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Written by Colleen Kalil

Hiring a Professional Painter vs. DYI

As a consummate DYI individual I always try to do everything myself. As with all things in life experience quickly taught me that hiring a professional painter not only saved me time and money but the headaches of frequent trips to the store for things I didn’t know I needed or had forgotten. Whether your home is one that you have lived in for a long time or one you just purchased, you need a knowledgeable professional to guide you through the journey. Don’t get me wrong, I still do small projects but never a whole house.

To decide if it is cost effective to do the project yourself, sit down and determine the supplies you will need. Do a walk through and ask yourself these questions – will you need extra tall ladders, how many drop cloths will you need, how many gallons of paint, how many rolls of tape are required, will you be cleaning the walls first and will you need a primer. If you are painting over a dark paint with a lighter color, will you have bleed through? Once you have the answers, start mapping out the time you will need to move furniture, tape off everything and prepare and patch any walls that need work. As you do this, remember a professional company will come in with a team and have a room done in a few hours as well as cleaning up the area. Plus, they will guarantee their work.

Let’s face it, professional painters have done this before and know the tricks of the trade and the correct techniques to get quality results. It is how they make their living. They will help you choose the right type of paint for the surface area. Always ask for verifiable references and verify that the company is licensed, bonded and insured. Determine if they have performed background checks on their workers. In the long run, hiring professionals will save you time and money.

Please feel free to contact us at University Painters for a free estimate.

Interior Exterior Painting
Written by Colleen Kalil

Color Choices & Your Mood

Interior Exterior PaintingYes, it’s true. Color has a psychological effect on your mood. There is an actual area of study that focuses solely on this and it’s called color psychology. Simply defined it is the study of hues ‘as a determinant of human behavior’. Color can have both positive and negative effects on individuals. Some will elicit happiness, others anger, and still others depression.

While there is no question that color can influence a person’s mood, there are a variety of factors that must be taken into consideration. For example, age, gender and culture all play a role in how a color is perceived by the individual. Some studies have shown that men find women more attractive when they are wearing the color red! Research also confirms that warm colors may invoke more of a tendency to make a spontaneous purchase! It is obvious that color psychology is complex, interesting and useful.

But what does this have to do with exterior, interior and commercial painting? Well, a lot actually. After all, when you undertake a painting project the aim is to improve the overall presentation of a room, home or business. It could generally be accepted that the outcome should be one that fosters happiness and pride. So, more than a little thought should go into the colors you choose for any paint job.

Remember that red and orange are stimulating. These are hues that must be used after much reflection and thought. Most often, they are not good color choices for the outside of a home or business, except perhaps as trim or accent. Even indoors, red and orange are powerful and should be used sparingly unless the aim of the room is to be stimulating.

Meanwhile, the color white invokes visions of cleanliness and purity. It is overwhelming the choice of color for many business and home exteriors. It gives a feeling of sterility (austerity even to some extent), so it is hardly a color to give to a room where people and family gather.

Ultimately, every color tends to evoke subtle emotions. Keep this in mind when you set out to improve your home’s appearance. Take some time and get comfortable with a color before you make it a permanent part of your residence or business.

If you have questions about residential or commercial painting, please call the experts at University Painters, Inc. for answers. Your home is our business.

Interior Painting, exterior painting,
Written by Colleen Kalil

Painting The Workplace With These Colors Can Make Employees More Productive

Interior Painting, exterior painting,Colors can affect job productivity. It’s time for an office makeover if your office walls are painted dull gray, the cold color commonly used in cubicles and concrete.

A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Texas found that gray, white and beige offices can induce feelings of sadness and depression in women. Men, on the other hand, experience gloomy feelings in orange and purple workplaces.

The study shows that colors can profoundly impact people’s productivity. This means that offices and workplaces need to be painted and decorated with vibrant and stimulating hues to boost output and spark creativity.

What Colors Can Help Improve Productivity In Your Office?

Low-wavelength colors, such as calming blue and restful green, improve efficiency and focus. They can also lend a sense of well-being. Paint your office with green and blue if you want happier and more effective workers.

For workplaces where people do creative thinking all day, color psychologists recommend painting the office with blue and spicing it up with a bit of orange to introduce some emotion into the room.

The color red, a high-wavelength color, is a passion-inspiring hue. This active and intense color, widely used during Valentine’s Day and on fire trucks, can increase heart rate and blood flow.  The red hue also stimulates physically. Use this color if you want your employees to be more productive in doing physical tasks.

Mellow yellow is often considered by color psychologists as the shade of optimism. This energetic and fresh color is believed to trigger innovation. It is best used in work environments where creative professionals, such as designers, artists and writers work.

Determining The Right Color To Paint Your Workplace

To determine the color that best suits your workplace, narrow down which main color or color combinations will work best in your situation. If you employ people who are hired to do manual labor, such as building houses, you would want something red rather than blue. If your company employs artists, you can have the workplace painted primarily in yellow to inspire creativity in your workers.

Hire a professional to do the painting job at your office. University Painters has years of experience painting offices, commercial buildings and houses. Contact us now to get a free estimate.

painters, painting interior, services
Written by Colleen Kalil

Avoid These Mistakes People Make When Choosing Paint Colors

It is crucial to make an educated choice when selecting paint colors for your home. You do not want to live in a home with colors that are either too boring or too overwhelming. Make sure to avoid the following mistakes people often make when choosing paint colors:

Failing To Take The Furniture And Decor Into Consideration

It isn’t a good idea to choose a paint color simply because it is your favorite hue. Consider all the elements in a room or your house when choosing a paint color. You do not want a paint color that clashes with your couch or favorite painting.

