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Thanks I didn’t know they were doing in-house. I have a free over the phone consultation with them. However I have read here that it’s not a good idea to get any design consultation from a store because they will only want to sell what they have. And that their advice is subpar to those of paid designers . So was a little skeptical about that.

They are not offering in house due to Covid. I had already booked the free virtual session and during that I asked the guy and he said no. He gave me two palette options so now I am going to the store to see in person and bring back samples at home. He recommended matte finish .

Paint is one of the only things that is hard to select without being in a particular space. I would look for a local designer.

I would call some paint stores and ask if there is anyone local they can recommend.

I did the SW phone consult (I had Amie), and the colors are fabulous, thus far .

Thank you. I am at the SW store and bought samples that he recommended to get an idea. Then I will look for an in-house color designer.

paint quality wise which is better? SW or BM?

and satin eggshell/ or matte or flat?

is there a preference for interior? i know that if its heavy traffic , satin is preferred. But is there a preference for looks?

Pre Covid I had a SW consultant come to my house and recommended a few colors. I ended up going with one of her recommendations and I‘m loving my space now!! Good luck!

Every one of those paint stores has good-better-best levels of paint. Many traditional designers probably like flat paint, but I like to buy one level of sheen above that, for living areas. And I use semi-gloss on trim/baseboards.

Check out https://mariakillam.com for e-consultation

So disappointed! bought 4 paint samples recommended by sherwin William consultant. And painted on the wall. One with brush , other with roller. And not looking appealing at all. Neither the color nor the texture is looking good. Now the Venetian plaster is gone , as it flattened out, but not nearly enough to make it smooth looking. So it’s now the worst.. if i have the whole room painted it will look like something in the middle , which looks like a paint job done really bad !

The color is also

not looking good in this room. The table is cream. the paint looks so white compared to the table . . I am now looking for An in-home color consultant . If not then I will just try back again on Monday for kylie m interior . (I tried marie killam too.. she is only online too)

the first from left is pure white ( equivalent of chantilly lace BM) and second is heron plume.

I have two more white samples which I bought which are pearly white and spare white , but I think really no use to try until I get help from a color consultant .

More pic in next...

I think i will have to go more cream otherwise it will stick out like sore thumb .

i think alabaster is more cream than these two, right?

My experience using an in house designer was pretty awful - she came in, told me the color I should use on my walls, I excitedly went out and bought a gallon - ready to paint and it looked awful. I called her back and she told me that the color was perfect - it was my tile floor that needed to be replaced.

I then contacted Maria Killam - She told me the only color I could use with my flooring and my counters was white. I had white walls for the past 10 years and really wanted a change.

Then I talked to an artist who taught me the concept of a whole home color palette and how to pick colors.

First things first - you need to prime the walls. You can't tell what the color is going to look like next to that deep gold. Use a 1/2" nap roller - it will help hide some of the texture issues and distribute the paint more evenly. Don't press hard while rolling - the idea is to roll an even coat of paint over the wall, not squeeze the last drop of paint from the roller.

Once you have white primed walls you will have a much better idea how much work it will take to get them smooth enough for the walls not to look damaged. Many homes have textured walls, it is not the end of the world. To get them smooth would require a skim coat of drywall mud and sanding,

Now - how to pick the right colors for your home.

Start with the colors that have to stay or you want to stay. (We can't all afford to replace cabinets, flooring, counters . . .)

Second step is to pick the colors you love. We all are drawn to certain colors - usually we love colors that look good on us because they make us feel good about ourselves.

Third - figure out which shades and tones of the colors you love work with the colors that must stay. These are the colors you will want in your art work and throw pillows, area carpets and linens and the colors you will use on walls in the bedrooms or bathrooms.

Now you figure out how you want to use the colors that you love.

I like to set up a table with a white sheet and set my colors that must stay in the same order as I will see them as I walk through the house and then add the colors I love into the rooms.

Try to envision how the colors will make you feel in each room and what type of energy you want to feel in each room. Do the colors flow from room to room?

Once I have a good feeling for the colors that I want to use through my home I can pick a neutral family that works with the colors I love and the colors that must stay..

I happen to love purples and teals. My sister loves olive green and deep orange reds and my sister in law loves cornflower blue and peach. Do you think we could all use the same neutral colors in our homes? Nope - I have taupe (purple undertoned gray/.beige), my sister has greige (green undertoned gray/beige) and my sister in law has cream.

After you pick the neutral family that works best you pick the white that works best with your neutral.

