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Spring is finally (mostly) upon us, which means we’re soon going to see one of my favorite colours everywhere: green! From the grass to the buds on the trees, green is the colour of life, the colour of spring. There’s even been some research that shows that looking at greenery outside helps your cognitive functions; in fact, even an image of nature can help reduce stress and increase concentration! The science doesn’t tell us that the color green alone can increase brain power, but greens can play a wonderful role in our homes aesthetic.

In 2019, hunter greens are trending; they’re called this because they used to be used by hunters as a sort of camouflage. These greens are very deep, and can be used in a wide variety of roles in the house. You can use hunter greens as an accent wall, or you could even paint a whole room hunter green. The colour is useful because it’s depth makes it soothing, but the green is still eye-catching; that means you can use it in your living room, as trim, or pretty much anywhere. You might use it in a meditation or wellness room as well, acting to stimulate your mind while calming your body.

Of course, there’s nothing that says you have to go for a deep, dark shade of green like hunter. You might opt for a lighter forest green, or go even further out with something like an emerald or even a tea green. Lighter, brighter colours are often best used as accent walls or trims on the interior; a room that’s all one bright colour can feel overstimulating. You might opt to use a bright green on your front door; the contrast between it and the rest of your exterior will make it pop, and a front door that pops is inviting.

One of the nicest things about green is its association with the natural world; that means using green as your primary exterior paint colour can be a lot of fun. You can draw inspiration from the flora around your home, choosing greens that look like the trees in the area, and adding a deep brown trim; alternatively, you could paint your home brown with a green trim! Taking inspiration from nature’s palette is one of the best ways of creating a cohesive look; after all, the palettes we see in nature are probably the biggest influence on how we perceive colour!

Spring is a wonderful time to have your home painted, inside or out. During the later months of spring, you can have exterior painting done by experienced painters, so long as it’s not too wet and the temperature isn’t fluctuating too much. You can have your home’s interior painted post spring clean; that will help you have the place cleaned out before the painting happens, so there will be less to move around. Once the painting is done, you can enjoy your beautiful, clean, looks-good-as-new home! And if you’re looking for something to springboard your palette, I’d say greens are a good start.

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​It's finally getting warm enough to consider exterior painting for your home. The question you have to ask yourself: is it time for a new coat of exterior paint? There’s a lot of signs that your home’s exterior paint is still high quality enough to last you awhile, and there are signs that it’s time for a change. Here’s how you can tell a house was painted by the pros; when your own home doesn’t have these telltale signs, it might mean it’s time for a fresh coat.

1. You Like the Colours

This might seem obvious, but it’s really worth mentioning. Go outside and look at your home, or your neighbor’s home; do you like the colours? Do they mesh well with each other and the neighborhood? If they do, it’s a good sign that professional painters did the deed; they can help with colour consultations so that even if creating a beautiful palette isn’t a homeowner’s forte, they’ll still get a home that looks beautiful and speaks to their personality.

2. There’s No Bubbling

When paint is applied in the wrong conditions, blisters and bubbles can form. This can be because the paint was applied over top of contaminants like dirt, or because it was too humid when the paint was applied. These blisters are unsightly, so when they’re present it’s pretty obvious; thorough pre-planning and paint that’s only applied in the optimal conditions will seriously reduce the likeliness of bubbling, so a bubble-free house was probably painted by a professional.

3. There’s No Peeling

Quite similar to the bubbles we just discussed, paint can peel when applied in suboptimal conditions. Throw on some paint with no primer in the middle of summer and you’re sure to get some pretty noticeable peeling. You can see peeling even in a high-quality paint job after years and years, because the elements will degrade the quality of the paint over time, which leads us to our next point.

4. It’s Long-Lasting

When exterior paint is done right, the painters will choose a highly elastic paint, one that can stretch and bend with the natural expansion and contraction of your walls. The paint will also be UV resistant, so the colours don’t wash out quickly in the sun; of course, it will be waterproof, so the rain and sleet and snow don’t take it all off. Choosing a high quality paint is an important part of getting a beautiful finished home.

5. It’s Even

You don’t want the paint on your home to look thick and some points and thin at others, you don’t want the colour from the trim bleeding into the primary colour; you want someone who can use a wide variety of brushes and techniques to make everything look even and properly finished. When you look at a home and are impressed by the uniformity of the paint, it was probably professionally done.


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​When doing colour consultations, we mostly consider colours within their Western, North American context; what colours invite passion or strong feelings, what colours invite calm, and how combinations of colours can invoke particular feelings or settings. There are a lot of different cultures in the world, though, and each of those cultures might have a different interpretation of those colours. We thought it would be fun to take a look at how some non-North American cultures interpret colours in different ways.

Take yellow, for example. In North America, yellow is often seen as a cheery colour, and is associated with friendliness; that’s one of the reasons fast food companies will often incorporate yellow into their logos. Some countries in Europe, however, take a very different view of yellow; the colour represents jealousy in Germany and France, as well as in some other countries. In other contexts, yellow, being close in colour to gold, represents wealth and opulence.

You might feel blue when things aren’t going your way, but in other cultures feeling blue is closer to feeling divine. Blue in Judaism is close to the divine, associated with the vastness of both the sea and the sky; this may be part of the reason that Israel’s flag has a blue Star of David. Similarly, in Hinduism, Vishnu and Krishna (sometimes seen as an avatar of Vishnu) are blue, and blue is thus associated with divinity. In North America, blue is associated with masculinity; conversely, in China, blue is associated with femininity.

Purple is another colour with some meanings that seem contrary cross-culturally. Purple is almost universally seen as a sign of wealth, because for centuries purple dyes were incredibly rare and expensive to make. The rarity of purple made it a colour of importance to higher-ups in some religious organizations, and linked intimately to divinity; this resulted in many cultures wearing purple during times of mourning, as its link to the divine associated it with the afterlife.

Red is a colour of passion, and passion has a duality about it. Passion for worthy causes, for your loved ones, for humanity; these are reds we commonly see in North American culture, around times like Valentine’s Day and used in many charities’ logos to represent love. The downside of passion, though, is violence and struggle; this is what red represents in the flag of South Africa, so the people there may never forget the sacrifices it took to become independent. Red can also be a sign of good luck, and that’s what the Chinese see in it around the Lunar New Year.

You can take inspiration from other cultures when you’re looking to paint your home; it’s also important to consider what the colours you use mean to you, personally. Great Winnipeg painting companies understand that each colour has a different meaning to each person; let us take the time to get to know your needs, and help you select the best colours for your home.

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