{are silver and gray colors?}

Some time ago there was interesting banter on a Color Marketing Group site about whether silver was a color and opinions were flying around like bees on honey. I don’t think there was a clear winner as experts from all over chimed in with their views on the subject. There was the opinion that silver was a finish not a color and from left field was thrown the idea that silver was a neutral like gray and therefore not considered a color. So now we have two controversies, are silver and gray colors?

A neutral is defined as “being without color” and you would think that gray falls into the neutral category. However, most grays in the paint industry are made with lamp black, a very blue cast black. Since it is blue cast any amount of it will add blue to the formula or will make it a “cool” gray. Another source of black colorant is carbon black which is less blue than lamp black but used less frequently. I have found the most neutral grays are found at the junction of red violet and blue violet, being a neutral between a warm and cool color family. There can only be one gray family that is a true neutral as any addition of color changes that color into a definite hue even though it may be imperceptible to the human eye.

Silver, in my opinion, is a gray with a metallic finish. If there is such a thing as warm silver and cool silver, or even a green, blue or whatever silver then how can silver not be a color? Stainless steel can be anything from a cool hue to a warm hue depending on the manufacturer, but since they are all silver they are considered neutrals, which is why they fit so well into all environments.

{window treatment wednesday}

Solar shades are a great type off window treatment for preserving views, reducing solar heat gain, blocking incoming  UV rays which can fade furniture, carpet, and artwork. Contrary to popular belief, solar shades do not provide privacy; as much as you can see out during the day, you can see in at night.

If you’d like to see an example, Hirshfield’s Roseville location has a solar shade in their front window to block the afternoon sun on those hot summer days.

{friday finds: as seen at hirshfield’s}

Benjamin Moore Inner Glow on the walls and that amazing ikat fabric on the sofa is Thom Filicia for Kravet.

Eye spy, from the pages of the February and March issues of House Beautiful, lots of lovelies you’ll find at Hirshfield’s Design Studio and at our retail stores. Stop in and check us out. 

{all-american design}

Happy President’s Day! President’s Day, which is celebrated on the third Monday in February, is a day when Americans honor the legacies of the U.S. presidents. The holiday was established in 1800, when Congress declared February 22–George Washington’s birthday–a federal holiday.

So how does the team at Hirshfield’s pay tribute to all of our great Presidents? With some All-American inspired eye candy!

Since the paint and design experts at Hirshfield’s love color, let’s start with the basics of All-American design; red, white and blue!

Decor Pad

Coastal Living

House Beautiful

House Beautiful

House Beautiful

Want to make your home look like it came out of a page of the President’s Day issue of an interior design magazine? Check out some of Hirshfield’s best selling red, white and blue paint colors.

If you are considering re-painting or freshening up the look of your home with some paint, stop in to your local Hirshfield’s and let the paint experts there help you pick out the best paint for your home. Whether your home is located right here in the Twin Cities or at 1600 Penslyvania Avenue, the paint experts at Hirshfield’s are ready to help!

{friday finds: hirshfield’s color club}

• 

Since 2007 Hirshfield’s has offered their customers the luxury of storing and tracking their paint information. All YOU have to do is join Hirshfield’s Color Club.

What’s the Color Club all about?

Personal Archived Color History. We’ll keep track of all your paint color selections, including custom color formulations and stain color formulas. The product you used. The color. The sheen. Even the room. You never need to save another old paint can. You’ll always have a record at Hirshfield’s Decorating Centers. Tomorrow or ten years from now. Just visit any Hirshfield’s location. The color you used is right at our fingertips.

Color Club members receive:

• Monthly e-mail newsletters on decorating ideas, color trends, sales and more.
• Advance e-mail notices of sales and new products. Color Club “for members only” special offers change on a bi-weekly basis.
• Color Club members are first to receive invitations to in-store design events.
• Color Club rates on tuition at the Minneapolis Institute of Fine Finishes.

