2022 Colors of the Year

If  the colors of spring have inspired you to update the colors in your home, you’ll find plenty of inspiration within the 2022 Color of the Year palettes.
Benjamin Moore chose October Mist as their Color of the Year – a silvery green based on something we see everywhere, but often overlook – a flower stem. This neutral green provides the perfect base to complement their carefully curated collection, and is sure to breathe new life into any space in your home. Our favorites include Collector’s Item, Wild Flower, and Mysterious.

Sherwin Williams also selected a neutral green as their Color of the Year, but one with a slightly deeper tone and feel. Evergreen Fog, a “chameleon” like gray-green has a very earthy and organic feel, perfect for creating a calm and relaxing space.

And while the Pantone Color of the Year may not always make it into the mainstream in interior home remodeling, it’s always fun to see what’s trending in color and design throughout other industries. This year’s Color of the Year, Veri Peri, is sure liven things up. Just a small splash of a fun color is all it takes to change the look and feel of a space, and shift your mood as well.

If you’ve grown tired of gray and are ready to add some color back into your life and home, our color experts are ready to help you select colors with confidence that are a true reflection of your own personal style.

Rethinking Home: The Exhilaration of Completion

Research has shown that one of the things that gives us an enormous boost in mood and energy is the act of completion. From a small simple task to a big to do, nothing feels as good and being able to say “that’s done.”
With the world hitting “pause” and all of us spending so much more time at home over the past year, it’s impossible not to notice everything that needs attention around your house. All of the things we’ve been putting off due to the “busyness of life” pre-pandemic are now front and center as we see them every day.
The quiet Winter months are a great time to tackle all the lingering to do’s that will make your home a place you truly love being. From creating spaces that can transform from an e-learning spot back to a room where everyone gathers, or updating your kitchen and pantry to accommodate preparing more meals and home, small changes can have a big impact.

The easiest update you can make that will have the biggest impact is utilizing color. If you’ve been living with the same colors for years and are ready for a change of scenery, painting a room in a new color or shade will instantly infuse fresh energy into the space. From subtle tones that allow the natural light to take center stage to bold and bright colors that set their own tone, now is the perfect time for a fresh start. And you’ll feel even better when you can check a room or two off of your list as completed.
 

2021 Colors of the Year

Whether you’re in need of a breath of fresh air or some solid ground underneath your feet as we enter into a New Year, the 2021 colors offer something for everyone to set the perfect tone for a fresh start.
Benjamin Moore
Aegean Teal 2136-40
This mid-tone blue-green with cool gray undertones sets the perfect backdrop for a balanced and welcoming feel in any room. Utilizing the theme of “your home is your refuge”, Benjamin Moore created a warm, sun-baked color palette that is both intriguing and comforting and includes some bold colors along with some classic neutrals.

 
Sherwin Williams
Urbane Bronze SW-7048
Pulled straight from mother earth, this grounding neutral creates a sense of peace and tranquility and allows lighter complimentary colors to truly shine through.

 
Pantone
Illuminating & Ultimate Gray
Once again, and at the close of a tough year, Pantone decided one color of the year wasn’t quite enough. Combining a practical gray and optimistic yellow, these two colors blend seamlessly together to create a sense of security with a much needed touch of hopefulness for the future.
 

 
When it comes to color, what we see everyday has a direct impact on how we feel. From calming blues, stimulating reds, cheerful yellows to natural greens that bring the outdoors inside, be sure to choose colors that suit your personality and style. From classic to on trend, bold and bright, or soft and subtle, whatever you seek to create can be accomplished with just the right shade of paint.
 
 
 
 

Interior Updates For A New Way Of Life

While most of us have fully adjusted to spending the majority of our time at home, the start of school may have brought with it new challenges to having everyone inside and in a quiet space for the bulk of the day.
If you find yourself rethinking the way you’re utilizing the spaces in your home, here are some suggestions on how homeowners have been updating their homes to achieve better balance while both working and living under the same roof.
Creating  Home Offices and “School” Spaces  – Working remotely from home and attending school virtually has been a big change for many of us. Having a designated space that is set up for maximum efficiency and comfort is crucial. And don’t forget about your “zoom” backdrop – which should be simple and free of clutter. From changing out an outdated wall color to adding custom desks and shelving to keep everyone organized, proper functionality will lead to increased productivity.

