Luxury Living with Debrae Little

Unknown Speaker 0:00
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Unknown Speaker 0:40
Hi. This is Dave Bray, little interior designer with luxury living with Debre. Today, we'll be speaking with Lori Clark. She's senior design account executive with Sherman Williams, and she's worked directly with residential interior designers like myself for several years. Welcome Lori,

Unknown Speaker 1:06
thank you.

Unknown Speaker 1:07
So we're going to start out tell us a little bit about who Sherman Williams is. Gotcha.

Unknown Speaker 1:12
Well, we've been in business for over 150 years. We are an international paint company, and we have distribution, like I said, internationally. We have over 5000 stores just in the US, and then in Canada and South America. And then in my work with interior designers, lots of interior designers do work with clients that have bases in Europe and different countries over the pond, if you will, and we have distribution over there as well. So it's been really great, you know, we've just, you know, started as a teeny little paint company in Cleveland, Ohio, where, you know, the paint world begins for us, and then just have really branched out there since then.

Unknown Speaker 1:58
That's an amazing time. And so you've always specialized as a paint expert. Because I know from time to time, every year I receive invites for your I believe what's the color mix that you provide, and you work with interior designers correct?

Unknown Speaker 2:14
And so my job with the company, I just celebrated 19 years with Sherwin Williams. And yes, I know it's been just really fabulous. So what my job is is I work with professional interior designers such as yourself to make sure that you have all of our color tools to select paint and color. I advise designers on what product would be best for their clients usage? I do different informational sessions and continuing education units on things like paint, which is not boring at all. I think it's really fascinating. It's just kind of the basics of paint all the way to what like those Color Forecast colors are for the following year. So it's been a fun ride for me. I've really enjoyed it, and I love working with designers and helping them kind of bring their designs to life.

Unknown Speaker 3:09
Oh, that's amazing. Well, we appreciate those services. You've pretty much answered my next question was, what services do you provide to residential designers? And I think you've kind of covered that, that and that you advise and you offer solutions, you provide the tools that they need. They may need to select the the right paint color for their clients, that they serve correct and ultimately, I'm going to say that I this probably, I'm sure this benefits the homeowners, because they come in and they are working with interior designers who know the different types of paint that's that should be used, the different finishes, what one paint will do versus like using paint in a kitchen versus what you might use in a bathroom. And so I can see how all of this expertise that you offer could benefit a homeowner. But what are the just a little the basics for for our listeners who are not aware, what are the various qualities of pink, and why would you choose one over the other? So that's

Unknown Speaker 4:05
such a good question. And a lot of people think that paint is just color, and certainly that's what we see. We see the color, and that's the fun part, but really the mechanism of the paint, you really want to make sure you're using a good quality product. I think we've all experienced that situation where we have paint on the wall and we go to, like, wipe off a stain or something, and not only does the stain not come off, but the paint comes off. So we don't want that to happen. And so there's lots of different qualities. And so for the designers who like seek out my help, I will kind of guide them into which product would be best for their client. So your client, for instance, might have a retirement home, and maybe they're there a month out of the year. And you know, there's just not aware lot of wear and tear go. Going on, and they don't really need the top of the line, the best of the best, but maybe it's a family with, you know, a bunch of children the soccer team is over on Friday night, or bouncing the balls off the walls, you know, kind of things like that. And you really need something that can wash up really well. And so we have all of those different types of products that, you know, from just kind of like, let me just put some basic paint on the wall, because I'm selling the place, and I want it to look good, and I need maybe a more budget friendly option to I'm going to paint this wall, and I never want to paint again. Because even though paint is easy. Everyone's like, Oh, it's so easy to change the color. It really is a pain point for us. Like, we've got to take our pictures off, we've got to move the furniture so when you paint your walls, you don't want to do it again unless you want to change the color. And so, you know, that's what I kind of advise the designers like, which product work best for them based

Unknown Speaker 5:59
on their particular client that they're serving. I understand, because, yeah, if you can certainly, if you have an active household, and you have children who were about and those that might even decide they want to draw on the walls, and that's the canvas, then you need a paint that is definitely hands up to hang. What stands up to those type of challenges, what's the what's the difference between interior and exterior paint? And can you actually use exterior paint in your inside of your home for those times where you have that active child who might try to write on your wall? Does it really make a difference? I mean, is that a possibility?

Unknown Speaker 6:37
It absolutely does make a difference. So your exterior products have like insecticides and different types of things on them that hold up to UV resistance, and we really, really recommend that you not use them on the interior of the home, because they will off gas, VOCs and things like that that outside are not bothersome because it's outside, but inside, in a closed environment, it could definitely be off gaping where it could be problematic for the inhabitants of that space. But we do make products inside that are extremely washable, gain resistant, burnish resistant, things like that. And so I know for me, in my own home, one of my favorite products that we have that I've used since I started with Sherwin Williams, is our duration home, and that's an interior product that comes in a number of different machines, but is, again, washable. You can just go up with a rag and kind of wipe it right off. It's stain resistant. So like, stains won't soak into it again. You can kind of wipe them right off, and it's burnish resistant. So if you've ever gone up and you're like, Oh, that's a really heavy stain, let me kind of scrub it really hard, and what happens is you end up burnishing the paint. So this particular product is burnish resistant. I kind of say it's like, indestructible. I mean, I've had it in my home, and it has definitely been tested. And the only reason I've repainted is because I wanted to change the color. My husband was like, why are we painting again? I thought this was indestructible. I'm like, I just want a different color. Now, you know, and that's the only reason you should have to paint, not because the paint wore out or that it's a mess, right? It should be like, Well, I just want a different color now. Well,

