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How To Use Bright Paints Without Overwhelming Your Space

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 20:06:12 GMT

Introducing a vibrant color can be the perfect way to breathe new life into a room. Yet, the thought of using bright paints in your home décor can often be intimidating. How do you balance between creating a lively, energetic space and avoiding a sensory overload? What if you go too far, and your room ends up looking like a kindergarten playroom?

The key lies in understanding how to use bright paints in moderation and how to complement them with the right hues. Learn three tips on using bright colors judiciously so you can achieve a stunning decorative effect that won't overwhelm your space.

Use as an Accent Color

The easiest way to use a bright paint color is to use it as an accent. Pick one or two points in a room, such as the molding, doorway, or a certain piece of furniture, and paint them in a contrasting bright color.

For example, you can paint the trim and doorframes in a bright hue, such as fuchsia or coral, to create a strong visual effect. This technique can shift the focus to a particular area of the room and add a playful touch to the space without becoming overbearing.

You can also use a bright color like turquoise, yellow, or orange to highlight a single wall in the room. This approach will create an interesting focal point and draw the eye towards it while keeping the rest of the walls in more subtle tones. It doesn't have to be a large wall either––even a small section of wall can make a huge difference.

But if you're worried about the wall looking too flashy, consider using a slightly muted hue instead of the brightest shade. This will still draw the eye towards the wall but in a much more subtle way. Plus, the softer tones make the wall easier to accessorize.

Balance With Neutrals

Adding bright colors can easily create an overly busy environment. This can be balanced by pairing bright hues with neutrals. Neutral colors, such as white, cream, and beige, are perfect for turning down the intensity and introducing a more calming atmosphere.

For example, if you use bright green paint in your living room, incorporate white and beige tones to create a balanced look. This will also create a soothing effect and create a visual break between the bright color and the other elements in the room.

You can also create an ombre effect with the two colors to give the room a more dynamic vibe. For instance, you can paint the wall a bright lime green and then add a lighter shade of beige near the ceiling and the floor.

You don't need to limit it to just two colors either –you can add a few more shades of beige, gray, white, or even light brown. What matters is that they all offer a neutral backdrop for the bright color to stand out against.

Play With Complementary Colors

If you're new to using bright colors, stay within your comfort zone and use complementary shades. Complementary colors are the hues that appear opposite each other on the color wheel and have a strong visual effect when used together.

For example, you can pair bright shades of blue with light hues of orange or bright reds with muted greens. These combinations will add a fresh and lively feel to the room without being too chaotic.

Another great option is to use two shades of the same color, such as different tones of pink or purple, on your walls. This will create a more unified look without the risk of going overboard with the colors. You won't have to worry about clashing colors with furniture and other decorative items either.

Whatever you decide, remember to choose a bright paint shade that complements your existing décor elements for a cohesive look that still adds a pop. This won't always be easy, so consult us at Elevation Painting if you feel overwhelmed by the choice of colors. We'll help you close the loop and tie everything together for a stunning end result.

Transforming Your Garage Floor With Epoxy

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 23:15:21 GMT

Garages have long ceased to be just spaces for parking vehicles. Today, they are multifunctional areas of homes, often serving as workshops, storage areas, or even recreational rooms. Given these varied uses, the choice of flooring in a garage becomes pivotal.

Epoxy, a thermosetting resin, has emerged as one of the most popular choices for garage floors due to its durability, appearance, and resistance. But what does the process of professionally epoxying a garage floor entail?

Preparation Is Key

The journey to a seamless epoxy garage floor begins with meticulous preparation. Professionals start by inspecting the current condition of the floor to address any cracks, holes, or uneven spots. If your garage floor has old paint or sealers, these need to be stripped to ensure that the epoxy adheres correctly.

Cleaning comes next. Garage floors often accumulate oils, grease, and other automotive fluids over time. A thorough cleaning ensures that these contaminants don't inhibit the epoxy's adhesion. The cleaning process often involves a combination of industrial-grade cleaners and power washing.

One critical step that can't be overlooked is etching the concrete. This creates a slightly rough texture on the concrete’s surface, allowing the epoxy to form a stronger bond. Professionals typically use either an acid etch or diamond grinding to achieve this.

Applying the Epoxy

Once the surface is prepped and dried, the actual application begins. Epoxy consists of a resin and a hardener, which need to be mixed just before the application. The consistency is somewhat like thick paint, and it has to be applied before it starts to harden.

Professionals apply the epoxy using rollers in a systematic manner, ensuring even coverage without puddles or thin spots. The thickness of the epoxy layer can be varied depending on the expected use of the garage and the owner's preference.

Epoxy doesn't stop with just the base layer. For an enhanced appearance and added durability, a topcoat or sealer can be applied. This gives the floor a glossy finish and makes it more resistant to chemicals and abrasions.

