When is the Best Time to Paint the Interior?

Interior painting is less dependent on weather than exterior painting, but there are still some guidelines for the best times to paint indoors:

• Very cold weather can cause condensation on windows and affect drying time. It can also be uncomfortable to open windows and get plenty of ventilation in very cold or very hot weather. Autumn is still an excellent time to paint indoors as well as out.
• Rainy weather will slow drying time for interior painting. You can still paint, but should take into account the extra time involved.
• If you're painting a room for a new baby, try to do so a couple of months before the baby arrives. Courtney & Wise always prefer to use non-toxic paints with low emissions, but there's no reason to take chances.

Painting the interior of your home is one of the best ways to freshen it and fall in love with it again. Why wait?

When is the Right Time to Paint? Think Economy

The economy is rebounding, say the experts, but a lot of us are still battening down the hatches.

If you've put off painting till the economy improves, here are some things to consider:

• Has it been more than five years since you've painted? If you wait too long, repairs and extra preparation costs can increase the total when you get around to painting.
• Are you thinking of selling up in the future? Keeping the exterior painted maintains the value and the look of your home.
• Are you ready for lower utilities costs? Painting your house white lowers your cooling bills, and radiant barrier paint can lower your heating bills as well. Some studies suggest that light exterior paint colours can even increase the amount of natural light entering your home, reducing the amount of artificial light required indoors. However, this depends a great deal on the architecture of your home. 

Let Courtney & Wise advise you on the costs and benefits of  painting your home or business this season.

When is the Best Time to Paint? Think Weather

Many of us have been meaning to get around to painting the house for ages, and it never seems to be exactly the right time.

So what is exactly the right time? Weather is the first consideration. 

• If it's colder than 10 degrees,  the paint will not adhere properly to the surface of your building, and will not dry evenly.
• If it's over 32 degrees, the paint will bake rather than drying evenly, and will neither look its best nor be as durable as it should be.
• Rain and very high humidity are not good for painting.

Autumn is therefore an excellent time to paint.  Call Courtney & Wise now to schedule your Sydney painting job this season.

Dulux Colour Forecast: De-Luxing

The last of the Dulux forecast palettes for this season is De-Luxing, a collection of mostly metallic paints. Metallic paint can create a sexy, modern look, or a look of maximum luxury. It can be a great starting point for complex looks created with glazes. Or it can be combined with neutrals -- like Toffee Tan or New Fawn in this collection -- for a subtle air of luxury.

Think of this range of paints for your office or showroom as well as for home use. Public spaces can look majestic and exciting with a gold and silver palette like this.

Dulux Colour Forecast: Stay-cation

Courtney & Wise have been painting and decorating the most elegant homes on the North Beaches for two generations, so these blues naturally appeal to us. 

This palette includes wonderful metallic silvers that give a rich yet subtle sheen to walls and woodwork, gentle blues just a step from neutral, and saturated shades that make a bold statement. Mix them up, or choose just one or two to refresh your home or office.

Dulux Colour Forecast: Ethical Conversion

Another of Dulux's colour forecasts for 2010-2011is this beautiful collection of green and neutral shades. This palette includes two suede paints, which can give a wonderful faux finish with a deeply textured look -- when the correct technique is used. These finishes are delicate, though, so they're not the best choice for high traffic areas.

This collection of colours can be used throughout a home or office, pairing different shades in different areas for a sophisticated, complex effect that won't be intrusive. Or a single shade, like Gentle Touch, can be used throughout as a simple neutral background with a bit more character than ordinary white or eggshell. 

Emerald City on its own will give a rich feel to a living room or dining room, and Reed Green would be a fun, jungly colour for a child's bedroom.

Dulux Colour Forecast: Inventive Exchange

Here's something completely different: an all-neutral palette using different shades and textures of grey.

Grey gives a chic, elegant, modern effect. It's soothing and professional for an office, gives a high-tech air to a kitchen, and makes a great background for bright colours in soft furnishings and decorations. 

Mixing a number of different shades of grey gives visual interest without fussiness. Choosing a very pale and a very dark shade gives the high contrast pop of black and white without any harshness.

Let Courtney and Wise show you just how this palette would look in your home or commercial building. 

Dulux Colour Forecast: Expressionism

Another of the Dulux colour forecasts for 2010-2011 is this group, called "Expressionism."

At first glance, this might seem like a difficult range of colours on which to base a home decorating plan. But imagine your kitchen with Crop Circle walls and Sand Diamond picking out the architectural details. Carry Sand Diamond over into the dining room, with the surprise of Nightshade for the wainscoting.

Now imagine a living room in Custard Puff with accents of Oboe d'Amore and a focus wall of  Enchantress.

A bedroom in Artiste and Beauty, with the bath in Oriental Blush and Benevolence, would be luxurious and lovely. Soft furnishings in white and grey would keep it from being too feminine -- or embrace the boudoir effect and go with lavender and orchid tones in the soft furnishings.

The house would end up elegant and exciting.

And yet, the same palette could create a completely different effect. A combination of all the yellow shades in the public rooms with bedrooms in Delicate Mauve and bright white would look fresh and fun. It's all in how you combine the shades.

Dulux Colour Forecast:: Essential Home

Dulux Paint's colour trends forecast for 2010-2011 has a number of different colour stories. As Dulux Accredited Painters, Courtney & Wise makes sure to keep up on these forecasts -- though of course we work directly with our customers to choose exactly the right palette for each job.

One of our favourites in the Dulux forecast is "Essential Home," a palette combining warm, spicy shades of yellow, orange and red with juicy purple hues. A soft grey completes the collection. Imagine your home with one or two -- or all -- of these colours!