Painting in Summer

Spring and fall may be the ideal times to paint, but summer painting is certainly possible. Here are some particular things to keep in mind when painting in Sydney in the summertime:

• Paint that dries too fast won't cure properly, and won't be as durable as it should be. Make sure not to paint in the direct sun. This is obviously an issue with exterior walls, but it can affect indoor walls near windows, too. This is a matter of understanding how the sunlight will move around the house, and planning work accordingly.
• Painters want to begin early to avoid extreme heat. However, you can't begin while the dew is still on the ground. Surfaces must be dry for successful painting. 
• Schedule your painting around the Christmas holiday. If you want fresh paint for visitors this Christmas, book your painter now.

In Sydney, call Courtney & Wise at 9958 1099. In other areas of Australia, check with the Master Painters Association to find highly qualified painters for your job.

Wet Paint

We laughed at this song about paint from American kids' show Sesame Street, but in real life you don't want to see such a mess. Sydney painters Courtney & Wise can save you from this fate if you're in Sydney, Mosman, Cremorne, or anywhere on the Northern Beaches. The only way you'll know we've been is by the beautiful new colour on your walls.

Immerse Paint Palette from Dulux

2012 will be a great year for blue! Living on the beach, we always enjoy blue, but the new Immerse palette from the Dulux 2012 colour forecast has some delicious shades we haven't seen for a while.

The very deep True Blue will be dramatic in kitchens and dining rooms, and it makes a beautiful trim for rooms done primarily in fresh whites like Lexicon Half or White on White.

Quantum Blue and Hindsight are quiet, subtle shades that create a peaceful feeling in living room or bedroom. High Blue is perfect for a pretty bedroom. It reminds us of faience and lapis from ancient art. Blue Regent or Wing Commander will be perfect for a masculine bedroom or bathroom.

But the full appeal of Immerse comes from layering the different shades of blue in a room or in a series of rooms, playing deeper shades off a softer ones, drawing your guests on to the next room with a glimpse of a different shade, immersing yourself, if you will, in blue.

We like blue with orange, too, especially the deep red orange tones of the Dulux Time-Honoured palette. Below you can see a collection of blue and orange home decor looks from around the web.

Reset Your Home with Paint

 

If you ever feel that life could use a reset button, you should consider Reset, a neutral palette from the Dulux 2012 colour forecast.  With both warm and cool neutrals, dark and light, in several different textures, Reset gives you a new feel in traditional settings. 

The office certainly comes to mind. Antique White U.S.A. or Whisper White can glide onto your walls without drawing any attention, or you can choose a cooler look with Lexicon Quarter and Moon Marvel. Any colour from this palette will give you a professional, upscale look. Push the envelope with suede and metallic finishes, or keep things simple with black and white.

The simplicity of Reset makes it an excellent foil for the bright colours of a garden or the neon shades designers are turning to in home fashions, while the sophistication of the silver and pewter tones add interest to monochromatic colour schemes indoors. Painting your interiors with Reset lets you cool things down -- or make a simple background so you can rev them up. 

Courtney & Wise always enjoy painting with neutrals. Look at some of our effects with white and grey:

As you can see, there's nothing dull about these looks.

What Our Customers Say

We at Courtney & Wise are proud of the work we do, but we'd rather you heard about us from our satisfied customers. Here's what Jenny Holtz wrote at TrueLocal:

There are painters and there is Courtney & Wise. From the three quotes received theirs was the most expensive, but also the most comprehensive with all bases covered. They even identified issues that we were unaware of. Total professionals from the initial visit right through to the painting itself. Money very well spent.

Thank you, Jenny!
Here's another review, this one from rayv.com.au:

Simply amazing for the quality! Michael and his team are very professional.

Give us a call and find out for yourself why we've been the favourite painter since 1954.

Carnivale Paint Palette

Carnivale, from the 2012 Dulux colour forecast, is a frankly pretty palette. Shades like Tip Toes and Watermelon Pink are so obviously perfect for a little girl's room or a feminine powder room that you may not think of this palette for other rooms.

That would be a mistake.

