Sarasota, Florida Painters are Cuckcoo for Coffee!

Have you heard the biggest sale of the Venice, Florida Starbuck Store was 50 pounds?! Oh, wait, that was us!

Steve and I heard about the sale going on at Starbucks where every bag of coffee purchased brought a $5 gift card. I know it was on everyone’s mind to buy 50 pounds as it only made sense to us. So, we purchased did.

Did we drink it all yet? Well, of course, we gave away 10 bags to the Venice Salvation Army and as door prizes for some of the local networking groups. Oh, and you can even have your own chance to win a bag every Saturday of our iClass on our Facebook page. After all that, there is stil plenty left for us to enjoy and continue to give away! That was a fun picture!

coffee crazy at Burnett 1-800-PAINTING

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National Kilz Paint Your Wagon Award goes to…Burnett 1-800-PAINTING

Paint Your Wagon Award Winners- Burnett 1-800-PAINTINGWe are so excited to bring home the National Kilz Paint Your Wagon Award! We owe this award to all of you who voted or even tried to vote for us! We couldn’t have done it without you. In fact, we won by just 30 votes! Phew! That was close! Way to go!

This award especially means a lot to Steve since it really comes down to a brand/marketing award and that is his passion. He likes to say that he is a marketing guy with a painting business! He’s so funny like that!

We’d also like to thank all of the painting companies that participated and made this an extra fun event!

When we were called up to accept the award, Steve said this:

“It was Seth Godin who said, “If the market place is not talking about you, it’s because you are boring and you’re boring on purpose. You’re boring because it’s safe.” That really hit home for me and I said I would take that challenge.”

Now Steve and I do crazy marketing things, such as promote “Paint Your Wagon Award” to all our wonderful customers, friends, and family because it’s fun and it will get people talking about us and keep us top of mind, which is key to marketing.

So, again, we’d like to say a big,

Burnett 1-800-PAINTING says thank you

 

 

 

 

to all our voters! You’re the best!

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Interior Repaint Common Question Answered: Do you cover furniture?

Will you cover my furniture?

This is a great question! After all, we may enjoy looking at speckled eggs around Easter time, but speckled furniture from splats of paint isn’t what makes us slap happy. Maybe we’ll feel like slapping, but we won’t be happy!

interior repaint means covering all exposed furniture

This photo says it all. We take pride in covering your furniture and doing what we can to ensure your furniture stays the color is it. Of course, we can always paint those chairs and couches, if you’d like. Hmmm…may have stumbled upon a new niche market for us…but I digress…

What should be covered when you paint an interior home? All floors need to be covered with tarps. This may require some sweeping from our crew afterward, as the tarps get walked on and collect dirt, dust, and dried paint chips. You’d be surprised what we can sweep up after an interior home repaint! I’ve even found one of my son’s stickers at a customers home as it stuck to a tarp. We had a good chuckle about that, after I offered to take another sweep around.

All furniture should be gathered to the center of the room and covered with plastic. Why not tarps? Plastic won’t get your furniture dirty, dusty, or leave stickers! Of course, new tarps can be used, but painter’s plastic is just more realistic.

It goes without saying, that pictures and frames will be taken down and gently placed on furniture and covered as well. After this, we see a lot of nail holes in the wall. Where did that picture go again? This hole? or this one? …or maybe the other 50 holes in the wall! One thing we do to make it easier is this rule of thumb: if you leave the nail in, we paint around the nail or paint the nail. If you take the nail out, we fill and patch the hole and then make the hole disappear with the fresh coat of paint! Pretty sophisticated, eh? ;) It’s a bit of rocket-scien-tism we’ve picked up over the years. :)

All floors need not always be covered. When painting a ceiling, of course the floors get covered. However, if the ceiling is still as beautiful as the day it was built, we will likely cover the floors near the baseboards and leave the rest of the floor exposed. How can we do such a thing? Well, we do have experienced painters who are experts at not dripping paint more than 3 feet from a wall. Therefore, a good tarp covering 3-4 feet out fromt the wall is all that is needed.