Caring for Your Newly Epoxy-Coated Garage Floor

After the epoxy application, the floor needs time to cure. While it might feel dry to the touch within hours, it's advisable to avoid heavy traffic or placing objects on it for at least a couple of days.

Maintenance of an epoxy floor is relatively straightforward. Regular sweeping or dust mopping keeps the floor looking pristine. For deeper cleaning, a mild detergent mixed with water should suffice. It's essential to ensure that the floor is rinsed thoroughly and no detergent residue remains.

Spills, especially of chemicals or automotive fluids, should be cleaned immediately to prevent staining. Though epoxy floors are resistant to many chemicals, prolonged exposure can still cause discoloration.

In terms of protection, placing soft pads under kickstands of motorcycles or bicycle stands can prevent potential chipping. Similarly, using a softer wheel for rolling toolboxes or cabinets can reduce wear.

Even though epoxy floors are durable, they aren't impervious. It's good practice to periodically inspect the floor for any signs of wear or damage, ensuring it continues to look and function at its best for years to come.

Garages, often considered the least glamorous part of a home, can be transformed dramatically with a professionally applied epoxy floor. It not only elevates the aesthetics but also offers a surface that can withstand the rigors of garage activities. With minimal maintenance, homeowners can enjoy a stunning and resilient garage floor that stands the test of time.

Does having an epoxy garage floor sound good to you? Elevation Painting LLC can handle the entire installation process for you once you're ready to move forward with the job.

5 Tips To Find the Right Paint Colors for Interior Trim

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 17:32:30 GMT

When planning the interior paint scheme of their home, many homeowners focus on the walls. And, certainly, the wall colors are important since these have the largest visual footprint. But what about the trim and details? How can you make the best choices for the right impact using details? Explore a few important tips.

1. Identify the Details

Every home has a few common elements of trim that can be highlighted in interesting and surprising ways with accent colors. However, your home can easily have more than just door and window frames. Look for anything that could add character and personality to the space—things like arches, molding, wainscotting, baseboards, mantels, closet and cabinet doors, or lighting bases.

You will not highlight or use the same accent colors on all these features, but understanding the potential gives you choices. It creates a strategy to achieve a certain look.

2. Limit the Color Palette

A whole home color palette is a single set of paint colors used in various combinations and ways throughout the home. In general, it includes three to five main shades. You might use a light neutral as the wall color in the living room while using a darker wall shade and lighter trim colors in an adjacent room.

The advantage of finding and sticking with a small palette is that it makes things feel cohesive and unified. Sudden changes in color schemes among rooms tends to be jarring, and they bring the wrong kind of attention to rooms.

3. Seek Your Inspiration

Where should you start when choosing trim color? The best place to look for inspiration is within your home itself. Look for something with colors that please you and give you the vibe you are seeking at home. This could be a comforter, pillow, scarf, chair, dish, or artwork, for example. This inspiration informs your palette as a whole, which in turn helps you narrow down colors for trim.

4. Create Room Flow

How you use both wall and trim colors will add to or take away from the flow between rooms. A single trim color in multiple adjacent rooms helps make them feel harmonious and relaxing. On the other hand, changing trim color can also be a bridge between rooms. For example, you might use different shades on a door's sides than on its edges to help transition users from one color palette to another.

Flow is especially important in open floor plans where you must make a large space with multiple uses work together. This does not, of course, mean that you need to use the same color throughout the open space. Varying it in subtle ways, like highlighting certain trim features while camouflaging others or using different shades, helps keep things flowing smoothly.

5. Don't Forget the Ceiling

Do not overlook the ceiling as an accent element. Ceilings may seem outside the important visual range of most users, but they have a large unconscious impact on how the room looks. A room can benefit from a ceiling painted the same color as either the walls or the trim features. Or you might want to lighten or darken the shade of one of these components to create a more subtle contrast that still ties in.

Need help figuring out what to do with your interior trim? Get help from the professionals at Elevation Painting . We will put our years of residential painting experience to work for you, no matter whether your painting project is large or small. Call today to make an appointment or get more tips for choosing the right paint for every part of your home.

How Light Can Affect Your Home’s Exterior Color Choice

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 01:11:54 GMT

Many factors go into the decision of which color to paint your home's exterior. One of the most important is lighting. How does the light — both natural and artificial — affect your paint choice? Here are a few of the biggest ways and what you need to know about them.

1. Sunlight Changes Tone

Natural sunlight will shine on your house every day, all day long. And that sunlight inherently alters the way the colors look as opposed to artificial lighting.

Generally, natural sunlight lightens up the tone of paint colors. Sometimes, this effect can make the shade look a step or two lighter. But a house with significant direct sunlight exposure may seem significantly lighter. Always test paint colors on a large exterior portion with various sunlight levels before settling on one color.

2. Dark Colors Absorb Heat

Do you live in a warm climate? Do you want to keep the house cooler in the summer? Then a dark exterior paint job may not be the best choice. All other things aside, a black, charcoal, or navy wall color will help trap heat and can raise your energy bills during hot weather.

