Choosing a Paint Sheen For Your Project
01/05/2009 12:37 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
So for starters, know that Devine paint will stick to the wall, stay on the wall, and protect the wall. That is a given. All of our paint finishes are washable, some are more scrubbable than others, and all have great touch-up ability! To help you understand the purpose of paint sheens, and help you decide on which Devine Color paint sheen is the best for your paint project, let me indulge you first with a little background.
Paint products are made with male “determination”— define the problem and fix the problem. I call this the “practical” aspect of making paint and for a long time it was as easy as Flat, Satin, and Semi-Gloss. Paint companies produce paint products with durability in mind. They create products for the way we live—high moisture areas, high traffic areas, low traffic areas and so on. What makes paint durable is the coating. The harder the coating, the more durable the paint. Their job is to make paint to stick to a wall, stay on a wall, and protect the wall. To me that was only half of the equation.
There was another problem to solve. Paint comes in colors. Not just a few, but several hundred colors. When we buy paint, we buy a color—whether we want it or not. Compounded with the fact that we all have strong opinions about color, I call this the “impractical” aspect of making paint. While problems on the practical side of making paint were being solved, the profound beautiful color quality found in nature, fine fabrics, and art was missing from wall color. I asked myself why not make wall color more beautiful through good-looking paint? “Female determination” got involved when Devine Color came along in 2001. When choosing one of our paint finishes for your paint project, line up your style, fabrics, and prized possessions with one of our good-looking sheens—as you would fabrics. No one wants to be wearing a cotton dress to a formal event or a satin pant-suit to the grocery store.
Because I believe that painted walls are the largest DECOR SURFACE in your home and therefore wall color has the largest impact on the overall feel and look of your home, our Paint Finishes are developed to have a “Design Purpose” and a “Practical Use”. So for starters, know that Devine paint will stick to the wall, stay on the wall, and protect the wall. That is a given. All of our paint finishes are washable, some are more scrubbable than others, and all have great touch-up ability!
Devine Powder Wall Finish™: Our version of MATTE
Design Purpose:
The Powder Wall Sheen makes color look ‘powdery’ and soft like Suede. Goes great with vintage, old-world, and traditional styles. It expands on soft, rustic, pastoral, rural, and nostalgic textures. It’s matte suede-like feel to the touch makes it irresistible and it makes the color look so dense, you wont know where the wall surface begins and ends. Perfect for conversation areas, sleeping quarters, and small powder rooms (no pun intended).
Practical Use:
It absorbs light and therefore hides wall imperfections. Color looks deeper as a result of light absorption. Washes easily with warm water and dish soap.VOC: less than 50gm per liter. Sheen: From 0 (dead flat) to 100 (full Shine) standing straight in front of the wall color, Devine Powder’s reflective quality will be a 2, to a 6 at a 60 º angle…
Devine Delicate Wall Finish™: Our #1 version of EGGSHELL
Design Purpose:
Delicate Wall sheen goes with every design style, from sharp leather to well-worn velvets. The translucent finish gives paint color the light ethereal feel of Chiffon. Delicate gently plays with light across painted walls—giving them an inner glow that impersonates luxury silk. Appealing to all dreamy bedrooms, charming great rooms, as well as the hustle and bustle of galley or state of the art kitchens, this finish can even take on the vigorous activity of mud rooms, hallways, and full bathrooms. This sheen is smooth and easy on the eyes.
Practical Use:
It disperses light evenly across walls making color feel lighter. Enhances light in any room. Great as an undercoat for glazing and faux-finishes. Washability: Warm water and dish soap. VOCs: Less than 50gm per liter.