It is good to mention that we are here to serve you. If you prefer more or less items covered that you may be concerned or not concerned about, let us know and we are happy to accomodate. After all, you are the reason we are in business and we appreciate you!

 

 

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Home Repaint-choosing colors that compliment

Last week we discussed color flow when painting the interior of your home: colors need to be complimentary as you can see adjoining room colors when standing in one room. I introduced you to my FAVORITE color selection tool: the Benjamin Moore Affinity Colors Fan Deck. Burnett 1-800-PAINTING suggests Affinity Fan Deck

Whether you are color blind, don’t trust your color instincts, or just want to make the entire process easier on yourself, take a look at the Affinity Fan Deck.  You simply cannot go wrong!

There are warm colors, cool colors, creamy dreamy colors, loud and proud colors, and so much more! 144 colors to choose from-you won’t run out of ideas, just space to paint!

When you are unsure of your own color choosing, this tool can be your life saver. I’m sure you are looking at the picture to the left and already coming up with ideas of where those colors would really bring your home to life. Remember, there are 3 ways to get your hands on one of these Affinity Fan Decks in real life: (as we all know, you can’t choose a color off the computer screen!)

1. You can order your own fan deck from Benjamin Moore’s website,

2. You can go to any Benjamin Moore Paint Store and purchase,

3. You can schedule an estimate with us at Burnett 1-800-PAINTING and ask to see our Affinity fan deck while we measure your home for painting!

Even if you have a flare for choosing colors that impress, you may have an affinity to the Affinity Deck, once you see it, too! It’s easy peasy to choose colors and loads of fun with no hassle! Where’s that Staples button…”That was easy!”

 

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Interior Home Repaint Color Flow

Burnett 1-800-PAINTING talks color flow with Benjamin Moore

 

When painting the interior of your home, there are many aspects to remember to make it successful. One of these aspects is called color flow. When you are in one room of your home, you can usually see much of the adjoining rooms and their color. This is why it’s important to think about how those colors will look near one another.

Let’s look at this beautiful home picture from Benjamin Moore. Upon entering this home, you are not only greeted with the color of the first room-laborador blue. The wheeling neutral color going up the stairs acts as an accent wall and helps to define the two areas more clearly. This also has the effect of creating a larger space.

So, what does this mean for you? How can you create more space and define areas more clearly? By taking into account that one room flows from the other and can be seen from the other, you’ll want to choose your colors to compliment one another and create that same flow.

The biggest question then becomes, “But, April, I am not good at choosing colors that work well with one another. What can I do?”

GREAT question! First, you can always hire a decorator. We are happy to suggest Dina Bennett for such help. She is fantastic and really helps unearth what your taste is and how to best show it off.

Burnett 1-800-PAINTING uses Benjamin Moore's Affinity Fan DeckDon’t want to hire a designer? No problem! Benjamin Moore has this fantastic fan deck (collection of color chips) where all the colors in the deck go together! No matter what colors you choose from this deck, you will have no worries about color flow because they ALL are ment to compliment each other.

PHEW! Let’s hit the “That way easy” button from Staples!!Burnett 1-800-PAINTING Makes it EASY What is the name of this glorious fan deck? It’s called the Affinity Deck from Benjamin Moore and you can purchase it right from their website, at a store, or call us for an estimate and ask to see our Affinity Deck.

Look for more detail about this FANTASTIC tool in our next blog. Until then!

 

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Interior Home Repaint: keep in mind lighting and color choice

Steve and I went to a customers newly purchased home last year and helped them pick out colors. The most crazy thing happened! We looked at the walls and double tray ceilings and couldn’t tell if they were different colors or the same color! I thought there was no way this orange was the same color as the tray dark orange. I thought the light and dark orange contrast was a nice accent choice for this room. However, upon further inspection, it was all one color throughout the room and ceilings! What made the difference? LIGHTS!interior repaint Green changes color with light

Lights, camera, ACTIVE color!