Updating your Kitchen – The kitchen has always been the heart of the home, and with most meals now being eaten at home as well, we’re all spending more time in our kitchens than ever before. If you’re wishing yours was set up differently or is long over do for an update, redesigning the layout in your pantry or simply changing out the color on your cabinets for a fresh new look and feel will help in this space where functionality truly matters.

Enhancing Outdoor Spaces – Fall is officially here, and with it cooler weather. After spending the day indoors and in front of a screen, having an outdoor space to escape to can make all the difference. Simple updates to your outdoor space can provide some much needed time in the sunshine or a quiet evening under the stars at the end of a long week.

Benjamin Moore – 2020 Color Trends

 
It’s the start of a New Year (and decade), and that means time for a fresh color palette. In researching the final selection for 2020, Benjamin Moore took a look back at the color trends over the past 100 years before deciding upon the colors that will carry us into the future.
As the social climate ebbed and flowed over the decades, so did the colors that were used throughout our homes. Remember the bold and saturated colors from the 60’s and 70’s? Or the more muted and conservative tones as we approached the new millennium that hung around for the better part of the decade? As we enter into 2020 and another new decade, many of us are considering “what’s next?” with the fresh new start. The Color of the Year – First Light – infuses an air of optimism and possibility into an untouched future.
Benjamin Moore First Light is a “rosy” hue and modern neutral that will brighten any room in your home.  It also pairs well with the many grays that have been used on the interior of homes for the past few years. And according to Linda Cipriano, Benjamin Moore’s Architectural & Design Expert, “everyone looks good in pink.” With a slow shift from cool to warmer tones, the coordinating palette offers possibilities for all tastes and styles.

 
If you’re ready to move away from the grays and infuse some color back into your home, download our checklist on how to choose colors with confidence. And if you’d like a second opinion before updating a room in your home, our color consultant would be happy to sit down with you and help you create the home of your dreams.
Choosing Colors Checklist

Choose Color – From Fearful to Fantastic

“Color can convey meaning, often more effectively than words.”
– Zena O’Connor
The foundation of all design is color – and yet it’s something that makes many of us extremely nervous. Especially when we start considering what colors to bring into our homes when repainting.
We often fear choosing the “wrong” color and having it turn into a time consuming and costly mistake to fix.
And we opt for the “safe choice” – the neutrals or varying tones of gray, white, and beige as our design backdrop.

We convince ourselves that we might tire of a “real” color too quickly, we can live with the neutrals longer, and we won’t have to worry about money wasted on a poor choice. We then further justify this reasoning by telling ourselves we can use pops of color as accents to liven things up. However, this is not the same as choosing a true color for your walls or even your ceiling.
Not fully convinced?
Think back to the last time you walked into a room painted with color… Whether bold or subtle, color creates an entirely different energy than a neutral backdrop ever can. Extensive research shows that color can make you feel energized or calm, powerful or peaceful, cheerful or cozy, and most importantly – welcome. Color adds dimension and character to a home. It can convey your style to the world and tell your story without you needing to utter a single word.
If you have a space in your home that you think would be enhanced by color, you don’t have to make the decision alone. Our color consultant has an M.A. in Interior Architecture and Design and will collaborate with you to choose colors that will fill your heart and home with joy and confidence.

Color consulting is a complementary service provided with any project you wish to complete with us. We pride ourselves not only on our exceptional craftsmanship and communication throughout each project, but also on the extra care we take with our customers to make sure they’re confident with their final color choices.
 
Photo Credit: Benjamin Moore Paints
 
 
 
 

2016 Color Trends & Finding Your Signature Palette

2016 Color Trends: While we report on the Color Trends every year, they are just that – trends. When it comes to updating the colors in your home, incorporating current colors can be fun, but figuring out your signature style and using your favorite colors throughout your home is often a better way to go.
This year we shared the “2016 Color of the Year” from the top three companies in the painting industry. Pantone (the world leader in all things color) stepped out of the box by selecting not one, but two 2016 Colors of the Year – Rose Quartz and Serenity. If you’re not a fan of pastels, the lesson to be taken from this selection is that traditionally “warm” colors can be paired with “cool” colors and coordinate beautifully.

