Mix It Up!

Put it in Neutral!

Everything is green and blooming here in southwest Virginia. The pollen levels are through the roof and the temperatures are to be in the high 80’s this week. Between the heat and the allergens, I have pushed myself back into the house for a while……and consequently, pushed my color palette for this month into Neutral!

When we first released the paint line, I was excited about our bright, true, mixable color palette. So, when the first sales reports started coming in, I was a bit befuddled by the top sellers: Black Dog Black, Clean Canvas(white), and Dog Bone(bone). WHAT??? All these luscious colors and the neutrals are the leaders? But then, after talking to a lot of customers I discovered that most tend to go the neutral route when they try out a new product.

So, this month is all about our unsung heroes – those rich, go-with-everything, classic neutrals! To start off, I am showcasing two of our pre-mixed favorites: Clean Canvas and Dog Bone. Clean Canvas is our pure white. It will not “pull” pink, yellow, or any other color as it is dead-on white! Dog Bone is a creamy, true bone. Mixed one-to-one, they create the perfect light beige called “Linen and Lace”.

Those familiar with the area know that Roanoke is a railroad town, home to Norfolk and Southern. When we were renovating Black Dog Salvage’s Airbnb property, The Stone House, I named the color I used on the wood paneling in the master bathroom after our beloved steam engine, The 611. “611 Steam” is a combination of three of our pre-mixed neutrals: Galvanized, Dog Bone, and Clean Canvas.  Two parts Clean Canvas, plus one part Dog Bone, plus one part Galvanized creates a pale, but slightly warm, neutral, gray. For the application on the paneling, I thinned the paint with distilled water to create a wash. We didn’t want to hide the knots in the paneling, but instead wanted them to “bleed” through the paint (***NOTE: If your project is knotty wood and you want to keep the knots from bleeding through the paint you will need to paint a complete coat of clear shellac over your piece and allow to dry completely before painting***).

Mushroom is a warm, light brown created by mixing equal parts of our pre-mixed color “Dirt” with our pre-mixed color “Galvanized”. It is a lovely, soft neutral – not too brown, not too gray.

Silver Labrador is a special color that I created for my own kitchen cupboards. I had been looking for just the right hue of gray and couldn’t find it. While working the selling floor during our Christmas Open House, a woman came in with a 10-week-old Silver Labrador puppy. I had never seen one before! His coat was the perfect mix of brown, black, and gray. Exactly the color I had been looking for!!! I ran to the paint studio and tried to mix it up. I followed the owner of the pup around with sample sticks till I got it right. Noel, the pup, and her owner were good sports about it all. To create Silver Labrador, mix 3 parts of Galvanized + 2 parts of Dirt + 1 part of Black Dog Black.

And Coal Dust rounds out this month’s color palette. While it is dark, it is not quite as dark as our Black Dog Black. To create a “lighter” black, but retain the intensity, I mixed one part of Galvanized into two parts Black Dog. Using Galvanized rather than Clean Canvas helps retain the blackness, but also lightens it just a bit.

I am a “color” person, but I also love my neutrals. With everything blooming outside, sometimes I find the need to retreat to a calmer palette inside.  When I was working as an interior designer with clients who had extensive, colorful art collections, I found it worked best to choose neutral colors for the larger furniture pieces in the rooms and to use accent colors for pillows, etc. This allows the artwork to make the color statement and command its rightful place as the intended focal point.

So, “Put it in Neutral” this month! Enjoy all our neutral color recipes which can found on our website under the “Paint” tab.

Happy Painting!

Swooz