Sheen: From 0 (dead flat) to 100 (full Shine) standing straight in front of the wall color, Devine Powder’s reflective quality will be a 5, to an 18 at a 60 º angle…
devinegreen: Breathable Wall Finish™: Our #2 version
of EGGSHELL
Design Purpose:
Breathable Wall sheen duplicates the flexibility and possibilities of Delicate Wall in a “99.9% VOC FREE finish to meet the needs of ‘Green-Sustainable’ design. The number generally accepted for a low-VOC paint is less than 50 grams per liter; a zero-VOC paint has fewer than 5 grams per liter. (All Devine Color products are less than 50 and devinegreen is only 1.4. grams per liter) Breathable mirrors the great design qualities of Delicate. It is a smidge more matte than Delicate, and therefore less lustrous.
Practical Use:
We consider Breathable the “non-fat yogurt” in our line. It also disperses light evenly across walls making color feel lighter and enhances light in any room. Great as an undercoat for glazing and faux-finishes. Washability: Warm water and dish soap. VOCs: Less than 1.4 gm per liter.
Sheen: From 0 (dead flat) to 100 (full Shine) standing straight in front of the wall color, Devine Powder’s reflective quality will be a 5, to an 12 at a 60 º angle…
Devine Luscious Wall Finish™: Our version of SATIN
Design Purpose:
Luscious Wall sheen makes color look ‘slick’ and shiny like a satin stripe. Perfect for Art Deco, glamorous contemporary, and crystalline spaces. High shine makes for high drama.
Practical Use:
It highly reflects light. Great for working spaces such as craft rooms, and laundry rooms. Good moisture barrier for bathrooms with high moisture.Wonderful undercoat for metallic paint glazes. Washability: warm water and dish soap
VOCs: less than 50gm per liter. Sheen: From 0 (dead flat) to 100 (full Shine) standing straight in front of the wall color, Devine Powder’s reflective quality will be a 30, to a 35 at a 60 º angle…
The wonderful thing about our paint is that it can make the largest impact in your home with little financial investment. Read what customers have to say about our products Customer Reviews…. These personal endorsements speak loud and clear about Devine Color and the kind of paint quality it delivers for every occasion.
How to remove stains from walls
01/04/2009 01:13 AM by Gretchen Schauffler
Our paint has an amazing rich quality and our beautiful color is irresistible—even to the touch. We have amazing personal endorsements from customers whose testimonials speak volumes about the durability, longevity, and beauty of our paint. Read All About It…
Being able to keep your walls fresh looking and clean is a given. All of our paint finishes are washable. As with any stain the trick to removal lies in response time. The sooner you act the better your chances of completely removing a stain from your wall. Mild liquid dishwashing soaps also go a long way in helping to lift stains from any interior wall paint. Stains that have dried out need to be soaked for a few minutes to bring them back to their original wet state before they will completely be release from the paint film.
It is always harder to remove stains from walls painted with flat or matte paint finishes. Flat interior wall paints have large coarse pigments to give the color its “flat appearance”. Stains attach themselves more to these coarser textures.
The majority of the stain will lift from paints that contain these type of coarse pigments but a certain amount can remain in the deeper pores. Extra scrubbing will remove the remainder of the stain, but it will also burnish or polish the pigments making the area scrubbed appear shiny. This shiny spot is often as unsightly as the original stain. Also the darker the paint color, the longer the colorants take to dry and form a tight or hard film—so extra precaution is needed when scrubbing a stain out from a recently painted wall.
Devine Powder; our version of a matte sheen, is a Low VOC paint coating that has been formulated to maintain a durable film, as well as give our colors a unique ‘Powder” look while reducing the chance for stains to attach. If they do attach, no worries! Devine Powder has great touch-up ability. Once you have washed the area and removed most of the stain, you should be able to touch up any polished area with a thin coat applied by a brush & slightly “feathered” around that area.
Devine Powder Wall Finish™: Our version of MATTE
Powder makes color look ‘powdery’ and soft like Suede.
Design Purpose: The Powder wall sheen goes great with vintage, old-world, and traditional styles.
Practical Purpose: It absorbs light and therefore hides wall imperfections. Color looks deeper as a result.
