The Power of Paint

By Diana Mosher, Editorial Director

Apartment communities looking to reinforce an eco-friendly culture with a green accent wall in the lobby, mailroom or model apartment can do so while staying current with design trends. In fact, Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2013 is Emerald Green. Other shades of green have proven popular as well, especially those found in nature such as apple, asparagus, celery, fern, honeydew, lime, mint, olive, and willow. “Wherever you buy your paint, you’ll likely find some tints and shades of green named after such familiar flora,” says Debbie Zimmer, paint and color expert for the Paint Quality Institute. “It’s fitting that green is one of the top paint colors used to refresh and renew the interiors of homes and buildings,” adds Zimmer. “Green has always been symbolic of new life—now it’s giving new life to tired interiors.”

Don’t forget the greens that gravitate toward blue which is the other popular paint color this year. As Zimmer points out, when you select a hybrid color such as teal, turquoise, aquamarine or cyan you’re incorporating both of the hottest color trends. Also popular right now are “true blues” inspired by the day or midnight sky as well as slate, navy and robin’s egg. Or, Zimmer suggests combining true greens and true blues on walls and trim, painting an accent wall in a slightly different color from the others, and even incorporating patterns into the paint color scheme used on the walls. Another idea is painting one or more items of furniture in a contrasting or complementary green or blue. Visit the Paint Quality Institute for more design ideas and to download a free color app.

Benjamin Moore: The Williamsburg Collection
Benjamin Moore has joined with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s WILLIAMSBURG brand to launch The WILLIAMSBURG® Color Collection by Benjamin Moore.
The new 144-color palette (right) reflects the actual colors that existed in the 18th and 19th centuries. Colonial Williamsburg’s team of historians and conservators examined
period documents, paint samples, wallpaper and architectural fragments to discover fresh and unexpected color findings. The Benjamin Moore team then carefully studied pigment compositions to match these colors ensuring
the highest degree of authenticity to the original hues (www.benjaminmoore.com).

Dunn-Edwards: Spartazero
This new line of interior, low odor, zero VOC paint
by Dunn-Edwards is available in flat, velvet, eggshell and semi-gloss finishes. Spartazero interior paints are formulated using the latest Zero VOC resin technology to provide a tougher, better hiding and easier-to-apply finish. All finishes are self-priming on
new drywall. Spartazero Interior Low
Odor, Zero VOC Paint is ethylene glycol (EG)-free and produced in the world’s only LEED® Gold-certified paint manufacturing plant. All Dunn-Edwards latex paint
is tinted with zero VOC colorants
(www.dunnedwards.com).

Behr: Marquee
Behr’s Marquee Exterior Paint and Primer boasts UV protection for longer-lasting color and the ability to resist rain as early as 60 minutes after application. The 100 percent acrylic formula uses specialized polymers to provide a durable, non-stick surface that helps prevent dirt adhesion and weatherization. The Marquee line will maintain its finish despite intense rain, snow, wind and UV exposures. And it’s available in 64 new colors as well as
more than 2,000 existing Behr colors and 364 Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint hues
(www.behr.com).

PPG: The Voice of Color
Offering the first room visualizer via tablet device, PPG’s The Voice of Color® Paint Your Own Room Visualizer lets property managers use their tablet’s browser and camera in concert to take a photo and virtually paint a room. With just a few clicks, users can mix and match walls, ceilings, trim and more to find the perfect colors. Data and painted room images are now saved on the Cloud, ensuring access to stored information from desktop, mobile visualizer and PPG mobile app. Painted rooms can also be shared to social media pages directly from the Visualizer (www.voiceofcolor.com).