If you’re courageous enough to go a little wild with color, $20 can change your life.
That’s what it costs for a gallon of bold, beautiful exterior paint.
Color is the best way to transform an ugly, stained board fence. It can also unify a dull or disjointed wall. Solid color makes an
outstanding background for art, fountains and planting, which becomes even more amazing under night lighting.
Painting a single panel is the designer’s secret to changing the way an ordinary space appears. A single panel of bold hue makes it stand out from the rest of the structure and becom
e a focal point.
Sometimes painting smaller things a really big color turns them into artistic elements themselves. Make these colors so intense the eye is drawn to them immediately. Railings, light fixtures, step faces and furniture are all perfect canvases for color.
Decide which of these colors provides the right feel for your yard:
Blue: It is calming, serene and sedate in its paler tones, and linked to sky and water. But when used intensely, it can make a powerful accent against the greens of bright foliage.
Yellow: This color of light and sun is stimulating, activates memory, inspires optimism and suggests enlightenment. Yellow paint brings light into an overly shaded or dark outdoor space.
Orange: This love-it-or-hate-it color is often used in children’s areas because it’s fun and flamboyant, as well as stimulating a sense of warmth in cold climates and energy on a cloudy day.
Red: The Chinese color of luck and prosperity is universally loved, but often in smaller quantities in its purest forms. Definitely not ideal for relaxation areas.
Purple: This is the color of passion and royalty. In the garden, it’s a stunning accent that brings a sense of uplift, spirituality, calm and creativity to the garden.
Green: This color is more often achieved by plant foliage than paint. It is restful to the eye, soothing to nerves and stimulates a sense of renewal, self-control and harmony.
Choose exterior semi-gloss latex paint for easy cleaning. A fluffy roller makes painting rough stucco or irregular surfaces much easier. If you don’t like the look, spend another $20 and paint it again.
Maureen Gilmer is an author, horticulturist and landscape designer. Learn more at www.MoPlants.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
