We had the recent blessing of being able to build a home in a new subdivision in Central Florida. Since moving over the holiday season, its been a very busy and hectic time for us. Between work, school obligations, travel, care for my mother’s prolonged illness, out-of-town guests, etc., we had not been able to start the process of designing and creating the ‘look’ of our new home until now.
Throughout my life, my parents have always owned several properties so I was accustomed to shopping at home improvement stores for DIY projects. Even when professional help was selected there was always elements that were done by family members, especially my own mother (who has a fantastic eye for design and creativity). I can remember going to paint stores and looking at endless color palettes and patterns to see what would be the best color that would accent or make a wall “pop”.
Now, that we are painting our own home, we are so glad to have teamed with Sherwin-Williams, the nation’s largest specialty retailer of paint and painting supplies, to create the home improvement painting experience.
We decided our 1st project would be the 1st floor of the home since that is what is seen readily when you enter the home and contains many of the ‘family time’ rooms. (The upstairs with the bedrooms and another family room would be our 2nd project). We knew the importance of going to the paint store to pick up colors and get painting supplies but we also wanted to get some color ideas for the various rooms.
COLOR TOOLS
Sherwin-Williams offers easy-to-use and very helpful color tools, i.e. Color Visualizer, ColorSnap for iPhone, iPad, Android, and Paint Calculator (to determine how much actual paint you need for your project). With great simplicity, we took photos of our rooms with the iPad and ‘swiped’ or ‘clicked’ Sherwin-Williams colors directly onto the pictures of our walls and rooms. We spent lots of time playing and changing the color schemes for the rooms in the comfort of our own home or on-the-go.
Experimenting with colors for the home is easier than ever with Sherwin-Williams enhanced online Color Visualizer and ColorSnap Studio iPad app. New functionality such as drag-and-drop painting, improved edge detection and a wide array of tools lets you apply color or define surfaces as precisely as you want. Plus, true-to-life shades make color exploration and selection simpler. The powerful online Color Visualizer enables consumers to customize their own interior or exterior home images with more than 1,500 Sherwin-Williams colors. Users can upload a photo or use one of the sample scenes to explore different color options, no edge-masking required. They simply drag-and-drop a color into an image or select a brush to paint specific areas of the photo. Users also have more control over their color application, allowing them to make detailed changes to a scene, with improved image edge detection and updated brush tools. The new ColorSnap Studio iPad app offers all the ease-of-use of a tablet, as well as pinch, zoom and swipe features to interact with images of your own room, or one in the app. Get color inspiration from a photo or virtually paint your own walls with the swipe of a finger – all for free. Other new features include the ability to share palettes on Facebook or Twitter, clear all selected colors with just one touch and access the Sherwin-Williams product guide in the app.
STORE VISIT
Visiting our local Sherwin-Williams Store #2453 was very pleasant and helpful to us. The staff and managers were knowledgeable and able to assist in color choices and design tips. The store had an ample section of interior and exterior colors to choose from, an array of paint textures and types, extensive painting supplies and equipment. The store offered in-home decorating and paint consultations and customer (and store) recommendations on Sherwin-Williams affiliated professional painters.
We visited the Sherwin-Williams Store #2453 several times before making our final selections. During those trips we were helped by Assistant Store Manager, Alyssa Tubitio, who discussed with us at length various color combinations and shading. She offered her expert advice (and personal anecdotes) and was able to provide unique insight into in the best and affordable paint selections. Alyssa also gave us customer and personal recommendations for various painters that were affiliated with Sherwin-Williams. The store is in the middle of renovating to provide customers with even more flexibility and ease. If you are near the Central Florida area, I would recommend visiting the store at 365 Citrus Tower Blvd, Suite #116, Clermont, FL 34711, (352) 536-1855.
We selected Emerald Interior and Harmony paints for our painting project. Emerald is well-known for its excellent coverage and smooth appearance – something that was important to us because we are painting ‘high-traffic’ areas within the 1st floor. Also, Emerald contains a preservative that helps inhibits the growth of mold and mildew – which is a must living in Florida.
Harmony, helps to promote better indoor air quality by reducing airborne concentrations of formaldehyde and other aldehydes. The enhanced formula features formaldehyde reducing technology that helps reduce the levels of these volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from potential sources like insulation, carpet, cabinets, fabrics and other building materials.
May is National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month and these irritants in the air as well as other substances such as dust mites, pollen and mold can cause allergy symptoms as well as asthma episodes. In fact, according to the American Lung Association approximately 3 million Hispanics suffer from Asthma and Puerto Ricans are especially impacted by the disease; they are more likely to have a diagnosis of asthma than any other population group. Due to the eco-friendly benefits, we are using the Harmony paint in many of our heavily used family areas.
We choose Antique Red (SW 7587), Bee’s Wax (SW 7682), Zeus (SW 7744), and Barcelona Beige (SW 7530) to be our primary color scheme.
PAINTERS
Though we will be doing a DIY painting for our upstairs 2nd project, we felt it was important to have professional painters complete the downstairs. After recommendations from the Sherwin-Williams store and personal research, we selected Sarasky’s Painting because of their professionalism, experience, and affordability.
The Latino-owned company provides professional Interior and Exterior residential painting. They also specialize in insulating ceramic coating system; cabinets painting; wood, composite, or concrete deck staining; wood, composite, or metal fence staining/painting; pressure washing; 4 shades stucco “faux brick”. Their workmanship is backed by their Labor Warranties, starting from 3 to 7 years, according to the product that is chosen and they guarantee satisfaction.
The painting project commenced today will take 3 days to complete. To follow our painting process, use the hashtag #MOMPaintsSW on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms. (We will be posting ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures too).
As the nation’s largest specialty retailer of paint and painting supplies, Sherwin-Williams is dedicated to supporting both do-it-yourselfers and painting professionals with exceptional products, resources to make confident color selections and expert, personalized service that’s focused on unique project needs. Sherwin-Williams products can only be found at its more than 3,500 neighborhood stores across North America.
For more information, visit sherwin-williams.com or
join the conversation on Facebook at facebook.com/sherwinwilliamsforyourhome,
on Twitter at twitter.com/sherwinwilliams or on Pinterest at pinterest.com/SherwinWilliams.
Happy Painting!
Disclosure: Sherwin-Williams provided complimentary paint(s) for promotional purposes, however, thoughts and opinions expressed here are clearly our own.
Joscelyn, Owner of Mami of Multiples & Mami Innovative Media
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I despise painting but selecting the colors is always the fun part! I cannot wait to see what everything looks like. And I will definitely go check Sherwin Williams out when I have my next painting project!
I like the idea of being able to use the color tools. I was always end up buying more paint than what I really need. Emerald is what’s “in” Make sure you share pictures of the project with us. I’ll keep Sherwin Williams in mind next time we decide to do some painting.
That is so useful that they have color tools that work with smart phones! We are going to be painting the basement this dimmer so I will definitely be checking out Sherwin-Williams! Congrats on the new house.
Great post! Looking forward to seeing the final product.