Whites are just very light neutrals. It is often easier to look at the more saturated neutrals to figure out the family you want and then look at the whites next to Chantilly lace to see if it is more yellow or pink or blue or green next to Chantilly lace.

The neutral families are

Pink beige

Orange beige

Yellow beige

Gold beige

Green beige

Greige - between green beige and green gray

Green Gray

Blue Gray

Violet Gray

Taupe - between Violet Gray and Pink Beige

What makes these colors neutral is that they are less pure - more gray than the full strength color. They all can range from very gray to somewhat colorful. (Saturation or Chroma)

They also range in lightness and hue. (Blue can be more purple or more green)

Knowing the family helps narrow your selection down - then you can play with the values.

At this point you need to stop for a moment and figure out if you have the appropriate lighting for the colors you love and the neutral family you have selected. Daylight bulbs, Bright White Bulbs or Soft white bulbs produce different colors of light. Daylight are generally 5000k, Bright White 3000 k and soft white 2700 k. Buy one of each and test them in a lamp and see what you like. For some people the daylight is too blue, too stark and for others Bright white can be too yellow. Soft white is even more yellow, but can give a home with a lot of greens and golds a very relaxing feel. Make sure you have the lighting you want in the room you are going to paint before you pick the paint color.

You can't see what the color will look like from a tiny sample. You need a sample large enough to really see - I like at least an 8 1/2 x 11 sample for colors - 18x24 for whites. Paint stores often have larger paper samples that you can take home to test. You want to make your final decisions from actual painted samples. I use 140 lb water color to paint my samples. https://www.amazon.com/Canson-Watercolor-Textured-Charcoal-Acrylic/dp/B0049UXGD0/ref=sr_1_20?crid=2YYLM9HDH3A5Y&dchild=1&keywords=watercolor%2Bpaper&qid=1610186491&sprefix=waterc%2Caps%2C214&sr=8-20&th=1

Only look at one sample against your primed wall at a time. Otherwise you are comparing the two colors and it will impact how you see the color.

Whatever color you think you like - go one step less saturated/ more neutral. When you paint 100 sf of a slightly yellow color you have that slight yellow x 100 and it suddenly is very obvious.

(Exception to this rule is dimly lit rooms. When a room does not have much light you need more color to see the color).

Kylie M has some great posts are choosing the appropriate LRV (light).

https://www.kylieminteriors.ca/paint-colours-and-lrv-the-ultimate-guide-to-choosing-the-right-colour/

No need for me to expand on what she has already written.

Take heart - this is only scary because you are unsure that you can do this, but you have been picking colors to wear together every day since you were 5. You pick blush and lipsticks that work with your skin tone and dresses that make you look like a 10. You can do this!

One last note - I know white on white is the current fad - but white doesn't work unless you have enough light that it has something to reflect. The pictures you see on the internet of these beautiful white rooms are often taken with professional studio lighting. You don't have studio lighting in your home.

Here are a couple of examples of whole home color palettes.

Notice how they mix the blues and red orange in the central space and use softer tones of these same colors in the other rooms. . ..

In this example they used one neutral white for all the walls, but tied the green from the living area and the purple from the bedroom together in the dining room - giving the space a feeling of harmony . . .

SW7035 Aesthetic White is a cream white, and is a softer tone. Maybe take a look at if you haven't already. I prefer Matte finish everywhere, and semi-gloss for all trim woodwork.

I think I won’t be able to visualize all the whites off a small patch on the wall. I m looking for a color consultant.

For this room, I am going to buy kylie m interiors color consultant package ( she advises starting with one room first)

I will be filling out a lengthy questionnaire, so want to make sure I ask all the right questions. But she will advise only on paint, through her written consulration . So I wanted to ask a few design questions. Really hoping to get advice here as I want to finish this room in 4 weeks and move forward.

here are the dimensions.

here is what I like:

I love this! But in my dining room will this look good ? aa there is a crown molding kind of feature on ceiling whigh is set low and has lights inside. I asked the paint guy to remove it but he said it’s tricky as behind it there will be no texture like the rest of the wall has.

I would love to have paneling done but also want it to look good.

would really appreciate advice. Thanks.

In your preferred picture (grey dining room), you'll note that the table color harmonizes with the floor, as do the greys. Your room's lighting (natural daylight and in room lighting) will influence the colors you select. Yes, you need a wall color to compliment your table.

My monitor is probably not accurate, as your chair colors do not appear to work well against your flooring. A talented plasterer could replicate any texture you desire. You may be setting a very abbreviated time span for this project, given the Covid situation. Those color chips will only help if you have 6 of each, to block together, then place against (a) table (b) flooring, etc. You need to decide if you want the space more akin to the grey dining space, or do you want more contrast (lighter walls/ceiling and much darker chairs). Going lighter on your chair coverings would make the room appear larger.

