Color of the Year – a follow-up!

Last week’s blog included a drum-roll presentation of our #1 most requested color; Custom!  Despite sticking to the facts, many of you didn’t like the answer.  “Custom isn’t a color!”

To satisfy our readers, we tabulated the numbers again but this time limited them to the paint and stain categories we offer within our color decks.  These categories include:   Paint, Standard Stain, Ultra Stain, Premium Stain and Distressed/Glazed Stains. All of our finishes are applied in a separate facility from our production lines, utilizing state of the art technology for a consistent and extremely durable, finish.  Our goal is to offer stain and paint colors that are appealing throughout our Midwest market.  We look at local color trends, national color trends and exterior window and siding products to determine which colors to offer.  Ideally, we capture the best neutrals, whites and brights in paint and well-balanced light, medium and dark stains that work with a variety of species.

That said, here are the top three paints of the 43 colors we offer in our Bayer Built Paint Deck: (we found very few surprises) First place: 101 White (SHOWN above), Second place: 100 Arctic White and Third: Sandtone (SHOWN above).  Given the large number of white finishes we see trending in shelter magazines and home tours, white is what we expected to see in first and second place.  Sandtone is a predictable winner too as it is one of the many we selected to blend with leading window manufacturer’s aluminum clad selections.

We predict many red doors will leave our facility this year with the release of Pantone’s 2015 color of the year: Marsala.  If you were to search “painted front door,” on Houzz or Pinterest you’d find the first five hits all include red front doors.  There are two paint colors in our deck which closely resemble Marsala, we call them Burgundy Wine (SHOWN above) and Crimson.

Dwell, Architectural Digest and the Wall Street Journal Home Section have all discussed the importance of bright color this year in home and fashion trends.  We have bright paint options ready to wow you; including Blackberry, Shutter Blue, Cobalt Blue, Turbo and Spice.  Any one of these would add zing to your front entrance!

We don’t expect stained millwork and doors to ever go out of style in Midwest and we found these winners in our stain categories.

In our Standard Stain deck, meant for open grain woods, like oak, we found the following:  First place: Chestnut (SHOWN at left) Second place: Wild Cherry and Third place: Barley.
In our Ultra Stain deck, meant for tight, closed grain woods like alder, pine and poplar, we find these three winners: First place: Malbec (SHOWN at left), Second place: Pecan and Third place: Rockwood.
And finally, in our Premium Stain deck, a multi-step solvent based finish, the winners are:  First place: Hazel (SHOWN at left), Second place: Bourbon and Third place: Macadamia.

To see all of our finishes firsthand, visit our website or contact your local dealer via our Dealer Locator tool and view them in person at one of our local dealer showrooms.

-Holly Bayer, ASID