Washability: Washes easily with warm water and dish soap.
VOC: less than 50gm per liter.
Sheen: 2-6 at a 60 º angle.
Cleaning Painting Tools
10/23/2008 02:53 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
BE KIND TO THE ENVIRONMENT:
Keep Paint out of Our Water: In order to preserve the environment, always rinse painting tools in the sink so the water can be treated after it runs down the drain. Never dump paint or chemical-laden water in the yard because it can mix with groundwater and end up in rivers and streams.
Let newspaper tainted with wet paint dry before you throw it in the trash. If you have extra paint, save it for touch ups or let it dry. Unwanted paint can be recycled as a hazardous material at your local recycling depot. Never dump straight paint down the sink or into the sewer.
Be Green: Try our devinegreen 99.9 percent VOC-free paint and be kind to the environment. The number generally accepted for a low-VOC paint is less than 50 grams per liter; a zero-VOC paint has fewer than 5 grams per liter. All Devine Color products are low-VOC with less than 50 grams per liter and our new devinegreen is zero-VOC, with only 1.4. grams per liter.
Reuse: Purchasing good quality products will make them easier to clean and they will last longer than inferior ones. This is especially true in the case of roller covers. Cheap covers are nearly impossible to clean and you will end up having to throw them away if paint stays in the roller and dries. So spend money on something you can reuse.
PAUSING YOUR PAINT JOB:
If you are done painting for the day but will be continuing with the same colors later in the afternoon or tomorrow, don’t clean tools. Instead wrap rollers and brushes in plastic, keeping as much air out as you can, and store someplace cool.
FINISHED PAINTING:
When you’re done with the paint job and ready to clean brushes and rollers for longtime storage, first get as much paint out of your utensils as you can. Drag brushes across the lip of the paint can to remove paint, then run the brush back and forth across newspaper to remove any more paint. After that, stop up the sink and fill with enough warm water to cover the brush. Soak for about 15 minutes. Then massage the paint out of the brush using a comb or fork if necessary. Make sure to get the paint out of the well at the top of the bristles. When the brush looks completely clean, give it a good final rinse with warm water, smooth out the bristles and lay or hang out to dry.
With rollers, use a putty knife to scrape any paint you can out of the roller and back into the paint can. Then run the roller across newspaper until you can’t get any more paint out. Follow by filling the sink with enough water to submerge the roller and soak for 15 minutes. After that, roll it back and forth in the sink while submerged in water, until it is nearly clean. Finally, give the roller a generous final rinse until the roller is completely clean. Lay out to dry. Re-fluff a dry roller by rolling it on a rough surface like tree bark before you use it again.
Quality Paint Results in a Quality Painting Job
10/13/2008 10:34 AM by Gretchen Schauffler
In reality, when buying a paint color, we are not color consumers as much as we are “paint consumers”. So when it comes to being “expert” paint consumers, most of us do not know what’s in paint—let alone what makes paint really good or really bad. Do you know what’s in paint? Here is a simple way to look at the basic chemistry inside a paint can. There’s water, glue, and powder. The water is the medium, the glue binds everything together along with colorants—and voila’—you get icing (paint) for your cake (walls). When the water evaporates, it’s the glue, powder and colorant quality left on your wall that determines longevity, color consistency, light reflection, and the livability of your wall color. To sum it up, great icing makes a great cake, just like quality paint gives you quality painting.
Professional painters across the country who have not painted with Devine Color may have reservations about using and unfamiliar paint product that could slow down their job. Paint costs for professional painters are 15% of the total job cost. Labor is how they maximize their time and make their living. The faster the painter is in and out of a painting project—with the least amount of touch-up and clean up, the more money they make.
Reasons you “pay a little more” for Devine?:
Less coats
Less dripping
Less VOCs
Less smell
Less time
Less repainting
Less “Lucy, you’ve got some explaining to do.”
You pay a little more for a lot less of what can go wrong and that’s money you can take to the bank!