When you are choosing the color of your home (interior and exterior), be sure to think about the lighting. Are there lots of shadows in that tray ceiling you want painted? Maybe you will want to keep the whole room the same color and bring the accents by using the lighting that is available. If there is consistant lighting in the whole room, you’ll want to pick out a different color for accent walls so the room “pops”.

Color can change dramatically when new and different lighting is present. Keep this in mind when looking at all those color chips or the fan deck. Try putting the color chips in different lighting and see what happens. You’ll be amazed at slight lighting differences producing much different color outcomes!

If you really want to have some fun, change the color of the light bulbs and then look at the room!interior repaint color changes due to light

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Q: Is there an industry standard for painting contractors?

hiring a painting contractor - look to the PDCA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a great question! The answer is, “Yes!”The name of the industry standard is our trade association: Painting and Decorating Contractors of America or PDCA for short.

Looking for a painting contractor?

When hiring a painting company, you’ll want to ask if they are associated with a number of groups such as the Venice Area Chamber of Commerce and the PDCA (Painting and Decorating Contractors of America). You can even go to PDCA.org and find a painter within the association! When painting in the Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee Counties and surrounding areas, we recommend Burnett 1-800-PAINTING for outstanding service!

Why use the PDCA as a marker?

In order to be a member of the PDCA, you must comply with industry standards and even higher standards of the association. You want to make sure you hire not only a competent painter, but the one who is accountable to the most organizations will, undoubtedly, hold the best value and experience for your painting needs. This will save you time and money in the long run. You won’t be disappointed by the end of the project nor need to hire someone again to re-do what you originally wanted done. The money savings of having your painting project done right the first time is also a headache saver as hiring contractors can be a big chore!

When looking for the right painting contractor for you, finding one that is well networked in the area and nationally through different organizations will always bring you the best value and best experience. After all, no one wants to disappoint their neighbors or national trade association! Check out each contractor’s network locally and nationally and you will be much happier in the end.

 

 

 

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Vote for our vehicle for Best Painted Wagon National Award?

Phew! The holidays flew by! Here’s to making 2013 another fantastic year for all!

Wouldn’t it be great to do something you’ve never done before? Steve and I would like to do just that and we need your help!

Vote for Burnett 1-800-PAINTING's HHR in the Paint Your Wagon Contest

 

We are entering our Chevy High Hat Roadster into the Painter and Decorator Contractors of America “Paint Your Wagon Contest” and we need your votes for 5 out of 5 “brushes”!

Check out the competition and make your votes here!

Steve and I will be at the national convention when they announce the winner live! We’re excited!

Here is our submission to the contest: what do you think? Thank you, in advance, for voting!

 

HHR Paint Your Wagon Entry by Burnett 1-800-PAINTING

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Free Color Fan Deck from Benjamin Moore!

Having trouble finding the right color? We all know that having a fan deck around is key when choosing colors, especially when choosing one main color and one accent color. Where can you get a free fan deck?

One way to get your hands on a fan deck is to have Burnett 1-800-PAINTING over for an estimate. We’ll gladly show you our fan deck. If you schedule the job, you can keep the fan deck to help you decide on color and return it when you’re satisfied choosing colors!

Another way to get a free fan deck is to check out Benjamin Moore’s website and have your free one delivered to you!

Free Fan Deck from Benjamin Moore

Go to Benjaminmoore.com and right on the home page, you can pick up your free fan deck! See details on their page.

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Benjamin Moore helps you choose your home repaint colors!

Benjamin Moore’s site is fantastic! One of the many helpful features is their Explore Color: Rooms by Color section where you choose the type of room you want to view, and then they show you a great selection of ideas to get your ideas flowing.

Simply go to Benjaminmoore.com, choose Explore Color, Color Gallary, then select the Rooms By Color tab.

Benjamin Moore Rooms by Color

 

Which room is your favorite to repaint?

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