who remembers paint charts?
Years ago you could walk into a hardware store and request a paint chart, a huge sheet of sturdy paper with dozens of small rectangular chips of colour arranged in groups according to shade. Greens, blues, reds and so on.
These days you walk into a hardware store about the size of Tasmania and are confronted by a half mile of rectangular strips of colours about three inches by two inches with three different shades of any particular colour on them. And they have such fancy names. (Well, they always did, how many names are there for antique white?)
There are also booklets of paint colours, but these now have only a few pages with nicely painted items or rooms and little circles of the colurs used with their names on them. "Spice of Life" (lime green), "Smiley White" (white), "Montage" (a yellow/orange/ochre shade which looks a lot like "Apricot fizz" from a different paint company.)
To find a colour you want or might want you have to find the rows (and rows and rows) of shades and tints in the colour you think you like, then take home one of each of those little cards with three shades on them and try to distinguish between miniscule differences in shades of greens and teals. After all that you might decide you prefer something in the red/pink range, so back you go and get another carload of little coloured cards.
I personally preferred those huge fold-out sheets with a hundred colours, at least it took up much less room once you got it folded again.
I wonder if this could explain why so many homes are now white, in any of its many different variations. Seafoam white, Milk white, Cream, Light cream, Antique white, Antique cream, Rich cream, Cloud white, the list is near endless.
It might even be easier to hand the kids a pack of textas and let them loose.
You also have to consider which direction the light comes from and whether the sun hits it in the morning or afternoon - or at all. This is what my daughter says, anyway - I'm more of an 'Ooh, I like that colour' person.
ReplyDeletejabblog; that's true about the lighting and the idea is to take home all the cards with your colour choices and put them on the wall so you can see what they look like at different times of the day, which is something that never used to be thought of.
DeleteI looked this up for me and others that might be curious.
ReplyDelete"In Australia, the term "marker" usually refers only to large-tip markers, and the terms "felt-tip" and "felt pen" usually refer only to fine-tip markers. Markers in Australia are often generically called "Texta", after a brand name of a type of permanent marker."
I had to add Texta to my spell checker.
Mike; I had forgotten that not all countries call them Textas. Thank you for researching.
DeleteI remember paint charts. And those fanciful names. Painting is a job I loathe and I don't intend on going down that path again anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteElephant's Child; I love painting and would probably be allowed to paint my flat if I asked, but the walls are bumpy and have large cracks that need fixing, also I would have to move a lot of furniture, so it isn't happening.
DeleteOthers might quibble over shades and tints, just paint it and be done with it is my way. Yes, the older paint charts were easier.
ReplyDeletemessymimi; but there are so very many shades of pale blue for instance, but since you can't please everyone I tend to agree with you and just paint and be done.
DeleteI enjoy wondering aimlessly along the paint cards/chips. It is better than at the plumbing parts.
ReplyDeleteSusan Kane; I enjoy that too, but when making choices, I end up taking home far too many of those colour cards and they seem to weigh a lot more by the time you get them home.
DeleteI like the walls of paint chips to take home and decide.
ReplyDeleteJoanne; me too, but I also liked those giant fold out charts, at least they gave a starting point and from that you could diverge into different shades.
DeleteYes, we just have the strips. Doesn't matter to Hick, who chooses the cheapest paint he can find for the flip house. He's going with white, so if he needs a contrasting color, almost anything will do. He sometimes finds paint on sale, from a color somebody had mixed, and didn't like or didn't need.
ReplyDeleteVal; for a house that he isn't going to live in, Hick's choices are fine, the new owners could always repaint.
DeleteThey don't have those charts any more?
ReplyDeletejoeh; nowhere that I can see. It's all modernised now.
DeleteWhat?! Oh gosh!!! We have green, orange and red. And white. White, a normal white. Those we chose in 2011.
ReplyDeleteNot that simple anymore? Maybe it´s "Seafoam white" - who comes up with that?
We do have problems in this world, I did not know naming colors is one of them! I never saw the movie/read the book "50 shades of grey" - maybe someone did not, either, and took the title too serious?
