Can You Handle the Colour? Warline Transforms a Customer’s Home using Benjamin Moore Colour Stories

As I mentioned in a previous post we just completed our first interior repaint using Colour Stories, Benjamin Moore’s new line of paint colours. We were trying this new colour palette at the same time we were testing driving our new Festool line of dust extraction equipment. We loved working dust free. Our homeowner loved coming home from her vacation to a newly painted home that didn’t need a day of cleaning.

She also loved her new colours.

Honestly, now that the job is done, I can breathe again.

This was daunting for me because not only was I using colours that I had never seen on walls before, I was using colours that perform very differently from regular paint colours. Benjamin Moore Colour Stories are full spectrum colours. That means they contain no black or grey in the colourant and are made from a minimum of five colourants.

Here is how we transformed this customer’s home using Colour Stories and what I learned about using full spectrum colours.

You Absolutely Must Sample These Colours First.

There is no way I could have put these colours on a wall without investing the time and effort to make big poster sized samples. You need to see how they look in a larger context. The larger samples (4X4) in the store are a good place to start, but you need to sample these colours because they are bigger and more intense than you think. ..

No Black or Grey Means More Colour

This was the biggest lesson for me in using these colours and I can give you a perfect example. Originally, I spec’d Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue (HC-143) for my client’s bedroom. We then sampled Antiqued Glass (CSP-695) and she immediately liked it more. My customer loves colour and was looking for intensity. It worked for her but I will say that I would spec Wythe Blue more often than Antiqued Glass. Why? Because the black colourant in Wythe Blue tones down the intensity. That makes it more useable for more applications.

But don’t get me wrong. For the customer that loves colour or a space that you want the wall colour to be front and centre, the intensity and depth of the Colour Stories palette are unmatched.

Don’t Pre-Judge Before it Dries

As the first paint was rolled onto walls I was holding my breath. There is so much colourant in this paint that as it dries the colour literally transforms before your eyes. What looked almost grey white as it rolled on in Cool Breeze (CSP-665) darkened to a soft windy blue colour on the walls. (You can tell there was a lot of thought put into naming these colours). The richness of the colour increased over the course of the week as the paint cured. Whatever the undertone of the colour is, it will come through, so know your undertones.

These Colours Change Like a Mood Ring

In the morning, the feature wall we painted in Mystic Lake (CSP-745) looked teal green with the East facing large windows casting light into the open living room. As the day progressed the wall seemed bluer. The evening that I was there late, getting the house back in order for our returning homeowners, I stood looking at the wall surprised at how dark and saturated the colour was.

One of the other very noticeable effects of full spectrum colours was they way they seemed to make space open up. Every room and hallway seemed larger and more open with these colours. Even the bathrooms felt bigger and more spacious.

My recommendation for anyone considering using Colour Stories is to paint walls using the Benjamin Moore Aura Waterborne Interior Paint in the Matte finish (product no. 522) whenever possible. The matte finish really improves the depth and richness of these colours compared to an Eggshell finish. All of the walls we painted in this house were using a Matte finish. The ceilings were painted in Benjamin Moore Waterborne Flat Ceiling Paint (product no. 508) and the trim was done in Benjamin Moore ADVANCE Waterborne Interior Alkyd in Semi Gloss (product no. 793). .. All of this is what makes Benjamin Moore Colour Stories so unique and beautiful. Luminescent and transforming colour.

Would I use these colours again? Absolutely.

My homeowner summed it up perfectly when she said to me,

“You know you have chosen the perfect colours when guests come into your home and they know something is different but can’t put their finger on what you have done.”

 

Want to see Colour Stories in your own home? Give me a call and we can set up an appointment to start the transformation.

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