Answers to frequently asked questions:

• Color Club members do not have to carry a Color Club card, as we access information by a phone number or name.
• Hirshfield’s sends out 2-3 Color Club e-mails a month…really.
• Hirshfield’s does not share your personal information.
• Check your spam folder if you have a Color Club account and have not been receiving our e-mails.
• Contact Mrh@hirshfields.com or your local Hirshfields store if your e-mail address needs updating.
• If you sign up for the Color Club newsletter on our website, you will receive the e-mails, but you’ll still have to sign up in the store to take advantage of the special offers.

Not a Color Club member? JOIN TODAY at your neighborhood Hirshfield’s store. It’s FREE.

{tips for painting small spaces}

Painting a large room may be overwhelming and intimidating (until you read our blog post on tips for painting large spaces, that is), but painting a small room also presents challenges. Corners, crevices, angles, and of course the constant threat of brushing up against wet paint on your backside when you bend over to dip your paint brush! Well, if you’re looking for advice on painting small spaces, you’ve come to the right place, my friend. The paint experts at Hirshfield’s are here to help!

Mike Adochio, from Hirshfield’s in West St. Paul, is sharing some of his best tips for painting small spaces:

Best paintbrush for painting small spaces

Wooster Brush

When painting a small room you’ll want to make sure to invest in a good paint brush. Mike recommends the Wooster Brush Ultra/Pro Linbeck 2 inch angled paint brush. And be sure to clean it up with water – Mike recommends avoiding using soap as it can leave a film on the brush.

If you’re painting a bathroom and need to get behind fixed objects like a toilet, try using a “long john” roller. It has a long-handle with a slim roller to help you paint those hard-to-reach places.

Prepping your room for painting
Tape, tape, tape! Prep is key for painting in smaller areas. Do not cut corners with prep, clean all the walls, clear the space, lay down drop cloth and take all your edges. It takes more time up front, but will actually save you time in the long-run.

Best paint colors for small spaces

{get your pink on}

Cystallisation

 Happy Valentines Day!

What better day to showcase one of my favorite colors, “PINK.” Enjoy the eye candy and have a grand day.

{friday finds : wallpapering tips : how to hang wallpaper}

We promised you if you stayed tuned, we would follow-up our post on wallpaper tools and supplies with a post on how to hang wallpaper. And we like to stay true to our promises! So now that you have the right tools and supplies, let’s go over some best practices for hanging wallpaper:

Prepping your walls to hang wallpaper:

• Remove all outlet plates, vent covers and anything else that can be removed to make less taping work for you. Turn off the electrical current to the room and cover electrical outlets with masking tape.
• For painted walls: Wash walls with solution of trisodium phosphate, then rinse with clean water and allow to dry.
• For new sheetrock: Apply two coats of Hirshfield’s Wall Prep Universal Primer.
• For wallpapered walls: Remove, clean off old paste, rinse and dry.
• The wallpaper experts at Hirshfield’s recommend using Hirshfield’s Wall Prep on painted surfaces with flat paint, and Uniprep over surfaces with a sheen.
• Repair and patch holes and cracks.
• Check that all dye lot numbers are the same on each roll and inspect each roll of wallpaper for flaws.

Measuring and cutting wallpaper:

• Start in an inconspicuous corner (i.e behind a door), and plan to work hanging the wallpaper from right to left.
• Take the width of the paper minus 1/2″ and measure that distance out to the right from the corner. With a pencil, draw a straight vertical line using a plumb or a level. Determine the pattern desired at the ceiling line before cutting your first strip.

{painting or staining: best options for interior millwork}

You can paint the walls, hang the curtains, arrange the furniture, but a room just isn’t complete until you’ve addressed that one final touch, the component that will tie the whole look of the room (and house) together  – the millwork.

