True Confessions of a Chip-a-holic and How to Read a Paint Chip

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SERVING SEMINOLE, VOLUSIA AND ORANGE COUNTIES IN CENTRAL FLORIDA

I must admit:  I am a chip-a-holic.  No, not potato chips, tortilla chips, or cheezy curls or the like:  I am a paint chip-a-holic.  Over time and every trip to Lowe’s, I have to go to the paint department.  Not because I’m getting ready to paint but because, well, I’m a self-professed chip-a-holic.  The photo below demonstrates my addiction.

Since we’re on the topic of paint chips, I thought today I’d teach you about tints and shades and how to read a paint chip strip.  Tints are created by adding white to a paint color, or hue.  Shades are created by adding black to a hue.  When you read a paint chip, going left to right, you go from the lightest tint (or color with the most white) to the darkest shade (the color with the most black). What gets really confusing now is that many of the chips in the store are not a full chip of six colors.  They add A, B and C to the numbers.  However, if you look at a paint deck, you will see the full six colors of tints to shades.

Being a home stager, we tend to work with a few basic colors.  The world of color though lends itself to a whole new level of creative opportunity.  But after re-arranging all the paint chip cards today, I think it’s time to go to the big stuff and order a couple paint decks.  What do you think?

[NOTE:  To provide full credit, the color chips above are Valspar paint colors.]

To learn more about Groups of Color and What They Mean, click on this blog link.

Thanks for dropping by and reading True Confessions of a Chip-o-olic and How to Read a Paint Chip.