COLOR CORRECT

The look of your home’s exterior can make a strong first impression, enhance curb appeal and help boost resale value, but choosing the right color can be tricky. The paint experts at Sherwin-Williams offer several helpful hints for selecting the best color for your home’s exterior.

First, examine homes in different neighborhoods to get an idea of how residents apply color to their own homes. Note the most appealing color schemes in the area and consider adapting them to your home. Choose a scheme that blends well with homes in your current neighborhood or subtly stands out.

Landscaping elements, such as flower gardens, flowering shrubs and trees that change color, can affect your color choice. For example, heavily wooded lots will make colors appear darker due to the shade, and the foliage tends to camouflage the home.

Elements of your home, such as roofing shingles, brick or stone accents, often have varying shades and hues that can serve as the foundation of your paint color choices. For example, a charcoal gray shingle could have flecks of gray-blue or gray-green that you can incorporate into the color scheme.

Be sure to examine color samples outdoors at various angles and at different times of the day. Consider buying small quantities of paint in desired colors and paint a section of the house where the body, trim and accent colors can be seen together.

Pay attention to the direction and intensity of the sun. Intense sunlight can wash out colors. While brighter colors may be suitable in Sunbelt cities, lighter, neutral tones often work better in other locales. Tinted and mid-tone neutrals are popular because they play off landscaping and other building materials.

White or light colors make a large home on a small lot appear even larger, while dark colors tend to make the same home look smaller but more substantial. Remember, light colors advance in space while dark colors recede. So if a home is located far from the curb, painting it a light color will make it look more prominent.

This months joke:

Question: What do you get when you put a fish and an elephant together?

Frame of Reference

One of the easiest ways to make your house feel more like a home — and also make it more appealing for showing — is to decorate the walls with framed art and photographs. It can seem like a daunting task to frame and hang art, but it’s easier than you think.

In most cases, you can do it yourself. Ready-made frames are usually available in standard sizes at stores everywhere. Odd-sized artwork, however, often requires a custom frame from a professional shop. It’s generally a pricier option, but it can be a worthy investment. To find a reputable framer in your area, go to the Professional Picture Framers Association’s Web sites: www.ppfa.pmai.org or www. findapictureframer.com. Whether you do it yourself or hire a professional, keep these tips in mind:

• When deciding on a mat and frame, select the mat first and then find a frame to complement it. Be sure that the subject and tone of the picture are enhanced by mat and frame selection.
• Get creative with mats. Don’t look just at color, but at texture and size.
• To make a picture look bigger, use a darker-colored mat. Lighter-colored mats draw attention away from the frame and allow the viewer to concentrate on the image
within the frame. • Consider using wide mats (greater than two inches) for prints and photos to create an updated look. Mats wider than prints give greater importance to small images.
• Layering mats can create a unique piece of custom-framed artwork. Using two or more mats is also a good way to accent colors in a room.
• Frames and mats can create a theme for your artwork, so make sure you choose frames and mats that correspond with what you want to convey.
• When choosing a frame, make sure the color of the frame doesn’t overpower the colors in the art.
• Put artwork in a frame large enough so that it doesn’t get lost in the decor of the room.

Source:HGTV.com

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