Millwork refers to your home’s interior doors, window casings, baseboards, mantels and crown molding. Choosing the right look for your home’s millwork is an important decision, as it not only impacts the look and feel of each individual room, but in many cases it impacts the look and feel of your entire home. And even though you only have two options when it comes to finishing millwork – paint or stain – there is a lot of careful consideration that should go into your final decision. So to get some professional insight on the matter, I spoke with Brandi Hagen, Principal Designer of Eminent Interior Design in Minneapolis.

In about 85% of remodeled or new construction homes Brandi visits, homeowners are opting for painted millwork.

“Most homeowners are going with some variation of white for their millwork to contrast with the dark floors and bold wall colors that are so popular right now. It’s all about contrast, so if you’re using dark, bold colors on your walls and floors you need that clean white line to offset it.”
– Brandi Hagen

House Beautiful

Some of Brandi’s favorite paint colors for millwork include Benjamin Moore’s Swiss Coffee (OC-45) for a nice, crisp white and Benjamin Moore Calming Cream (OC-105) for a warm creme color. Benjamin Moore’s Mayonnaise (OC-85) is another of Brandi’s favorites.

You can pick up color swatches of these Benjamin Moore paint colors at your local Hirshfield’s. Hirshfield’s offers “sample size” 16 ounce cans of most paints so you can test the color in your home under various lighting conditions before committing to a large paint purchase.

Although white is a popular color choice for millwork, Brandi says she also likes to use black. She says black isn’t something she usually recommends for an entire house, but for one room that is separated from the rest (such as a bedroom or office), black can really make a statement. Paint the walls a lighter color to pop against the black.

Photo courtesy of Brandi Hagen

Staining is another option for millwork. When looking for a stain color, Brandi recommends going either really light or really dark – medium tones are out. Just like with paint, it’s all about high contrast. So think about the colors you want to use in your house and then pick out your stain.

Examiner Home & Living

If you are staining your millwork, Hirshfield’s recommends trying the stain color on a scrap piece of the actual wood used for the project.  Bring along a piece when you’re shopping for stain colors and Hirshfield’s will be happy to provide a brush-out for you to take home.

But if you just can’t decide whether you want to go with paint or stain, there is no rule against mixing and matching!

“There’s no hard and fast rule when it comes to mixing paint and stain for millwork finishing. Just think about the flow and transition of your rooms. If you have an open-concept floor plan, it might be hard to make a sensible transition between the paint and the stain. But if you have a closed off room you can make it work.”
– Brandi Hagen

So whether you choose paint, stain or both, the most important thing is to pick a color that will work well with your entire home for many years to come.

“Painting and staining millwork is not an easy task. You don’t want to be refinishing all the millwork in your home every couple of years. Pick a color that you like, but that will also work well as your style changes throughout the years.”
- Brandi Hagen

{wallpapering tips: tools and supplies}

Ready to take the plunge and embrace the wallpaper trend? The wallpaper experts at Hirshfield’s are ready to help, seam roller and broad knife in hand!

Let’s back up for a second. For some of us, hanging wallpaper can’t begin until the old wallpaper has been taken down. For those of you who fall into this category, check out our  tips on how to remove wallpaper.

Ok, now that the wallpaper has been removed, let’s talk about the tools and supplies you’ll need to hang your fabulous new wallpaper.

• Sizing: Sizing will help to keep seams from opening up or shrinking. This product also aids in the future removal of wallcoverings. Hirshfield’s recommends Uniprep 100% Acrylic Universal Wallcovering Prepcoat for shiny surfaces and Wallprep Universal Primer over flat, unsealed surfaces.
• Border Adhesive: This product ensures proper adhesion of borders when installed over a coordinating wallcovering. This is not for use over painted surfaces because of the strong adhesion. Hirshfield’s paint experts recommend AllPro Border Adhesive.
• Prepasted Activator: This product is applies like a wallcovering adhesive and activates the dry adhesive on the back of prepasted wallcoverings. Prepasted Activator is a great alternative to water and a water tray as it provides extra track to prevent seam separation. Give Hirshfield’s Prepasted Activator a try.