- Hey guys, welcome back, and today is the one year
anniversary of my channel, so I'm teaching you today,
my foolproof paint system, so you'll never make another
mistake again with paint. Because, as professionals,
we can't make mistakes, they're expensive. So, you're gonna learn
the secret, right now. (upbeat music) I love paint, it's one of
the greatest tools you have to make the quickest change for the least amount of dollars. So buckle up, here we go. So, my foolproof paint system
has four elements to it. Number one, color and consequences. Number two, secrets to sheens. Number three, the marriage
of light and color. Number four, the test drive, which is my secret rule of three. Now, you get these four things right, and you will never make another
costly paint mistake again. And, you wanna stay to the end, because I've got tons of great
resources for all of my guys. First up is color and consequences, and that's understanding what it is you need your paint to do, and understanding the LRV of paint. So what is the LRV? I'm glad you asked. LRV is light reflectance value, and what that means is how much light does this color, of paint in
this particular case, give off. So it goes from zero to a hundred, so your bright whites, and
your really lighter tones, sit close to a hundred, and your blacks and
your rich deep charcoals and all of those things that absorb light, sit down close to zero. So we're playing on two
ends of the spectrum there, and everything in between. So understand what your
light reflectance value is, helps you understand what
paint you want to use in what type of space? Oh, oh, and to find the LRV, you can usually see it on your chips, or you can definitely see it on the deck. So is your space small, and
you want it to feel larger? Then you're gonna wanna unify it by painting everything the same. Now, oddly enough, you can do
this with very light tones, and you can do this with very dark tones, because they work the same way. One of them reflects light, and one of them completely absorbs light. But the trick is, to make this work, is you literally have to do every surface, you have to do your baseboards, you have to do your toe trim, you have to do all your
walls all the way up, you have to do your
molding, crown molding, anything like that, ceilings,
it's all got to work out. You even have to paint into the door jam where the stop comes, because if you see that little strip of some other color coming
off, it breaks up the visual, and that's what you're trying to avoid. You're trying to make the walls expand when you have a small space, so it's super-important
to pick either super-dark, like, I love this room, this
is a gorgeous dining room that's done in like,
this super-deep charcoal, and it just really is super yummy, and makes the space look just big. And then, you know, on the other end, you've
got another beautiful room that's not that sizable,
as such, but you know, they've done out the fireplace
in the white, the walls, the ceilings, everything
is all the same tone. And so what happens is
all those broken up edges, just, (exhales sharply) they just go away. Now, this next one, you
guys have asked a lot about, it's do you have an angled ceiling, or a big open plan floor
plan with lots of details and odd angles hitting walls? That can be a tough situation, but the solution is actually the same. If you look at examples
like these, you know, you can see that the level of contrast between the wall and
the ceiling is so strong that it just makes that detail, which is unattractive,
way more emphasized, whereas if you go to a room like this, where they've done the whole
thing out in the same tone, it just makes that ceiling look huge, and none of the angles feel awkward or uncomfortable to be near. So that's your solution
if you've definitely got that kind of issue
happening in your space. Third case that you see a
lot is applied moldings. That's crown, that's chair
rail, wainscotting, shiplap, those kinds of things. So often those can be an accent color, but there's a couple of tricks here. If you want a full wall, say like in this room of shiplap, and you wanna really make that pop, you can take that a strong accent color. If you've got wainscotting, and then half of your wall above that, you're gonna wanna keep the tonal value, or the light reflectance values similar between the
wainscotting and the wall above. Otherwise it's just a
super light and super dark, or reversed, which
doesn't do you any good. And/or your other option
is to paint it out all the same again, because you still get the shadow lines being created by all
of the molding details, which creates a textual
story inside the color, which makes it very elegant as well. So you've got a couple of choices there, just make sure that you
stick to one of those three, and you're good to go. And if you guys are liking these tips, please be sure and subscribe
and hit the bell (bell dings) so you get notified every
time I post a new video. Next up on my four point
system of painting is sheens. Now, there's five sheens
that you can work with, matte or flat, eggshell or pearl, satin, semi-gloss, and high-gloss, those are the five. Now, let's talk about where they go. Matte or flat typically
goes on walls and areas that are low-traffic, like
bedrooms, living rooms, formal areas where you
want the walls to look soft and velvety and elegant. Now this is the least
cleanable of the sheens, so you're gonna reserve
it for those spaces only. And if you have kids,
don't worry about it, just start with eggshell,
that'll be your first thing. Now, the second level up on
sheens is actually eggshell, or some people call it pearl, and it's more of a performance finish. So you can definitely
put that on bathrooms, walls, and ceilings, and kitchen walls, but you don't wanna do kitchen ceilings, kitchen ceilings, you wanna keep flat. But walls, if you cook a
lot and they gather oil, that's a good place for that. Third one is satin. Ooh, I love this finish. Now, satin is a great sheen, because it's a step up from eggshell, but it's not quite as
glamorous as a semi gloss, so it's got a real universal appeal. I use satin on modern
trim, millwork, cabinets, even front doors. Ooh, I've done some
beautiful satin front doors on contemporary residences. Ooh, they're gorgeous. So, the next stop on the
sheen level is semigloss. Now semigloss gets used a lot more for more transitional
and traditional places. You could definitely do that
with your applied moldings, with your doors, with your cabinet fronts, any of those, those are
beautiful, very cleanable, and still a good look. Now the last stop on the sheen is what I call high-gloss. Now you can't one other level, which there's one paint