Our product quality and performance information about each paint finish is available through “SPECS” in our paint section. Please share these with your professional painter. These specs give you a great deal of information about volume, solids, and dry times (way more technical than my water, glue, and powder analogy). Even more important, you can read customer testimonials that speak louder than anything our company could say about our paint Our 118 year old manufacturer stands behind our product 100%. Professional painters and customers can contact kevino@millerpaint.com regarding any paint performance questions.
Our paint goes on in one coat in MOST cases. This is case by case because variables include surface conditions, preparation, painting skills, and previous color. Even if it covers in one coat, a light second coat gives the color a rich evenness your rolling may have missed the first time. With our quality paint you get the quality paint job you want with the color you fell in love with. This makes you a smart paint consumer. We now offer free shipping on our tax free paint so you may want to be eco-lovin’ and have our paint delivered via product car-pool, which saves you gas and the hassle of traffic! If there is not a dealer near you, you and your painter can plan ahead of time, kick back, and wait for Devine Color to arrive.
READ: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT OUR SHEENSComment [1]
What You Need to Know About Our Sheens
10/09/2008 05:43 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
Our Paint Finishes have a “Design” purpose and/or a “Practical” purpose for every color/paint need you will ever have. We believe that painted walls are the largest DECOR SURFACE in your home and therefore painted walls can have the largest impact on the overall feel and look of your home. The wonderful thing about our paint is that it can make the largest impact in your home with a high quality color and little financial investment. Read what customers have to say about our products Customer Reviews…. Their personal endorsements speak loud and clear about the success Devine Color delivers with quality color and paint.
All finishes are below 50 VOC grams per liter, and our devinegreen™ finish is 99% VOC FREE. The number generally accepted for a low-VOC paint is less than 50 grams per liter; a zero-VOC paint has fewer than 5 grams per liter. (All Devine Color products are less than 50 and devinegreen is only 1.4. grams per liter)
Devine Powder Wall Finish™: Our version of MATTE
Powder makes color look ‘powdery’ and soft like Suede.
Design Purpose: The Powder wall sheen goes great with vintage, old-world, and traditional styles.
Practical Use: It absorbs light and therefore hides wall imperfections. Color looks deeper as a result.
Washability: Washes easily with warm water and dish soap.
VOC: less than 50gm per liter.
Sheen: 2-6 at a 60 º angle.
Devine Delicate Wall Finish™: Our #1 version of EGGSHELL
Delicate makes color look ‘dewy’ and glow like Chiffon.
Design Purpose: Delicate wall sheen goes with overall design styles, from leather to velvet.
Practical Use: It disperses light across the wall making the color look slightly lighter. Great as an undercoat for glazing
and faux-finishes.
Washability: Warm water and dish soap.
VOCs: Less than 50gm per liter.
Sheen: 5-18 at a 60 º angle
devinegreen: Breathable Wall Finish™: Our #2 version
of EGGSHELL
Breathable makes color look ‘smooth’ like Polished Cotton.
Design Purpose: Wall sheen for overall design styles,
from leather to velvet.
Practical Use: It disperses light across the wall making the color look slightly lighter. Great as an undercoat for glazing
and faux-finishes.
Washability: Warm water and dish soap.
VOC’s: 1.4 gm per liter
Sheen: 5-12 at a 60 º angle
Devine Luscious Wall Finish™: Our version of SATIN
Luscious makes color look ‘slick and shiny like Satin
Design Purpose: Wall sheen for high drama, striping, or as an undercoat for metallic paint glazes.
Practical Use: It highly reflects light. Great for working spaces such as craft rooms, and laundry rooms. Good moisture barrier for bathrooms with high moisture.
