Are Your Colors Out Of Control? You May Need A Color Consultant

By Nancy K. Crevier

It takes a keen eye to discern “Snowfall White” from “Simply White” or Moonlight White,” and for many Newtowners, “White Marigold” looks too much like “Mellowed Ivory” to make a decision when choosing paint colors. That is when they turn to Linda Rotante for advice.

“People come in and buy quarts and quarts of paint and can’t pick a color,” says Ms Rotante, the color consultant at the Newtown Color Center on Queen Street. A self-taught consultant, she has always loved colors, and started out by doing her own painting at home. Friends and family were impressed with her ability to pull a room together with the right paint color.

“You can see the colors, or you don’t,” she says.

Ms Rotante has been providing color consultation since 2003, when as an employee of the Color Center, she found herself spending hours in the store trying to help customers select the right colors for their homes. Sometimes they would bring swatches of fabrics to match, but not always. She decided it would be mutually beneficial for her to visit the homes and get the big picture.

“It makes it easier,” she says, “than when everyone brought samples in. When you are in the home, you can match fabrics, see the carpets, see what’s in the room.” It is important for colors to flow throughout the house, and an on-site visit can clarify how a client’s color preference for one room is going to work with nearby rooms.

Why do people seek out a color consultant? At least half of her clientele own new homes with an interior painted completely white by the contractor. The selection of colors, notes Ms Rotante, is time consuming and confusing, as well as overwhelming for these clients. Paying a color consultant $75 an hour is a small amount to prevent color catastrophes and hours of painting only to discover the walls are a jarring mismatch to the sofa and curtains.

Ms Rotante can help a client sift through the thousands of paint chips to choose. What looks perfect in the bright light of the store may look quite different applied at home. Most colors appear darker on the wall, and the lighting of a room can alter the quality of the color, as well.

“Yellows are the hardest to select,” says Ms Rotante. “They go on very bright. Yellows come back to be adjusted all the time.”

If the perfect color still cannot be found, the Color Center can make anybody’s colors into Benjamin Moore colors, and they frequently have customers bring in Ralph Lauren, Martha Stewart, or Sherwin William paint chips for them to match.

Once she makes her color recommendations, which can take from one and a half to three hours, she lays out all of the colors together, ensuring they will be harmonious. The next step is to paint pieces of poster board with the selected paints and tape them up in the client’s rooms. A large sample makes it clear if the color selection is on target.

As with most decorating, color has its trends, too. Right now, beiges and greens are the up-to-the-minute colors in Newtown, and according to Benjamin Moore literature, “Saybrook Sage” outsells all other paint colors in New England.

Ms Rotante is not surprised. “The greens,” she says, “are easy to match. Usually there is at least one shade of green in a fabric that people can match with.”

She has also seen an upsurge in deep colors the last year or two. Deep golds, tawny browns, purples, and reds go boldly where no paint has gone before. However, cautions Ms Rotante, “People get frustrated with reds; it can take up to four coats [of paint] to cover evenly.”

As if picking out colors is not enough, it turns out that the brand of paint will affect the outcome of the project, as will the finish. Newtown Color Center carries mainly Benjamin Moore paint, which the staff feels is high quality paint with reliable coverage. The eggshell finish is Ms Rotante’s usual recommendation for walls, although the new washable flat, called matte, is becoming more fashionable. Semigloss is ideal for trim, and makes a highly cleanable surface for baths and kitchens, as well.

The most important ingredient in any painting project, however, is the customer’s satisfaction, she says. “It’s nice when customers come back in and say ‘It’s great!’”