As a
woman with chronic pain, you look for ways to soothe yourself physically and
mentally, right? Well color is one of my favorite tools when designing homes for
women with arthritis but if it’s used incorrectly it can be as much hindrance
as help. There are thousands upon thousands of paint colors which can be both a
blessing and a curse. 

Arthritis
is a heat generating illness. When choosing paint for your home, you want pale,
cool and slightly muted colors. Keep color contrasts to a minimum and remember
to consider trims and wood finishes in your overall color schemes.

Use flat
finishes in your living room, dining room, entry and bedrooms; velvet or
eggshell in the kitchen and bathrooms (these soft, semi washable finishes are
appropriate for most surfaces), satin which is washable and stain resistant, is
good for high traffic areas like hallways and kids’ rooms, and semi-gloss on
doors, trim, molding and cabinetry. Gloss is also good for cabinetry, doors,
trim and molding but make sure your surface is in excellent condition because
gloss shows every imperfection. Gloss is also highly washable.

Dunn
Edwards

I
worked with an extraordinary color expert Marie Brown, LEED AP ID + C at my
local Dunn Edwards to come up with these beautiful colors. Dunn Edwards paint
colors are often preferred by interior designers. They are quality paints with
a more affordable price per gallon than Pratt and Lambert.

Winter
Morn DET 617, light gray

Silver
Setting DE 6359, a versatile, complex, light gray (gorgeous on my new kitchen
and bath cabinets!)

Porpoise
DE 6373, one of DE’s most popular light grays

Miner’s
Dust DEC 786, DE’s most popular medium gray beige (this “greige” is a little
darker, and would be lovely in a powder room)

Fine
Grain DE 6213, a light gray, that is at once cool and warm.

Clear
Vision DE 5875, pale blue

Polar
Ice DE 5798, pale blue

Morning
Mist DEW 388, pale blue

Mist
Spirit DE 6302, pale celadon

Lightning
Bolt DE 6295, pale celadon

Windy
Sky DE 6288, pale celadon

Cool
Frost DE 5931, soft lavender

Whisper
DEW 340, one of DE’s most popular whites and with good reason

White
Picket Fence DET 648, another of DE’s most popular whites

Cool
December DEW 383, white

Foggy
Day DE 6226, taupe-gray (Greige)

Pratt
and Lambert 

One
of my favorite paint companies is a boutique company called Pratt and Lambert.
Their colorist Cynthia and I devised these color selections just for you! They
are pale, soft and cooling, just what you need to soothe pain and cool your
inflammation. 

What
I love about Pratt and Lambert is that their pigment content is high, giving
their paint much more depth and complexity than the others. I prefer their top
of line, Accolades formula. 

Some
paint companies change, discontinue and add to their formulas so whatever
company you go with, always ask for their current, premium paint formulation.
Be willing to pay the extra money for it and it will not only look stunningly
beautiful, it also won’t need to be repainted for at least ten years. My Pratt
and Lambert paints at last count are eight years old and I still sigh when I
walk in my home. High quality paints have depth, character, better coverage,
are easier to clean, last longer, have fewer toxins and are easier on the
home’s inhabitants and the environment in general. Those represent considerable
value, even if you pay $20 more per gallon.

Cynthia
at Pratt and Lambert was kind enough to help me choose some beautiful paint
colors for you.

Chanteuse
25-27 is a beautiful pale blue green.

Chervil
22-30 is a pale celadon.

Hare
2-31 is a soft lavender.

Summer
Sky 22-31 is a soft gray-green.

Phantom
11-31 (my living room, entry, dining room, stairwell and halls are Phantom in
Pratt and Lambert’s Accolades flat finish and it’s giving me years of sigh
inducing, visual pleasure, every time I come home!)

Smokestain
Rose 3-1, a muted rose

Half
and Half 7-2, white  

My
other favorite is Half and Half, a creamy white with skin flattering
undertones, perfect for the master bedroom, bathrooms and dressing room. My
master bedroom is painted in the flat Accolades Half and Half and also the
doors, crown molding, and base molding. It is quite frankly the most beautiful
creamy white I’ve ever come across. How often do you actually notice white?
Well this one is impossible to ignore.

How
to Test Paint

Buy
a small amount and paint it on two 8 x 10 pieces of paperboard. Test the color
by holding the papers up or taping them close together, wrapped around a corner,
opposite the windows. Test in multiple spots during different times of the day.
Look at them against plain white paper, and look at many different, yet similar
colors side by side to get an accurate idea about each color. 

Choosing
Trims and Ceilings

This
next part is a bit more advanced than what we’ve been talking about so far. If
you have crown molding, choosing ceiling paint is quite a bit easier. But if
you don’t, my choices below are the solution. 

Use
the whites for ceilings. Use a flat finish. Also use these whites for cabinets,
doors and trim, in a semi-gloss or gloss finish, but only if your surfaces are
in excellent condition.

Choosing
dark accent walls is problematic. Though painters are willing to “cut in” paint
color changes from wall to ceiling it never looks professional when there is a
noticeable color contrast without crown molding to divide it. To be honest, I
never liked the accent wall look to begin with. It looks great in Starbucks and
other commercial applications but not in residences, and particularly not in
today’s residences where the open floor plan is so prevalent. With all pale wall
and ceiling colors there is little color contrast so you can go with a white
ceiling if you like or even match the ceiling to the wall color. As long as
they are soft and pale like the colors I’ve chosen for you below (with the
exception of Miner’s Dust), the magnifying effect of colors bouncing off one
another will be minimal.

Go get a copy of my new book Shiree’s Interior Design and Lifestyle Tips. It’s
chock full of lifestyle goodness. It’s up on our beautiful, newly remodeled website
now!

Live
beautifully, eat beautifully.

Shiree’