We can see less obvious combinations of these shades, such as the metallic Astro Age and Peplum, in trendy offices and elegant master suites. Ripe Rhubarb is a classic shade for a living room or dining room, and Scarlet Ribbons will make your entryway dramatic -- or mix it Velvet Rose and Baby Tone for something much edgier.

Distributed throughout a flat, this palette will look feminine but thoroughly modern, even if each individual room has just one or two shades. The room you're standing in may seem downright traditional, but the glimpse you catch of the next room in another shade will make it clear that the owner of the home is more complex than any one room suggests.

Nurture Palette from Dulux

One of the new Dulux palettes for 2012 is Nurture, a small but perfect collection of greens ranging from a deep, textured eucalyptus green through sharp yellow greens and a nearly tan shade to the palest hint of green in Handmade Linen Quarter.

We're an outdoorsy people and we like to bring natural beauty inside. Nurture is designed to do just that. Use the palest shades for neutral backgrounds in living room and hallways. They're softer than flat white would be, so they'll look good with natural woods and other natural materials like linen, sisal, leather, and stone.

Wiggle is a vibrant shade of green that will wake up your kitchen or WC. It can be paired with Enigma for a subtle tone-on-tone effect, or with Ecru Quarter for a fresh and stylish look in a bedroom. These bright shades will look a treat with the big pop patterns we're seeing so much of in home decor textiles right now.

Olive Reserve is a more reserved shade, which may not be what Dulux had in mind when they came up with the name, but it can certainly work in traditional dining rooms with wallpapers and chair rails of Handmade Linen. Combined with Wax Way's nearly neutral gold, Olive Reserve will make a masculine effect for a den, living room, or for a boy's or man's bedroom.

Zoe's Garden is a suede finish, so it will go with the highly textured styles predicted for the new year. We see it with Wax Way for living rooms and offices. In fact, Wax Way and Ecru Quarter are neutral enough for a traditional office building, while still having a bit of dash.

Timehonored Palette from Dulux

In the new year, deep oranges and red oranges are showing up in fashion, furnishings, and even in cars. Dulux sees these colours as nostalgic, homey shades, but they can also be sophisticated and even sexy. This palette is called Time-honoured.

The deepest shades, Red Stop and Carmen Miranda, will give a traditional look to a dining room or a lush feel to a bedroom. They could be married with bright white shades from other palettes to bring freshness, or paired with Copper suede finish from this palette for an overall warmth.

The Copper suede with Spiced Incense will give a nearly neutral look with a great dealt of depth from teh textured finishes. We like this for living rooms, offices, or dens.

Orangeade is a happy colour for a kitchen or playroom. Use it on all the walls for a deep background to wood furnishings or combine it with a lighthearted wallpaper. We're seeing this colour in appliances in the new ranges for next year, but we also like it with black or chrome for a sophisticated look.

All these shades will look great with traditional plaids, with retro florals, and with neutrals. We also like this colour family in complementary schemes with deep blues.

Raw Paint

Raw, one of the new Dulux 2012 Colour Forecast palettes, is a collection of neutrals, but it's not your usual neutral. As the name suggests, it's an edgier group of neutrals.

We can see European Stone in a kitchen or bath with Peplum Quarter, looking very chic and surprising yet natural. River rocks, rattan furniture, and natural cotton and linen fabrics would suit it perfectly.

Or imagine Moroccan Claypot, a design limewash, and Namadji in your living room with heavily textured woolen knits and raw silk, unfinished wood, and natural marble or stone. The highly polished, brittle minimalist look gives way to a newly inviting natural effect with colours like these.

Raw has lots of texture options, too. Teahouse is a deep charcoal grey with a smooth finish that can bring serenity to a bedroom, perhaps with architectural details picked out in Grand Piano. But the Tuxedo suede finish can give an ensuite dressing room or walk in closet a softer feel.

We can see this palette in the office, too, with soft shades like Silkwort in workspaces and the more exciting Rust and European stone enlivening shared creative spaces and conference rooms.

We like the natural feel of this palette, but also its sophistication.

Dulux Colour Forecast 2012

We love the colour forecasts every year. Dulux is first up this year with six new palettes that reflect the new products, new looks, and new mood of Australia.

 We'll be looking in more detail in the next week, but here's an overview.