However, some homeowners — such as those in some parts of the Rocky Mountains — might want to use this effect to help keep the house more comfortable in winter. Which season you prioritize depends on you.

3. Dark Colors Fade Faster

Every paint naturally fades over time, particularly due to ultraviolet exposure. However, this effect is less obvious in lighter shades than darker ones. Dark paint will become chalky and discolored, often doing so unevenly all around the exterior. Of course, the lighter colors do so as well — but it doesn't show.

You can fight off some of this accelerated fading by selecting the highest quality, anti-fade exterior paint designed for your climate and sunlight levels. And if you're set on a dark exterior, you may simply want to budget for a shorter lifespan of each paint job. You can also stay ahead of the fading effects with touchups.

4. Nearby Objects Affect Color

What outdoor lighting and objects will surround the house? Do you have large street lamps or landscape lighting which cast their own shadows or throw off light in different colors? What about a large landscape feature, tree, or outdoor building which shades part of the house much of the time? These lighting elements may make dark colors look darker or make different areas look like different colors.

5. You Can Hide or Highlight Elements

A dark exterior has several advantages over lighter ones, and one of these is its ability to hide features. Do you want to hide anything unsightly about your architecture? On the other hand, do you want to bring out the signature architecture of your Cape Cod, Victorian, or Mid-century Modern home? Dark main colors will help hide things while lighter shades make them more visible.

However, these effects are altered by how sunlight falls on them too. Bright sunlight or angles during sunset and sunrise might make those features more obvious even with dark colors to hide them. And lower lighting might even render the effort unnecessary as it mutes how visually obvious they are.

Where Can You Learn More?

Want to know more about the light around your house and its effects on the exterior paint you choose? Meet with the painting pros at Elevation Painting LLC . We'll help you assess your home's strengths and weaknesses as well as your paint options to find the right hues for any house. Call today to make an appointment or get answers to your questions.

Repaint Kitchen Cabinets or Replace? 5 Considerations

Fri, 05 May 2023 19:29:32 GMT

The cabinets in any kitchen are a huge part of its aesthetic and functionality. They're also one of the biggest costs when remodeling your kitchen. Do you want a simple solution that can save you money and time while allowing you to continue with the renovation? Then you may want to repaint rather than replace. Is this the right choice for you? If you fall into any of these situations, it might just be.

1. You Aren't Changing the Layout

The first question a homeowner must answer is whether or not they're changing the cabinet layout. If you plan to make a completely new kitchen floor plan, existing cabinets may or may not work in it. However, if you're happy with the layout and just need a modernized new design, you could be a great candidate for repainting the cabinets already in place. Today's techniques can help you achieve that modern feel even with older cabinets.

2. You Want an Updated Color

Because they have such a large footprint in the kitchen, any changes to the cabinets can make a massive difference in the feel of the kitchen. Switching out a dark wood color, for example, in favor of a fresh, neutral palette makes the room feel lighter, more airy, and even larger. Conversely, you could create a trendy kitchen design with a darker base cabinet color and a pale upper cabinet shade.

3. The Cabinets Are in Good Condition

Have your cabinets professionally inspected prior to deciding between repainting and replacing. What is their overall condition? How have they fared in the sometimes-humid and often high-traffic environment of the kitchen? Relatively new cabinets and those which were made from hardy materials often have plenty of life left in them. With a fresh coat of paint or stain, they could serve for many more years.

On the other hand, cabinets which have already suffered warping, rot, breakage, or too much wear and tear may need to be replaced. The good news is that you may be able to save some cabinets while replacing others, using some careful planning and a unified color palette. This can save tremendous amounts compared to full replacement even in less than ideal circumstances.

4. They're Expensive Materials

What are the existing cabinets made from? Are they high-quality, expensive wood and other materials? The more you or the previous homeowner spent on them, the more you should try to recoup that investment by making them last longer. It's an option not all homeowners enjoy.

Anyone who is remodeling their kitchen to extend its use should want to use quality materials. However, you may find it cost-prohibitive to try to replace expensive cabinets with new and similarly expensive cabinets. You may not even be able to match the quality of older cabinetry with today's mass-produced choices.

5. You Need a Shortcut

Finally, do you need some way to shorten the time frame of your renovation? The kitchen is one of the most-used areas of many homes, and it's the room you can often least do without for a long period. Simply repainting cabinets while leaving them in place can seriously cut down on how long your kitchen is ripped apart. That it also protects your budget from swelling is an added bonus.

Could repainting be the right call for your new kitchen? If you find yourself in any of these situations, start by learning more about cabinet painting. Call Elevation Painting LLC to get more answers to your questions. We provide a range of painting services to fit all your renovation needs, starting with assessing your kitchen's candidacy for this simple and quick makeover option. Make an appointment today.