Iris; it's because there are so many variations of tone in each colour. There is pink for instance, but that breaks down to light pink, dark pink, dawn pink and so on. Same with green, blue, purple and even browns and yellows. Next time I go to that store I will try and take a photo of all the choices.
DeleteRiver, I know, but it starts getting a bit ridiculous. We had ... pfft... maybe3-4 variations of color "back then" and I think that´s enough (but what do I know).
DeleteKnow what you mean, much better the old way.
ReplyDeleteMargaret D; yes. You could decide on a colour and then choose from variations.
DeletePainting everything white is our easy soluton. Whenever something needs a repaint the only queston we have to answer is: Wood or not? and grab the relevant bucket of paint. Plus no colour does NOT fit a white wall, so posters, pantings and art objectc can be moved to wherever pleases you with nary a thought for colour clashes. I think we still can have a colour chart, not only those tri-colour sticks.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte; white does have its advantages, but I look at real estate sites every day (I like to dream) and I see far too many homes that are blindingly white in every room even the rugs and furnishings. Colourless and featureless and boring. Those houses never get a second look from me. I couldn't possibly live in one.
DeleteOur paint migth be all white, but furniture, curtains, pots and pans, rugs, floors ... every thing else is colur ;) I do not like those sterile-white houses either ;)
DeleteI used to love painting but the ladder thing now defeats me. And I loved choosing the colours, bringing the charts home and savouring what I would do. Going wild at times. Texta was a new word for me. Thanks! And the colour names are so fanciful.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Wisewebwoman; the ladder thing bothers me too now. I have a small stepladder with only two steps up and a while back I was on the big ladder up quite high and when backing down I counted the two steps I was used to and stepped for the floor which wasn't there, got the fright of my life as I went down and stumbled backwards into everything on the way. But I do still love painting and especially the choosing of colours, I look at the real estate sites and save a few pictures now and then and have fun deciding what colours I would put on the walls instead of the pale mint green, or the garish lime green or the blue that is barely there. It's fun!
DeleteI won't be picking up a paint brush any time soon. Maybe my water-colour and acrylic paint brushes, but none to do any household paintings. Those days are long gone. :)
ReplyDeleteLee; I still paint a gnome or two and have a stool that needs painting and my tabletop could use a colour fix up if only I could find a way to keep Lola off it, but thta's where she eats. I won't be painting any walls either, I'll hire professionals if I ever get the urge.
DeleteI find paint names so amusing. When I lived in New York I painted my kitchen "terrapin." (A shade of green.)
ReplyDelete(Not that "terrapin" is all that funny as paint names go, but it's the one that sticks in my mind -- along with "avocado heather light," the color of my childhood bedroom!)
DeleteSteve Reed; a terrapin kitchen! Sounds cute, but it really does depend on the shade when it comes to green for me. I remember avocado green kitchen appliances form the 70s and hope to never see those again.
DeleteAvocado green ... I remember too - and did not like, that and that hippie orange was a craze!
DeleteI have several sets of paint chips, all acquired a few at a time from stores. IIRC, I got them because I thought it would be easier to toss paint chips on the quilt fabric to find color combinations than find the fabrics in the stacks, toss them on the fabric, then have to put the rejected fabrics away again. It was shocking to go to the local WM after they rearranged most of the store a few months ago, and saw a fraction of paint chips on the display, nearly all whites or "almost" colors, even the colors were blah. Certainly nothing bold or bright. Bland, boring, and sort of depressing, they don't even have names to try for some personality.
ReplyDeleteRelated - I hope they gave the marketing person for Sherwin-Williams a good bonus - love their ads where everything is made of paint chip strips!
JustGail; welcome to drifting. I have done similar with paint chips and quilts or furniture, although there was that one time when I opened a new set of coloured pencils and took several of those to the paint section and asked to have them matched. I like bold colours but bright can depend on the colour.
DeleteI don't know about Sherwin-Williams, I'm in Australia.
I'm one who take chip home
ReplyDelete