I agree that adding moulding would enhance your dining area.

I have used Jacob Owens and Laura Rugh - both did wonderful virtual work. Go for it

I would like it to either match with the table or have a contrast. Like a dark Color. Ideally a neutral would be better, unless a dark Color can be pulled together well. but not matching with floor.

@Jennifer Hogan somehow I cane across your answer just now. Thank you for the very detailed answer, and a lot of great advice. I put the sample of paint right on the wall without priming it , so it could be off. I will try to follow the process you outlined.

yes I think you are right about the white interiors online. Their lighting is superb, that’s why they look gorgeous. I can anyway not have white on white since my floor is beige/tan , so I was thinking of white to go with it, but at least from the rough sampling it doesn’t seem to go well. Maybe cream will. I do have to study a lot about colours , LDR value etc.

oh I love purple and teal too! Especially purple against white background..like lavender flowers in a vase against white.. and teal too.. lol .. my kitchen chairs are teal! I am so drawn to colours!

glad you shared your experience about Maria killam. I m thinking kylie m interiors but her packages are hard to get a hold of.

Jacobs owens. Look at his youtuve videos. Also Claire jeffords and Laura Rugh

Are they both color consultants for paint only? Or also colors for furniture etc?

Just watched jacobs Owen‘s video on YouTube on the color that sherwin William paint consultant told me to use. Heron plume. Seems clear that he is telling not to use it with beige floor as it is a v sharp contrast. Not happy with Sherwin Williams! Now even the texture is gone as he asked me to sample on the wall , so now even if I wanted to keep the texture I can’t because it’s somewhere stuck in the middle between a nice texture and a flat wall.

thank you for recommending! I ll watch some more of his videos.

I really like the gray greens and mid tone to deeper teals / teal grays

I really really like Jasper Stone and Moscow Midnight.

I pictured Sea Salt, but Comfort Gray is a shade darker and I think I would really like that one too, but it is after midnight and I have to be at work at 7

Thank you. That’s a lot of color choices. I am not going to be able to decide though even though I like some of these.

also the table looks more white in real than this cream, I again tried for kylie m , but oh my goodness her package sells out in 1 min, and I was trying before it even opened up, but couldn’t catch it!!

I told you earlier that I had a really bad experience with a color consultant and didn't have much luck with Maria Killam, but then found an artist who was amazing. She helped me figure out my issues and taught me how to create a whole home color palette.

She was not doing any consulting work for some time - I believe it had something to do with a non-compete agreement when Valspar/SW bought her business. (Devine Color). She is now doing consultations and launching a new paint line in Feb 2021!

Her name is Gretchen Schauffler and can be reached through her website gretchenschauffler.com.

I cannot think of anyone who has better vision and could do a better job of advising you on color.

Excerpt from her e-mail:

Here is my menu:

My consultations are all done through FaceTime or Zoom. For exteriors, I have you show me the home or building, along with street views, while we discuss all things considered.

For interiors I do the same, starting at the front door. Once we have a crystal clear picture of the best colors and color palette application, I then provide suggested paint colors.

By combining your personal color history and project into a well-blended palette my process will either confirm what you knew all along or send you off in a new amazing color direction you never thought of.

$250 for RESIDENTIAL INTERIORS up to 2500 SQFT. $500 up to 5000 SQFT for a full-color palette. Beyond that, price is quote-based.

$250-500 for SINGLE RESIDENTIAL EXTERIORS. includes Photoshop images of proposed ideas. Pricing depends on number of images.

MULTIPLE DWELLING EXTERIORS such as apartment, condos, and commercial buildings are quote-based.

I am also available at an hourly rate to assist on design and architectural projects.

I bill through VENMO to be paid prior to our appointment.

I just saw this message yesterday . otherwise I surely would have looked into it! Thank you for posting this information. I came back here to this post to tell that I got color consultation from Jacob Owens for dining room. ( could never get kylie m, they run out insanely even when I try To purchase the moment it opens!) He gave me 6 color options and his top was BM winds breath. I tried a sample and looks like it’s going well, but more than that I want to go with what he says as he is an expert.

I also purchased RH drapes , as suggested by their designer , they are good but not worth $880 per panel, so I ll return them. I got panels from Macy’s but they are a bit lighter .. shade of nickel. So still looking around.

How was your consult with Jacob? I’m needing to book one with someone.