We are very excited to announce our membership in the Green Alliance!

In recent years, it has become very clear that our customers and employees deserve safe, non toxic, low VOC surroundings. We intend to deliver on that as best we can with everything from low VOC paints and solvents, to soy based paint strippers, to green operating standards for our company.

We look forward to working together with both the consumer partners and other business partners in the Green Alliance to promote and practice sustainable living.

Check out the Green Alliance for more info HERE

Have you tried to paint ceilings in your recently purchased, older home, only to find they are peeling almost as fast as your are rolling the paint on?

This is a common problem. It occurs because of a product called calcimine, which was used in the first half of the last century to coat ceilings and walls. Calcimine is a coating that is made by mixing calcium carbonate, water, and glue to make a substance that is fast drying, opaque, and easy to use.

There are many solutions tossed around for this issue but really only three effective ones.

Tear down

Take down the board or plaster, and replace, thus avoiding having to deal with this anymore. This could be quite costly and unnecessary, depending on the condition of the wall.

Complete removal of calcimine coating

This is a good middle ground between spot repair and total replacement, as you are scraping all of the calcimine off, which, if it is already peeling, should not be as hard as it sounds.

For this you will need plenty of plastic for the floor, items in the room, and doorways into the room. Next you will need a good calcimine sealer. This is really important because, although you have removed the coat from the surface, there is still plenty of residue that the sealer will penetrate to ensure proper adhesion of patch and paint coats.

Once you have primed the area and it is completely dry, you will want to fill any imperfections with a normal, lightweight joint compound, followed by a sanding of these spots.

Now you can paint. Many people insist on priming but I believe that a good high hide ceiling paint applied in multiple coats looks good and lasts as long as if you had primed then painted.

Spot repair
This is the same system as described above, but applied to smaller areas or as needed.

You are now free to step back from the ledge, as your ceiling will no longer be inexplicably peeling, and you can move onto the next project.

Thanks for stopping by and check back later for more useful tips from Any Season Painting.

Individual style mixed with budget-conscious decorating will drive 2011 paint hue trends. Consumers won’t be diving into large scale renovation projects, but instead will search for inexpensive ways to freshen and update their home.

By incorporating a few new paint colors, whether as an accent area or an entire room painting project, a fresh coat of paint remains one of the most economical ways to enhance and modernize the appearance.

Remember, paint color is a homeowner’s best decorating tool. You can change the appearance, the perception of size and even the perception of temperature, through the simple use of paint color.

Back to Basics
Homeowners, seeking comfortable and serene spaces, will reach for a variety of casual neutral and pastel hues to create warm and inviting spaces. Neutrals provide versatility and allows homeowners to quickly change the look of a room just by changing a few accessories. Moreover, it’s a prudent, practical, cost-saving approach to interior painting.

Warm whites, tawny tans, barely-there coral and green will find use in kitchens, bedrooms and baths.

Well Worn Hues:
Like a pair of favorite jeans, blue will grow in popularity as not just a wall color but also asa ceiling choice.“Well Worn Hues”are represented by blues across the spectrum, from denim dark to blue-grey.

Since most blues tend to be calming colors, this hue helps to create a perfect retreat from many of life’s stresses.

As a secondary or complementary hue, yellow or yellow-green adds a bit of “spunk” when used in family spaces.

Shimmer and Shine:
For thrifty consumerslooking for a bit of sparkle, higher paint sheens and metallic finishes are on the radar for 2011. Don’t besurprised to see spaces such as hallways and living areas painted inavery glossy hue,from top to bottom. More gloss means more reflectivity,which means more light. Gloss can subtly create a brighter, more upbeat mood in ahome, but at the same time, it adds style and pizzazz.

Dining rooms and master bed and bath spaces are the perfect areas for this sophisticated choice.

Coupled with the “high shine” trend, gold will return as both an in-demand paint hue and as a key metallic choice.

Like every conscientious business owner, I am constantly trying to improve the product I am delivering, while at the same time differentiating from what my competitors are doing. I’m very attached to the products I use because I know how they perform and I know when and where I can use them. I have recently given thought to a shift to even ‘greener’ products than the ones I currently use.

Mythic Paints, a company out of Mississippi, has introduced a line of completely non-toxic paints to the market. I feel this will be a game changer as far as the products we choose to use in our homes, and around our children and pets.

Mythic is aggressively compiling a network of local paint stores to carry their line, which was previously only available online, and I think that, in addition to involving HGTV’s David Bromstad and his signature color collection, will really give this line of paints the branding it needs to get out it’s message of reducing the VOCs that are emitted into the atmosphere.

I am excited to try this paint, and even more excited to hear about a professional line that is being developed to compete on price with the Benjamin Moores and Sherwin Williams’ of the world.