Washability: warm water and dish soap
VOCs: less than 50gm per liter
Sheen: 30-35 at a 60 º angle
COMING SOON
Devine Smooth Gloss™
Devine outDoor Color™
How to paint a popcorn ceiling
10/03/2008 09:24 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
Popcorn ceilings are often 8 ft because that was a standard 1970’s wall height. If you have the right tools and your popcorn ceiling is in good condition, painting will go quick. You need a 4-8 foot expandable pole, a 1 to 1.5 inch knap roller cover, and a flat brush. When painting a popcorn ceiling you will have a lot more splatter plus some debris from the popcorn. Tarp the area you are painting underneath well. Roll straight and use a brush to edge.
Use light pressure on the roller, as if you were icing a cake. You want the frosting to be in between. Keep a wet paint seal between the roller and the popcorn. If you push or roll to hard the popcorn texture will come off the ceiling and fall down onto you and the floor. Begin rolling close to a corner and paint in sections. Work across the room and try not to roll back and forth. Over applying or over working the paint can lift a lot of the texture off the surface. Roll as close to the edges as possible. Cut-in with a brush by using a light dabbing motion.
I recommend using our Foundation Primer tinted in the color of choice as the first coat if the ceiling has never been painted, followed by a second coat of our Devine Canopy Ceiling Finish.
If the ceiling was previously painted, use Canopy only.
Devine Canopy: our version of FLAT, Canopy is recommended only for ceilings to hide imperfections by absorbing light with its almost dead-flat sheen.
Washability: Dusting only
VOCs: less than 50gm per liter
Sheen: 2.5-3 at a 60° angle
Rolling Interior Paint on Walls
09/28/2008 09:49 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
Rolling interior paint on a wall is easy once you get into a rhythm. The most important thing about applying paint with a roller is to spread the paint evenly. Our paint goes on in one coat in most cases. A slightly rolled second coat ensures that the paint got applied evenly as the color deepens along with the depth of the product on the wall. You don’t want thick and thin spots on your wall. Keep light pressure on your roller and blend your strokes while they are wet. When you start rolling your walls, you can do it a couple of different ways. First brush your room’s corners, where one wall meets another. After that, use your edger or brush where walls meet the ceiling. This is like putting your lip-liner on before you fill in your lips!
OPTION A-Fill in the wall by using the roller to divide the wall into large squares, then one at a time fill in the squares with a starburst shape. Lightly re-roll the square vertically to smooth out any thick areas left by the roller. Move on to rolling the next square shape and filling in.
OPTION B-Roll long vertical strokes overlapping each other every 3 inches. Every 4 feet go back and lightly re-roll vertically to smooth out any thick areas left by the roller.
OPTION C-Do long overlapping angled strokes, as if you were building a thatch roof, and lightly re-roll vertically to smooth out any thick areas left by the roller.
If you are painting the ceiling, Fill in first. Use an extension pole. Make sure you cover the area underneath with a painting tarp. Wear a hat. Make sure the ceiling has been previously painted or properly primed—otherwise the paint can suck right into the ceiling possibly having to do more coats. Our paint will go on in one coat in most cases. As if it was icing going on a cake—try not to touch the surface, create instead a paint pocket between the ceiling and the roller like you would between a knife and the cake. It will be a lot easier on your shoulders!
Allow 2 hours before recoating in dry conditions, 4 to 6 with humidity.
READ: TIPS ON HOW TO STORE PAINT
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Tips on how to Store Paint
09/24/2008 10:02 AM by Gretchen Schauffler
You’ll want to keep your paint around for touchups, so follow these tips on how to store your paint:
HOW TO SEAL A PAINT CAN
The lid has to fit back on tightly on the can.
1-Make sure the rim of the can is clean.
2-Make sure the lid and rim of the can did not get distorted when you used a paint can opener or screw driver (a big NO-NO)
3-If you can’t do either, buy an extra generic can at the paint store and pour your leftovers in there to store the paint.
TIP: Wrap a paper towel around a screwdriver to clean inside the rim groove.
TIP: Make an extra seal by covering the opening of the can with plastic wrap then sealing the lid on top.