We start with Immerse, an all blue palette with blue-white shades. Dulux points out that we now have many more shades of white to choose from than in the past.

Next up is Reset, an all-neutral range with more whites, silver greys, and textured greys and biscuits. This palette is different from last year's neutral collections in having more cool shades.

Carnivale has the pinks and purples we've been loving, but instead of the warm, spicy, startling pinks, these are soft, natural berry tones. This is one of the prettiest palettes we've seen in years.

We're an outdoor-loving people, and we'll always want greens. We're seeing the sharp, acid spring greens we've been enjoying this year, but there are deeper tones and green-whites to choose from in the new Nurture palette, as well.

Paradoxically, Dulux's Time-honoured palette has some of the newest looks, with deep burnt orange shades we haven't seen in a while.

Raw, another neutral palette, celebrates one of the biggest trends of the new year, natural materials. Stone and wood looks will give any room a pick me up.

Come back and see how we suggest using these new palettes!

Relocation Beige

In the states, they call it "relocation beige": the colour you paint your place when you want to sell it.

Here, we usually go with "biscuit." Or Australia's favourite colour of Dulux paint: Hog Bristle, shown above. It's the same colour.You might go a bit paler, to Dulux Antique White U.S.A., but somewhere in the biscuit range you'll find that inoffensive colour.

Why are we always advised to go with such neutral colours? Surely we should choose something eye catching and trendy that will make our home stand out?

Ken Jansen, a real estate agent, explains it: "People don't want to think about your things in the house. They want to imagine their own. Making your place less personal helps prospective buyers see their own things in the room. If they can visualize themselves living there, they're more likely to buy."

Fresh paint makes your house look clean and new, too, so it's a good idea to repaint even if you've got biscuit paint on the walls already. 

With the Australian housing market continuing to be tough,you need every bit of advantage you can get. Fortunately, repainting your home is one renovation that you can expect to earn back in the sale price of your home. If you live in Sydney, Mosman, or anywhere in the Northern Beaches, call Courtney & Wise at 9958 1099 to schedule a new paint job before your first showing.

Antimicrobial Paint

Anti-microbial paint is one of the most exciting new types of surface coatings. For hospitals, schools, restaurants, and food manufacturing companies, a paint that kills or neutralizes bacteria can make an enormous difference.

Certainly, the additional protection from germs is impressive. It may be just as important, though, that this protection comes without the cost of bringing toxic chemicals into the space.

Some antimicrobial paints work with nanotechnology, using tiny amounts of silver, a natural antimicrobial element, in the paint. Other coatings are designed to invade the membranes of viruses, killing them with no dangerous chemicals at all.

With antimicrobial paint, a facility can avoid using chemicals like chlorine that cause environmental damage in the course of their production, or antibacterial chemicals that can actually reduce the effectiveness of the immune system.The problem of having germs become resistant to chemicals designed to attack them is also avoided. And of course a solution that doesn't depend on people's taking medications or even changing their behavior circumvents many of the problems of controlling contagious diseases.

The simplicity and elegance of the solution makes it ideal. It may be some time before most public buildings begin to use anti-microbial paint, but once the technology is in place, it's only a matter of time.

Painting a Hotel

Painting the exterior of a hotel offers challenges in the area of safety and and logistics, but the interior painting can also require some problem solving.

The painting must be done with a minimum of disruption to the schedule of the hotel. A very low emissions and low odor paint is of course a must, but it may also be wise to bring in a larger crew or use a longer day schedule to limit the amount of time a room is unavailable to guests.

Taking a wing out of service while the painting is done may be an option, but common areas may need to be painted at unusual times to avoid losing revenue while the painting is completed.

Areas of the hotel where food is served or prepared have special requirements as well. In general, the surfaces must be painted with light coloured gloss paint. Washability is also essential in commercial kitchens.

Putting the work off is no solution, since the cleanliness of a hotel is a primary concern for guests. Dingy walls and woodwork give the impression of a grubby place, even when they're clean.

The best solution is to meet with your professional painter and work out a schedule for completing all the interior painting. Bring information about the scheduled events in the various rooms of the hotel, and schedule in advance of the busiest times so your painters have more flexibility in scheduling.