 
Sherwin Williams also took a different approach to 2016 color trends this year, opting to create “Color Stories” in place of choosing one particular color. Using the terms passionate, fresh, vintage, and indulgent as their starting point, they have created four color palettes that are sure to speak to both the bold and adventurous as well as more traditional homeowners.

 
Benjamin Moore also chose to go in yet a different direction, and while they did select a single 2016 Color of the Year – Simply White – some question whether this was truly a “color” selection at all. Whether or not you believe that white is a color, what they have done is sparked the idea of starting with a blank canvas. Freshening up any space with a base coat of this creamy white is almost like hitting the reset button in your home. With a clean backdrop, it is much easier to re-imagine what other colors you would like to incorporate into your home, and they have provided some beautiful accent colors in their full color report to assist with this as well.

 
Ultimately, the best place to start when considering a new color palette for your home is with an open mind. Look around when you’re out and about and take note of the colors that catch your eye. Or if you’ve been saying “I’ve always wanted to paint the [ fill in the blank]…” maybe now is the time to go for it. Believe it or not, of all the things that you could “change” in your home, the color on your walls is one of the easiest, but also most impactful. And when you’re ready, our color experts are always here to help you make your final choice with complete confidence.

APC Top Job Award 2016 – Philadelphia

APC Top Job Award Philadelphia 2016 goes to John Neill Painting & Decorating!
We were honored to be selected as one of the top painting companies in the country as a part of American Painting Contractor Magazine’s 2016 Top Job Awards. While this was not a small project by any means, it was a highly rewarding one, which allowed our craftsmen to utilize a wide variety of skills including; faux finishing, decorative painting, and hand varnishing. Read the full story on the APC Website, and remember, no job is too big or too small for our career craftsmen.

The Story Behind “Simply White” – Benjamin Moore’s 2016 Color of the Year

2016 Color of the Year Backstory: Last week we hosted a designer luncheon along with Benjamin Moore to discuss color (of course) and the current trends in the painting industry.  While some may think that “Simply White” was not truly a “color”, after hearing the story of how Benjamin Moore’s research team arrived on this choice, we all walked away with a deeper knowledge of how the color trends emerge each year.
After traveling the world observing trends and looking for patterns, the new Louis Vuitton Foundation building in Paris left the biggest impression on the Benjamin Moore team. Being compared to a ship with billowing sails, the light and airy feel of the space led them to consider white for 2016, but with over 250 whites in the Benjamin Moore collection, deciding which white was the “right” white was still a difficult task. Staying in the mindset of the artistic world, and drawing from the Frank Gehry design, they imagined the life of various artists and set out to create the perfect backdrop for a traditional painter as well as a digital designer, and all of those who fall in between.


One of the keys to successfully using white to create a backdrop is to vary the tones and sheens of the paint. Pairing Simply White with Ballet White or Mascarpone creates subtle variations in color while leaving an overall freshness in any space. Using a high gloss finish on trim along with a matte finish on wall can also break up what could otherwise become too monotone when using one white throughout an entire space. Simply White also creates the perfect backdrop for more bold colors such as Black Ink, Patriot Blue, and Ravishing Red. The more we learned about white, the more we all realized that “white is not just white”, and the final conclusion of the Benjamin Moore color team was that white truly is an essential color in all decorating palettes. Whether your goal is to create a completely neutral backdrop or infuse a pop of color into a room in your home, choosing the right white to achieve your goal is just as important as choosing any other color. Here’s to white finally getting the credit it deserves as an integral color in home decorating.

Water Damage and Drywall Repair

Water damage – these are two words that homeowners never like to hear. Unfortunately water poses the greatest single threat to both the interior and exterior of your home. The most common interior issue we encounter is drywall damage to ceilings (and sometimes walls) due to a bathroom leak.
Thankfully, our team of craftsmen can repair drywall on both ceilings and walls to blend seamlessly with the surrounding area. If you have water damage in your home, the first step is to call a plumber and make sure that the source of the leak is properly addressed (we can recommend one if needed). Once the issue has been resolved, give us a call and we’ll be happy to take care of the repairs and painting so you can get back to more important things, like the peak  Cherry Blossom viewing, March Madness, and the start of the golf season.