TIP: Store the can upside down, any leak will show right away and it helps from air getting in.
TIP: If there is less than half the paint left in the can, store it in a separate container.
HOW TO TELL IF PAINT GOES BAD?:
1-If it stinks
2-Rust, mildew or mold is on the can
3-Has a thick layer on top.
WHAT MAKES PAINT GO BAD?:
Bad re-seal of the can
Contaminants such as dust, bacteria and mold
Extreme temperature
How to Sample Paint Colors
09/23/2008 12:12 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
Here are some do’s and dont’s that will help you know how to sample paint colors to make your color choices easy.
HOW TO SAMPLE A PAINT COLOR ON A PREVIOUSLY
PAINTED WALL
Don’t sample a new paint color on a wall that is already painted with another color! You will not see the true value, hue, and intensity of the color you are trying to test. It is hard to imagine a color going over another color because your eyes see both colors at the same time.
Do brush a “white border” around each paint color to have a separation between the colors.
WHERE TO SAMPLE A PAINT COLOR ON THE WALL
Don’t scatter the color swatches all over the room. Your eye can only focus on so many walls.
Do pick a spot on a single area were you can view all the paint swatches together along with your furniture and fabrics. When you narrow your selection to one color, then paint a single swatch of that color on different walls to confirm your decision.
HOW TO VIEW PAINT COLORS WITH YOUR FURNITURE AND ACCESSORIES
Don’t try just sample one paint color—sample several colors to begin with. This helps you distinguish between colors you think you want and colors that may actually work better than the one you were thinking of.
Do try our Devine Color Paint Palettes. This is how to use our Finger-Daubed Paint pages to sample the perfect colors for this room.
Green seemed like the only solution for this room but there are more choices to consider! The cute floral with the leopard print makes this room have a wonderful vintage feel.
CHOOSE YOUR PERSONAL STYLE WITH YOUR WALL COLOR.
Here are the Devine Color paint choices for this room that would give this room personality and individuality depending on personal taste! Colors that pull the look of vintage for this room are: Devine Moss, Devine Oat, Devine Glass, Devine Berries and Beans, Devine Mist and devinegreen: Peacock!
Which one would you choose?
TEST THE COLORS WITH OUR COLOR TOOLS.
Use the Mini-Paint Pouch™, which contains just enough paint to double coat an 18” square foot wall section to observe the color day or night in you room.
You can move our 8×10 Sprayed-on Paint Pages™ to different walls, in different rooms, on top of you fabrics and furniture, or take them with you when shopping for furnishings and accessories.
CHOOSE A PAINT FINISH.
IN this case I would recommend our eco-friendly’ Powder Wall Finish (our version of matte finish). It makes the color look soft and powdery. It is perfect with old-world vintage looks.
I can’t wait for the after pictures to see which way this room will go!
Devine Berries & Beans
Devine Glass
Devine Moss
Devine Oat
Devine Saffron
Devine Green Tea
Read more on How to Test a Color
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Paint Sheens: How light changes wall color
09/02/2008 05:05 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
Color is light and light is color. So when light changes, color changes. South side walls means an extra dose of light and therefore room for more variations, and north side walls means little light so less room for variations—but shadows to deal with. Devine Colors change with light “along with” all the other colors in a room, like your sofa color, rug colors, and so on. The whole room should look different throughout the day, as a color grouping. We created our tint strengths to make this happen and keep the walls from changing on their own. Each color was made to be a perfect MIX & MATCH wardrobe for wood, art, and fabric. They have a natural flexibility—the same depth as natural surfaces, like wood or stone or woven fabrics. Reflection plays a key role in the color and light relationship. The sheen or finish of a color interprets light into a version of the color.
Think of paint color as fabric.
The same blue in a cotton shirt or a silk shirt will look different. Select a certain Devine paint finish in order to give our color and your wall a specific look.
Read About Energy-Efficient Lights
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