The Use of Color

One of the most compelling things about paint color is its ability to dramatically affect how people feel. Different colors instill different moods.  When you are painting your home, whether interior or exterior, the choice of color and how it will affect the people who will be looking at it most has to be taken into account.

The following was put together by the Paint Quality Institute, giving various colors and what they mean.

RED =Stimulating It increases the blood pressure, heartbeat, appetite---even passion – in many people. As a result, red is a good choice for eating areas, dining rooms, and even restaurants.

YELLOW=Attention   A real attention getter. Yellow is useful in dark hallways and foyers. (And areas needing a serious injection of warmth).

GREEN= Relaxing   but more versatile than blue. Works well in kitchens, dining rooms, schools and offices.

ORANGE= Welcoming   Tints and shades of orange work well in entryways, living rooms and family rooms.

BLUE= Calming. It’s an ideal color for bedrooms and sitting rooms. Blue is not the best color to use in the dining room.

PURPLE= a tricky color.   Many adults dislike purples and violets, but children are drawn to them. Purple is often used in kid’s bedrooms and play areas. However, there has been a recent trend towards using purple in adult bedrooms as well.


You can use beiges and grays in areas that require less light and areas you don’t wish to call attention to—in other words, neutrals serve as a good backdrop.

Next times you’re painting trying sampling these colors (or tints and shades thereof) and see how they work.

Paint Tips of the Month for December

INTERIOR: If you have to touch up an painted room at a later date, if there is any question that it might not touch up easy, then it is best to plan to do the work at the same temperature as when you painted the original room. If you have bright colors, it will not flash as much where you touched it up.


EXTERIOR: If you are going to touch up stucco outside, best to touch it up with a roller. If you use a brush and too much paint, it will fill in the crevices much more than the original paint, and the spot will stick out like a sore thumb. This also applies to trying paint samples on a house. Brush it out  your samples on a sample board or piece of wood, because when you pick your colors and paint the whole house, you will still be able to see the areas you painted with a brush (it will have filled in the surface more.) 

Ciao,

Kevin

Aesthetics and painting and what we do -- still the best bang for the buck

At Molto Bene we’ve been in business for over 2 decades. We are accomplished artisans who can create beautiful finishes in expensive homes, as evidenced by our website and blog.

However our business started with and still continues to do painting, both interior and exterior.We apply the same concepts of what we do in our fine finishes to any of our paint projects. By applying our knowledge of color harmony and aesthetic to any paint work we take on, we try to create homes with a lot of “eye candy:” 

Whether you are listing a home as a realtor or homeowner or currently buying one, there is no doubt that painting has and always will give the biggest bang for the buck.

As we have stated many times there are two reasons for painting:

1. Protecting the surfaces and property from the elements. 
2. Aesthetics. Many people can provide proper preparation and paint application. Where we really bring it is in the aesthetics department. By experience and sampling colors we can create spaces that create curb appeal when selling and once sold, are aesthetically pleasing to come home to.

Below is an example of what can be done with paint. The first picture is from when the house was first listed for sale. Someone threw a cheap coat of white paint on it. The second is a paint makeover we did with proper use of base and accent colors to create a dramatic difference all with paint. 

Which house would you be interested in buying or living in?

If you have a home you are listing, let us bring our aesthetic to create a space that sells.

If you’ve just recently purchased, let us help bring this same aesthetic to create a space that will be pleasing for years to come.

They don’t call us Molto Bene (”Very Good in Italian”) for nothing!

Ciao

Kevin Connetta

Molto Bene

408 677 7916

Lic#739710

moltobenewalls.com

Molto Bene (quality) work vs. Scadente (Italian for poor quality) work

Whether someone is painting to put a house on the market to sell, or painting to protect and enhance the looks of their property, most people wisely get more than one estimate. 

But what should they be looking for when comparing estimates?  When someone says they do quality work, what does this involve or should it involve? What if one is selling the house, wouldn’t a “cheapo” job suffice?

Why Paint? The basic reason for painting is to protect the surfaces of your home.  After that, to enhance the looks of your home, to please you, your neighbors etc. While aesthetics are usually the first thing people notice, the preparation, application and quality of materials used will determine how long it will look nice. It’s a fact that a paint job increases the value of the property many times over the cost of the actual paint job. Whether you are buying or selling or holding onto a home, painting is one of the better investments one can make.  

Why Quality? Having quality work done comes down to the fact that the painter should be spending the proper amount of man hours and material to make your house look its best and have it continue to look that way. A good example is a well-painted Victorian house.  They look terrific – whole books are dedicated to these paint jobs. Multi-colored trim, all wood smooth and even, colors coordinated. We’ve all seen these types of houses. On the flip side I have seen a Victorian house that had just been “painted”. They had only scraped the loose paint off and painted right over the gouges with minimal preparation. Truth is, the house looked better before it was painted, as the new lighter color made the older chipped siding more conspicuous. This would be “Scadente”.

What is a quality paint job?

Prep wise: 

	A quality painter will work with client to get color sampling done before starting the paint process, to ensure the colors will be pleasing.
	Pressure washing the house to remove all loose material.
	Scrubbing areas that have mold and mildew with bleach to kill it off. (And adding a mildewcide to the paint as needed to keep it from returning)
	Scraping and sanding. Using a sander to sand and smooth edges on wood surfaces.
	Priming, filling with patch and priming again as needed
	Removing loose material on stucco surfaces and patching out stucco areas as needed with stucco patch, and filling hairline cracks with elastomeric material to keep them from returning
	Sanding and patching windows and trim, and reglazing windows as needed on older frames.
	Caulking liberally on all seams of the house.
	Sanding doorsills, and either paint or restain
	On an older house with shutters and wood garage doors ensuring the back sides of wooden shutters and garage doors are at least primed as this is a source of moisture entering, which causes the exposed surfaces to break down. All surfaces should be sealed.

Priming/Painting: 

	Using a proper primer for the surfaces as needed, (i.e., if the surface has oil paint use an oil primer).
	Painting 2 coats (not one) on all surfaces. (Why? The first coat usually soaks in; the second gives an even surface. Also, there is the factor of millage (thickness of material on a surface). If you were buying tires which tire would you expect to last longer -- a one ply or two ply tire?)
	Proper choice of paint.  It should be 100% acrylic. For the body of house, it should be flat or low sheen. For trim and heavy wear items, some degree of gloss for better protection.
	Painting trim items such as mailbox, lights, fences, and walkways to enhance the overall job

The above should give you an idea of what a quality paint job is and why you might want one. Based on this, you can check these things against both the expensive guy and the cheapo guy to see who does what and make your choice.

Very important, always check references, and wherever possible go look at some work, both recently done and a few years old. That will tell you what you can expect.

-- Kevin

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