Couple of interesting points here... 1) From ACE's technical-dept., and other others... * Many INTERIOR paints are actually A LITTLE TOUGHER than Exteriors!!! * Latex binder formulations are purposely designed to be a little more flexible for EXTERIOR use. In essence, the exterior binders need to have some "give" in order to survive the temp-extremes. * Interior-only paints are more "rigid". Obviously...usually less temp. variations inside! * The same colorants are used obviously. * Some Exterior lines do have added mildewcides; but once the film has "cured/hardened", no off-gassing occurs. 2) "My paint was applied by someone who's been painting for 25 yrs...." * Dear Lord...we hear this all the time... * After some inquiry to a "paint-problem", we usually find it's just plain ignorance of a Home-owner or Painter. Lack of prep, the wrong prep.....the list is endless. * We just had an incident where a "professional painter" did a large interior area. The customer came back to us and said the paint looked different at the edges.... * Turns out...the painter had done a 2nd cut-in...AND LEFT IT THAT WAY!!!! * "Well he's been painting for 20 yrs." was the initial response... (I think I need to start drinking....!!) 3) MANY companies' (including ACE) dark-tint bases are "Combo-bases". * Meaning...the SAME Cherry-Chocolate color you may use on your Accent-wall, goes into the EXACT SAME can that you'd buy to trim your Exterior. * These are labled as "Interior/Exterior" on ACE's cans. Faron

Right now there's not much color inside. Walls are a light greige, floors are mostly a rustic pine with a medium, slightly gray tone. There's a large espresso leather sectional and the wooden pieces are a light walnut sort of color. Soon I will be painting the kitchen cabinets a putty color, maybe a sort of gray-green, not sure. I have a few conifer botanical prints up over the sectional. There's no other artwork except for a wedding photograph, which is basically black and white. I will be putting up more b&w photos in the foyer. The red furniture will be the most colorful pieces in the home. And to me the red clashes with the exterior door color. Does it matter though? It kind of bothers me, but I don't know. I'm not even sure what color to change the front door to anyway. Here are some more shoots of the front door. As you can see it needs to be repainted, but we are probably going to replace it with a nicer door anyhow. Here's the living room, it's very neutral. The red cabinet is going where the yellow post-it's are. Hopefully we will be redoing the fireplace surround. Carpet is being replaced and the trim will all be replaced with larger, white-painted stuff. Prints over sofa Dining room The floor plan downstairs is very open. And as you can see everything is very neutral. But the red cabinet will be bold. I'd like the exterior color scheme to reflect the interior somewhat and since the eggplant clashes with the red I don't think it works.

Go find out what's the best paint/stain for redwood. I do know that redwood bleeds through regular opaque stains. Cabot opaque stains can be tinted to Ben Moore colors but if you want to leave it natural, you'll probably want a clear coat of some kind. Do not trust any information you get about these stains from Lowe's or Home Depot, even though they sell it, the person helping you isn't always familiar with the product. Find yourself a stand- alone paint store that sells decking and siding stain. PS. Thompson's Weather Shield isn't the right product for this.

I have a 3 bedroom, two bath, small house. I want natural colors. My exterior has shutters, trim and a black singled roof. I wanted a natural color, I like brown, what color should I paint the house, trim and shutters? The interior is an array and mess right now. I am sticking with whites for the linens in the bathroom and bedrooms. Also a white base for the curtains. The furniture will be a variation of natural wood coloration. What color should I paint the walls to match these framework?