company that does this, and we'll talk about that at the end, which I call, like, almost a varnish, but it's super high-gloss,
it's almost a mirror finish. And now, this is a gorgeous
finish, and it's very glamorous. There's a little extra light
reflectance value to it, so, you wanna use it in specialty spaces, like, oh my God, it's so
gorgeous for front doors, specialty millwork, that's fabulous. Barn doors are beautiful, I've done some with barn doors before. It's rather dressy,
and it's rather formal, very easy to clean,
but you wanna make sure that your substrate is super smooth, because it's gonna show
absolutely any bump or dip at all in there. And, you know, you may like that look, and it kind of gives it
an interesting texture, but for most of us, we're gonna wanna have it
look more like this bathroom, which just looks like
it has been absolutely done in automotive
paint, it's so beautiful. Now the third step to my system is understanding light and color, and how to get what you want. Now, color is solely a function of the light conditions that we see in it. So, here's an example of
three different colors, and right now, you're just looking at it in this studio lighting,
which is kind of cool, but I'm gonna show you what it looks like with 3,200 on it. Now, we're gonna take that, and cool light down all
the way from 3,200 Kelvin to 5,000 Kelvin, which I really don't want
anybody using in their houses, but it's great if you're
in a surgery room, but you can see the difference
it made in those colors. No paint has changed, it is literally just the light you're seeing these shades in. So it's super-important
that you understand the light that you'll be
installing in your home, and make sure that when you're
working with your colors, that you've got that light
to make the final call on it, so you'll end up loving your results. The next thing that you need to understand is you never pick from a deck. Decks are literally just suggestions. They're directions that you
wanna consider going in, okay? So, select some things, say, a
direction that you're liking, and then you're gonna
go to your paint store, and you're gonna request two or three of what are called brush
outs or draw downs. These are perfect examples. There's four here, and number one thing, if your paying store
won't do them, move on. You need to find someone who's gonna work with you on this. And number two, if they make
you pay for it, just pay it. It's cheap insurance. You need these tools to work with. So you're gonna get these, you know, 8.5 by 11 cards that have
paints brushed out on them, and then you're gonna
start working with them in the next steps. Now that you have your brush outs, you're always gonna work
with your body color first, that's your first choice. Now, you're gonna work
with your big finishes that are already existing. So what color is your floor? Whether it's carpet or wood
flooring, it doesn't matter, what color is that? Maybe you have a large fireplace stack that's going to be a certain color. These are big finishes that, ultimately, the body color has to respond to. So that's gonna give you
a direction to go in, but always choose your body color first. So now next is, you're always gonna make your final decisions about your colors in the space they're
actually going to be in. Now, if you're in a
situation, and this is common, where you're under construction,
or the power is off, and you don't have the ability
to light the selections up in a way that's going to
give you true light colors, then you're gonna wanna
get hold of one of these absolutely fantastic
nifty little light pads that I've used all the time. And, they're easy to
get, they're on Amazon, I'll show you the link down below, but I can't live without this thing. Lastly is test driving your colors, and that means that you're gonna use my secret rule of three. And that is, three colors,
three places, and three days. Now, dig out your brushes, because you're gonna paint your walls. So now you're gonna start by painting two foot squares on your walls. Now, three places there, at the floor, at the level and at the ceiling. And in some cases, if you're gonna take it onto your ceiling, you
wanna lap it over as well. And you're gonna do that in three different areas of the room. You probably want a corner, maybe a prominent wall
across from a window, and a third spot, maybe
it's one in shadow, like in a hallway or near a fireplace that gives you yet
another light condition. Now, it's super important that
you do these sequentially, and do not run them together. Look at this picture, how the heck are you gonna
be able to determine anything from this picture? You wanna label them, you can use either
pencil or painter's tape, so you know which square is
which color on every wall. The last step is to study
them for three days, in all light conditions. You've got early morning,
full daylight, twilight, and make notes, because they're
all gonna feel different at different times. You'll know at the end of this process which is the best color for you to use. Okay, so, now where do we
get all these great paints? Well, I'm gonna tell you. But I will say this, my
go-to is Benjamin Moore, and it's for two main reasons. One is that the quality
of the paint is excellent. It's good coverage, it
lays onto the walls well, and it has a richness and
depth when it's finished that is really handsome. Secondly, the pigments that
Benjamin Moore tends to use are super-stable, and that's really important, because if you go to the
expense of painting your house, and in three years,
your lovely pale yellow is now kind of an acid yellow from all of the sunlight and oxidation, you're gonna have to repaint, and that's gonna cost you again. So to me, it's cheaper to
spend a little bit more, if you can afford it, to get a better paint, and
do it once in a decade, as opposed to maybe twice or three times. Now, and if I'm leaving
out a favorite of yours, be sure and let me know
down in the comments below, but in U.S. and Canada,
obviously Benjamin Moore's great, Farrow and Ball is beautiful, Sherwin Williams has a
good broad range of paints, Valspar is usable, Dunn-Edwards,
Behr, PPG, and Cloverdale. So for you guys in the U.K.,
Scandinavia, and in Europe, Mylands for sure is great,
Little Greene paints, oh, they have some
beautiful historical colors which are amazing. Cromology, Brillux, and
for my folks down under, I've got Sydney Harbor Paint Company, BIO paints, Aalto Colour, which are also big in New Zealand as well. Now tell me down below if you
like this deep dive series, cause I've also got one
on rugs, and lighting, and I'll see you guys next week.
