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testing paint coloursUnderstanding Undertones

An Inside Peek at How My Large Colour Boards are Produced

By 11/25/2019December 20th, 20192 Comments

NEW! Sherwin-Williams Foundation Collection

Last year we didn’t have our annual sale because my large painted colour boards are so popular our supplier couldn’t keep up with the demand! They kept saying, “It’s hard to find someone to do such a boring job,” and that’s why we couldn’t get them produced faster.

So this past summer, my amazing wife decided to handle production herself. Terreeia managed large teams for years in her past life in the food and beverage industry, and she knows how to get things done!

Within days she found a local machine shop (below) that was empty for the summer and really close to our studio, hired three guys and immediately created an awesome paint board production team!

I was quite horrified at how dingy this temporary shop was, but Terreeia saved the day with her brilliant idea of covering up the drying room with plastic sheeting (below). This was also a good way to prevent the dust from settling on the drying colour boards.

When we initially discussed the idea to take this project on ourselves, I kept repeating all the warnings I’d heard, ‘This is REALLY HARD, Terreeia. We’re leaving for Paris in just 10 days. What if everyone quits on us when we’re in Europe—then what will we do? Eeek!”

Terreeia just looked at me and said, “Honey, the less you know about this, the better. We all have our gifts. You stick to design, and Kelly and I will manage the board production. Trust me.”

My only contribution to the entire colour board painting effort was to bring lamps as soon as I heard that more lighting was required. I immediately loaded up my car and arrived with some lamps (here’s one pictured below), haha.

Way better than just bright painters’ spot lights, don’t you think? I know, I’m seriously obsessed.

Byron Heslop was invaluable to our little operation this summer! He had produced the boards when we had a different supplier years ago so we were able to hire him as a consultant! Bryon made sure that the quality was perfection! Here he is (below) in my garage (don’t look too closely at the mess on the shelves). Thanks Byron for making sure everything went smoothly!

Our fabulous design assistant Kelly Parkinson (below) managed everything while we were on holiday!

Sometimes, when someone buys my boards and hasn’t attended one of my live workshops (where you learn exactly how to use them) they say things like, “Well, Maria doesn’t have every colour I might want to use, but these are a very helpful start.”

But here’s the thing.

Over the past 20 years, while I’ve conducted literally thousands of colour consultations, I’ve paid attention to which neutrals and colours are the useful ones I’ve specified over and over again. These useful colours created the foundation of my System for Specifying Colours.

When you buy my large painted boards what you also get is a SYSTEM.

So 95% of the time you need one of the nine useful neutrals, you’ll find it in my large colour boards.

And when you understand how my system works, you’ll be able to quickly shuffle through and pull the right neutral out of the stack of 50 boards. Kind of like magic.

Want my best tip right now?

If you don’t have any of my painted colour boards, you’ll want the set of 50 in my first collection, called the Core Collection (Benjamin Moore paint colours) or, NEW this year, the set of 50 in the Foundation Collection (Sherwin-Williams).

Every time I’d teach my workshop in the southern states (where Sherwin-Williams is huge) my students would beg me to sell them colour boards using the Sherwin-Williams paint line. I listened and  so we launched these boards in February this year.

The second collection of 50 large painted colour boards is called the VIP Collection (Benjamin Moore paint colours). This collection has the best darks, including navy blues, forest greens, yellows, pinks and a few more greiges, and some more whites and creams because these light colours have become so popular.

Order them here

I know buying these colour boards is an investment, but when you start using them with your clients, they are highly worth it. Anyone who’s made this investment will tell you that their clients LOVE these boards! You’ll also find them invaluable if you have a design project coming up where you need to choose a lot of colours!

Get your whites and greiges correct once and for all!

What people are saying:

I received my set of color boards just a few days after I completed Maria’s Specify Colour With Confidence training. Because I had the boards I could immediately apply the concepts I had learned in the course during my color consultation sessions with clients. 

Armed with the boards and the knowledge and confidence I gained at the training, I’ve been able to communicate with my clients in a language they understand…visually. The large samples help my clients truly see the color in context and help me reinforce why the color I’ve chosen for a client’s space is the right one.

Arianne Bellizaire, True Colour Expert

Get my Large Painted Colour Boards here.

Download my ebooks here.

Happy Thanksgiving to my lovely American followers! I am so grateful for your continued love and support on my blog and on this space over the years! I am so thankful for all of you! I love you all and hope you have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

2 Comments

  • Elynn Taylor says:

    As far as the sale for the paint boards …
    it’s very simple … NO analysis needed …..
    JUST DO IT!

    I get no commission from Maria. I have no vested interest in the product other than it’s one of the best investments you’ll ever make whether it is for personal usage or for your business.

  • Keira says:

    I love Terreeia’s solution to board production!! A win-win-win for everyone!

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