Benjamin Moore | Sheila Zeller Interiors

May 2, 2012

Do you remember these antique windows I bought back in the summer?

Well, my brother was over the other day and he asked if they were blue or gray. I’ve always looked at them as gray, but decided to get out my Benjamin Moore colour decks and see what they had to say.

It was interesting because the leading is definitely a blue-gray, and in person is almost a perfect match to BM’s Eclipse 2132-40.

Eclipse 2132-40

The paint on the frames is also blue-gray, but depending on the light, dances between two different colours…

Pilgrim Haze 2132-50, the bluer undertone of the two, and a lighter shade of Eclipse.

Pilgrim Haze 2132-50

And Gull Wing Gray 2134-50, still a cool undertone, but with less blue in it.

Gull Wing Gray 2134-50

You can hardly see the difference between them here.

So this is another view of these BM colours next to the window. Keep in mind how the computer skews colour.

This is just to show you the slight difference between Gull Wing Gray (top) and Pilgrim Haze (bottom). And also so you can see how close Eclipse (middle) is to the colour of the leading.

This next close-up shot gives you a better look at how slight the difference is between Gull Wing Gray and Pilgrim Haze, yet what a difference there actually is next to the frame. Notice how Pilgrim Haze (bottom) almost blends with the frame, compared to the slight contrast of Gull Wing Gray (top) against the frame?

So in answer to my brother’s question, the frames are actually gray… a blue-gray, but still gray. Did the frames look blue or gray to you?

I thought this was a great example of what it’s like to work with colour. One person’s perception or interpretation may not be another’s. Just like one computer may show the same colour completely different from another. And, if I was actually going to paint something to match the window, my next step would be to paint up large colour boards in these colours so they show true. Remember, the paint chips are only a place to begin!

Do you like to work with colour, or would you rather have someone work with it for you?

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!

It’s about coming home… and home is a special place that tells your story!

If you would like a little help with your space contact me here.

Looking for a colour consultation click here.

Subscribe to SZInteriors by email or RSS feed

Follow my Boards on Pinterest

Like my Page on Facebook

Follow me on Twitter

Interested in a Sponsorship opportunity? Click here for details.

Photos: Sheila Zeller

Benjamin Moore & Our After Aura Glow!

November 9, 2011

Yesterday my blogging friend Carol from The Design Pages wrote a great article on her experience with Benjamin Moore’s Aura paint. You need to check it out here!

Carol mentioned her walls had already been primed so said she couldn’t speak to the self-priming feature of Aura.

And with that in mind I thought I’d give you a little inside glimpse of my experience with it.

A few years ago we used Aura in 2 different colours…

Killarney (CC-698)

Tapenade (CC-694)

Both in an eggshell finish, and both over some seriously intense colours (inherited with the rental home). We opted for Aura because of the self-priming feature, and because of the low odor, low VOCs, etc. Who really knew how many coats it was going to take, right?

Here is the the stairwell before painting.

This colour just wasn’t working for me, especially with the mustard trim as an added feature!

Here is the stairwell after painting, no priming.

Killarney on top, and Tapenade below. One coat. We had professional painters do this work, so who knows, if we were painting it might have taken us 2 coats!

Pretty incredible isn’t it? And it wore like a dream. The stairwell looked as good when we left, as it did when it was first painted, and we were there for 3 years. Oh, BTW, the artwork in the stairwell is another piece by Ursula Rettich from Sea to Canvas. It’s one of my favorites, but I think it really adds to the transformation of this stairwell too!

Here are a few more Aura covered spaces in this same house…

Stairwell landing – Before:

Stairwell landing – After:

Master Bedroom – Before:

Master Bedroom – After:

All with Aura, no primer, one coat, painted by professionals.

Here’s a look at another room we painted later with left-over Killarnery, and this time we did our own painting.

Before… note the wallpaper.

We had to strip all that off, and let me tell you, it was very seriously glued on! We used Zinsser’s wall paper remover, and it worked really well for us, but there were still some areas that needed scraping and extra elbow grease. Thankfully under the wallpaper the walls were white!

Here’s some mid-action proof that we didn’t prime before painting. The white wall is where the wallpaper was.

And even with us being novice painters, still just one coat.

Here’s the after.

Baseboards still needed to be put back on and we had to fix up along the ceiling line a bit. But you can see from these photos that our experience with Aura was awesome. And after 3 years, we were still extremely happy with it.

Don’t forget to read Carol’s post if you haven’t already. She says it’s her unsolicited 2 cents worth, but honestly, why wouldn’t you want to hear what a pro thinks? It could save you time and money in the long run!

Have you used Aura? Any painting tips to share?