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Home Painter, Interior Painting
Written by Josh Jablon

How To Create A Color Scheme For Your Home

Choosing a color scheme for your home may seem a difficult task but this is doable when you know how to simplify things. Here are some tips that can help you pick the best paint colors for your house.

Find A Base Color

Start with just one room, which ideally serves as a focal point in your home or the first room that people see when they enter your house. Once you have chosen the room, consider the colors of the items there. Find one color that you love and use this as your base color.

Build Your Palette

You can start building your palette once you designate your base color. Using a color wheel and a paint deck, create three color schemes: complementary, monochrome and neutral. A complementary color scheme includes colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. A monochrome palette will have several colors that are similar to your base color. Use the paint deck to find the base then choose three colors around it to produce a balanced palette. A neutral scheme allows your base color to stand out as a dynamic focal point.

Consider How Colors Impact You

Colors have enormous effect on how people feel so make sure you consider how the colors you choose impact you. Ensure that the colors you choose for a particular room match the goals you want to accomplish there. The color blue, for instance, relaxes people so it is best used in bedrooms where you want to rest after a busy day.

Try The Colors Out

Before getting an entire room painted, test out the paint colors that you plan to use. You also need to be aware that the color or finish may look totally different on different sides of the room because of lighting. Experts advise painting two coats of large swatches in a light corner and in a dark corner then look at them at different times of the day.

A new color scheme can give your home a new look. To get the best results, consider hiring experienced painting service providers. They can provide you with expert advice on color schemes and guarantee a hassle-free and clean painting job. University Painters has years of experience painting houses, offices and condominiums.  Contact us to get a free estimate for a painting job you have in mind.

Home painter, interior painting
Written by Josh Jablon

How To Change The Size And Shape Of A Room Using Paint Colors

Paint colors can affect the way we see a particular space. Wall colors, for instance, can change how we perceive a room’s size and shape; how should you choose and use colors to achieve the effect you want for your home?

Lighter and cooler colors generally tend to recede so they appear farther away. Darker and warmer colors, on the other hand, advance so they appear to move towards us. This basic color concept can be used to paint rooms so they appear larger or smaller, change the room’s shape, and hide the ugly features of the home.

Make A Room Appear Larger Or Smaller

The eyes stop at lines where the color changes and this makes the edges and size of the room more apparent.  Lighter colors allow your eyes to travel continuously around the space so this gives the effect of a room appearing larger.

Using different colors make it easier to see boundaries and this can make small rooms appear smaller. You cannot easily see boundaries when the same color is used creating an illusion that the space continues.

Make The Room Feel More Spacious

If the room is very large, a ceiling with a darker color than the walls can make it appear lower and thus make the room feel cozier. If a space makes you claustrophobic, then paint the ceiling a lighter color to raise its apparent height and make the room feel more spacious.

Alter The Shape Of The Room

Painting the two short walls in a long room with a shade darker than the main wall color will make the room appear more of a square shape. For those with large, bare walls, you can break up the space with molding above and below. Paint the bottom with a darker color than the one above to ground the space.

Disguise Unattractive Items

If you have features in the room that you do not want to look at, have these “eyesores” painted in the same color as the walls. This would make them blend in and become less noticeable.

For rooms with lots of angles and architectural features that you want to downplay, try painting all the surfaces the same color.

University Painting can provide you with the house painting services you need to change the size, shape and appearance of your space. Contact us to set an appointment for a free estimate.

Home Painter, Interior Painting
Written by Josh Jablon

Colors To Use And Avoid In Your Home

can influence people. The right color in your room can help you sleep better at night. Some colors, on the other hand, may have an unwanted influence on the appetite of people in the dining room. Here are the things that you need to consider if you’re planning to give your home a new set of colors:

Bright Colors

Vibrant shades of green, yellow, blue and orange are happy colors that encourage communication and provide an expansive feeling. These colors are great for the dining area and the kitchen.

Dark Colors

Dark colors such as dark shades of green, purple, red and blue give a constricting and gloomy effect. Given the right accent elements and applied in the right place though, these colors convey feelings of comfort and security.

Warm Colors

Warm colors such as orange and yellow hues elevate the perceived temperature of a room, which makes them ideal for spaces that face north. These colors also inspire activity so avoid using them in rooms where you go to relax, such as the bedroom.

Cold Colors

Cold colors such as greens and icy blue offer a calming effect, so they are best for bedrooms. They can help you feel relaxed when you go to bed at night and wake up refreshed in the morning.

Particular Colors

Navy blue inhibits people’s willingness to communicate so it is not a good idea to use this color in the living and dining areas where people commonly socialize and talk. The color, however is appealing to potential home buyers so painting your house with this color prior to selling it can help increase the value of your property.

Red increases the energy level of a room but it can make people more hostile and irritable, which makes it a bad choice for a child’s room. You may instead use it as an accent instead of as a base room color.

Gray needs to be avoided in the kitchen and dining areas if you do not want to dampen people’s appetites.

If you think you have painted a room with the wrong color or you simply want to update the colors of your home, consider hiring a professional painting service contractor with years of experience in the industry. Your home deserve the best quality painting job. Feel free to contact us here at University Painters for an estimate.