cream.
If you look at the Resene Top 20 most popular paint colours, you’ll notice a good proportion of them fit into this category.
Neutrals will stay looking good on the walls while you occasionally update your decorative items in a room and they will complement anything you put with them.
Reds
The colour of love, summer berries and truly great wines, reds will never go out of season.
While a full room of red might be overpowering, reds can be used to liven up any space and complement plenty of other colours, working especially well with neutrals and natural browns. Try Resene Pohutukawa for an ever popular red.
Black and white
If you use black and white together well, you can create an evergreen interior design style. Think Resene Nero meets Resene Alabaster.
While chevrons and checkers in these tones will take you straight to the 80s, this simple but bold contrast can work together for a long-lasting look.
Absolutely any colour can be thrown into the mix with black and white, whether it's lime green (a current trend), or luscious plum such as Resene Aubergine (for an elegant touch), you’ll be able to play up this scheme with small touches whenever you feel like a change.
The RGB and CMYK difference
Anyone dealing with colour or design in any capacity will have come across these acronyms at some stage.
They are used to describe colour palettes, usually in the printing industry, but are important for paint colour and design too.
The difference between them lies in the fact that what might appear as a deep pine green colour on your computer screen might look like an almost black green when you have a physical representation of the colour. Basically, it means that there can be slight differences when transferring from the digital version of a colour to the physical product. This is because each uses a different way to display colour.
Marketing yourself online for tradies and specifiers
Ensuring your business has an online presence is becoming a necessity for anyone wanting to make the most of web marketing platforms.
People are increasingly turning to the web as a search tool when they're looking for help or advice across a number of trades, and home renovation and interior design are no exception.
There are a number of ways you can create an online presence, and then expand on it to make the most of this useful marketing tool.
Website
The first tool that might come to mind is a website. After initial costs for setup and web design, they are inexpensive to run and easy to keep updated.
Building a website with plenty of relevant content that is useful and informative will help your site show up in internet search engines.
A basic layout and vital information about you and your business will be all you need to get this page started.
Social media
Don't forget about social media playing a part too. Facebook and Twitter will both let you set up your own page so you can easily communicate with your clients.
Use these pages to show what your brand is all about – if you're a painter, you could engage your audience with interesting facts about the industry, or designers could get permission from previous clients to show examples of their best work.
Social media is all about sharing and communicating, which is a great way to get your name out there.
There's also LinkedIn to consider. This is more of a professional database, so if you 'connect' with others in the industry here you'll be able to have a trusted network of fellow tradies and designers at your fingertips when you need it.
Workplace safety – proper ventilation
Working with paint all day, every day can easily cause safety and health hazards without adequate precautions.
In older homes, getting air moving through is easier than modern homes, because new houses are 'tightly' built, meaning that ventilation has to be a conscious effort.
Importance
Proper ventilation during painting will benefit everyone.
If there is little or no ventilation during application, some people will suffer from health issues such as mild asthma or severe headaches that can last for some time after the actual painting process.
A properly ventilated room will also benefit the quality of the final job. A coat of paint on the walls and ceiling can add up to around 3,000 millilitres of water to the environment, so excessive humidity will impede the paint drying process, whereas adequate ventilation will speed up drying times.
However, in cooler temperatures, the binder in waterborne paints becomes harder, and can be a less hospitable place for surfactants and thickeners. Coupled with poor ventilation, some of those materials can find their way to the surface of the paint, causing a 'smeary' look to the final job.
How to improve ventilation
Improving ventilation therefore has its benefits.
While both air blowing and extraction methods are helpful, research has suggested that air blowing is more efficient as extraction can create pockets of solvent vapour by channelling smooth airflow, whereas air blowing will cause turbulence, dispersing and pockets of solvents.
Apart from the obvious methods of opening windows and doors to create natural air flows, or using ceiling fans and other equipment already available in the area you're painting, investing in specialised fans can pay off for your health and your overall result.
Accommodation colour choices for the daring
For many people who choose a paint colour for their hotel, motel or serviced apartment, the choice is all about long term planning.
Picking a paint colour that will stand the test of time is certainly a financially wise investment, as it means you won't have to paint again in the near future.
If you can paint your walls any colour you like, what does that mean for your business?
Many people who frequent these sorts of accommodation options often complain that "the inside of a hotel room always looks the same".
So why not be daring, try something new, and set your business apart with unique interior design?
You don't have to hire a professional to organise every little detail (although you can if you want to or are undertaking major changes), but talking to the expert team at Resene can give you a fresh insight about colour choices that will stand out from the usual beige and neutral tones that you often find in hotels, motels and apartments.
You could choose a deep red for a feature wall. Reds, like Resene Pohutukawa, are popular year in and out and are as safe as neutrals for never going out of style. The warmth and vibrancy will make your guests feel a lot more at home and may help to reduce some of the heating costs as the room will feel warmer through autumn and winter.
On trend – citrus tones
One of the newest trends to make its way into homes is that of fresh, bright citrus tones.
These bright colours are turning up in stores and making for great pops of colour in popular interior design trends.
Orange
Unlike the duller orange that was in fashion in the 70s (when it was often paired with chocolate browns), the 21st century oranges are bright colour accents like those you would find in a fruit bowl.
Close cousin tangerine was last year named as the 'colour of the year' by the Pantone Institute in North America.
The reason it works so well is because orange is a dramatic colour that can work in several colour schemes. It will often be paired with greens, creams and whites or deep blues.
Lime
Lime is another hue straight from the fruit bowl, but not one for the faint of heart.
A splash of lime paint will dramatise any area or room and can be enhanced with lime accents around the house in the form of vases, cushions, fruit bowls, or as part of a curtain colour scheme.
This tone works well with navy blues, other bright colours, natural browns and beiges, or as a dramatic offset to traditional black.
Lemon
Last in the fruit bowl is sunny and bright lemon.
It is said that a lemon scent in the home will make everything seem fresher and cleaner, and the same goes for a lemon colour on the walls.
A crisp, clear lemon can be used in small spaces to great effect as it has the ability to brighten up, and therefore give the illusion of space, to any room.
Sunny yellow tones work well with other citrus tones for an ultra-bright look, or can be used purely as accents next to creams.
A break-down of paint durability
Architects, designers, facility managers and the like have enough to worry about without wondering how long a paint job will last.
The environment conspires against paint lasting for as long as the walls it adorns, with UV light, water, oxygen and heat all working to break down the paint by a process known as light induced oxidation. Once started the breakdown cannot be reversed.
UV energy excites certain molecules in the paint film and this leads to a chain-reaction, accelerated by oxygen, moisture and heat, to attack and break down the resin system. This gradual breakdown materialises as chalking of the surface and in some cases fading of certain organics pigments.
