Perfect Palette Update Summer 2006

New Self-Study Course Is Ready!

Summer is my absolute favorite time of the year.

The pace seems to slow and I'm living in the moment. My delight with nature intensifies and my love of color finds new expression. Instead of taking photographs this summer, I've opted to keep a summer watercolor field journal. It's wonderful working with color outdoors just for the fun of it.

In my line of work "fun" isn't usually how clients describe their experience choosing paint colors. I'd say that "angst" has often been the operative emotion.

Despite vast improvements in color merchandising and color selection technology, (i.e., larger paint chips, computer software for virtual painting) it's still the same story— stressing out about color choices. The final result, once the right color is up on the walls, can be very satisfying. It's the process of choosing that stumps most of us.

Why is it that so few paint stores have even a single paint color expert on staff who understands the fundamentals of choosing colors? Paint sales would undoubtedly soar if retailers made color choices easier on customers. There is virtually no training available to customers who need to choose paint color for their homes and very little color selection training available to retailers who sell paint.

NPR Identifies Need for Color Consulting & Education

On July 20, 2006, National Public Radio featured a story that described the fear and difficulty people experience when attempting to choose paint colors for their homes (yes, even NPR recognizes that this is a pervasive issue.) The story featured two paint color consultants who use only their own boutique paint brands to provide solutions. Links on the NPR website about this story provide information on color selection for Victorian and Bungalow style homes. "What about the rest of us who live in other style homes?" you ask (such as colonials, capes, ranches and contemporaries). And "what if we want to use a national paint brand, rather than a boutique paint?"

There is still a dearth of real information available on how to do-it-yourself when it comes to paint color and even less on how to become a color consultant. That is why I wrote my books on interior and exterior color (The Perfect Palette (Warner Books), Perfectly Painted House (Rockport Publishers), Perfect Palettes for Painting Rooms (Rockport Publishers) and Painting your House Inside and Out (Thunder Bay Press)) and then went on to develop this at home course on interiors.

Color Course Developed

Despite this lack of color selection training, interior designers, architects, paint stores, artists and even graphic designers are often asked to select paint colors for their clients' and customers' homes. There is finally a realization that paint color selection is difficult and should be left to the experts. The trouble is that there are too few experts. That, I hope, is going to change.

I was thrilled to be the Content Expert in the design of an advanced color course for a national paint store chain. It tells me that companies are becoming more invested in providing paint color expertise on-site.

Following that experience, I decided to develop a basic course of my own to help impart this kind of information to anyone interested in the topic. It has taken a year, but I'm finally done! It's called Creating Perfect Palettes™ and, to my knowledge, it is the only self-study course of its kind. It is geared toward individuals who want to develop expertise and confidence in selecting paint colors (using any and all
paint brands) for their home and for the homes of others. And, it's fun!

Inspirations

Advocates of color often exaggerate the physiological effects of color, whereas critics of color often underestimate the effects. Clearly the impact of color is an important issue, otherwise why would we all be having so much trouble? It is more than a simply aesthetic issue.

A color expert must assess client needs first, and not project his/her own preferences on the client. That is probably why my clients' feedback almost always includes the statement, "Bonnie provided exactly the colors I would have picked had I known how to do so." That is always my goal. You now have the opportunity to do the same for yourself, your clients or your customers, if you spend time developing some basic color skills. Creating Perfect Palettes self-study course will help you to accrue and assess your skills at color selection for the home. You can then experience the joy of working with color.

This summer, collect a mental library of colors from your vacation, garden, and road trips: the sky at dusk, a bunch of cornflowers, wet pebbles on the sand, berry pies. Some version of all of these can be translated into home-friendly colors for decorating and painting. So, let the season spark your imagination, energize you, and inspire you to pursue your painting projects!

Read more about my new self-study course, "Creating Perfect Palettes"!