Unknown Speaker 8:29
that's where does interior designers like myself come in, because we're gonna take on a project, and it's, it's time for the refresh. It's time for a facelift. Let's try out a new color. But you mentioned, yeah, you mentioned sheens, which is very important, because that's an area that I find myself taking time to explain to homeowners on many occasions, and them not understanding the difference between a flat or a satin or a semi gloss, and why one is used over the other. I remember years ago, everyone used semi gloss on their walls at one time, including the baseboards, thinking that that was the most sustainable and durable paint. But why don't you enlighten us about the particular sheens and where you would use one or another absolutely

Unknown Speaker 9:14
and you're correct. Years ago, it was like flat on the ceiling, eggshell on the walls and in bathrooms and kitchens, it was always semi Glock. And so what we've moved to is, you know, with science and technology, we're able to get a lower sheen product that is washable and stain resistant and all of those things. So I spoke a little bit about duration home being my favorite product. It actually comes in a flat, a matte, a satin and a semi cloth in my home, in my bathrooms, in my kitchen, I have a matte finish, and it's beautiful. It handles anything perfectly, and I don't have to have that high sheen. So. So much like you in Las Vegas, I'm in Phoenix, so we have a lot of light, and I don't need any more shine. So now, with these types of products, that you can actually pick the shame based on your design. So maybe you have a powder room that's really chic and you want that, like semi gloss or gloss finish, you know, you it's part of that design. You can choose that, but you don't have to have it just because it's in a bathroom, because these products are engineered to be able to withstand steam. You know, I know in a lot of bathrooms, when people wash their hands, I know my children did instead of, like, having a towel right there for them to dry their hands off, they kind of wing their hands around and the water, like, kind of slaps onto the wall before they get to the towel. And so you end up with this water stain. But these products that won't happen, because they're kind of, they're kind of, they don't have, like, open pores, if you will. They're kind of closed so it doesn't absorb that, and you just wipe it right off, which is fantastic. No,

Unknown Speaker 11:03
that is, that's, that's good to know. Now see that I learned something today. I wasn't, I wasn't aware of that. I mean, I think that I've gotten myself into just always using the satin but now that I understand of the understanding of duration home, and how that can be available in a matte finish, and I can really custom my paint selections better for my new clients coming on board. Laura,

Unknown Speaker 11:27
what's the difference between the flat and the matte finish? So the flat

Unknown Speaker 11:31
is like a like a dead flat. There's really, really no sheen on it. So when you look at it dead on, you just won't see any shine or anything like that. And when you look at it from the side, you won't see any shine. The matte is just a step above that. And so, you know, if you've got the sun kind of coming through the window, or you have a light bulb that's leaning on it, you might get a little side sheen, but not a whole lot. I mean, I've been very, very happy with it. I have it throughout my house in that matte finish. So that's the difference, I will tell you. We do have some products that have that washable flat that will perform like that. Those are definitely our higher end products, like our designer or designer edition product, or emerald designer edition has a flat that is totally washable, that you could put in spaces that really have that wash ability and just kind of to touch on, just sheen again, you know, a lot of times here in the southwest, particularly, a lot of homes have texture on the wall. And so that texture, you know, when you go up in sheen, it just looks even shinier on that texture. It's like little mirrors all over the place reflecting light. So with texture, we always like to go just a lower sheen so that we don't have that much shine, unless, again, like I say, that is part of that design element. Okay, thank you.

Unknown Speaker 12:59
I see that. Yeah, so what? What tools are there available to homeowners to help select paint and color? I mean, I'm there as the as the professional that that sits between the paint company and the homeowner. But if there, I have clients these days that are very inquisitive and want to educate themselves, and that's part of my job as well, is to educate them on a paint selection in general. But what what tools does Sherman Williams offer that particular to offer clients?

Unknown Speaker 13:29
So obviously, we have over 5000 stores nationwide, so they can go into any of our stores and pick up a small paint chip. I think it's like two inches by three inches. Then, of course, we also have our peel and dip colors that are available in the store for purchase, but if they wanted to go online to Sherwin williams.com there's a whole area where they can upload a picture and kind of drop and load the color if they want. We have our color snap app, which they can also take a picture on their phone or their iPad and kind of play around with it and see how the color looks. So that's really great because, you know, they can kind of play with it at home and be like, do I want green? Do I want blue? Do I like red in this face? And it just kind of gives you just kind of a quick vision of that. I think those tools are also great when we're looking at, like, repainting our exteriors. Like, do I want the bump out to be a different color? And certainly HOAs kind of feed that right. Your HOA might say, like, oh, you can only pick, you know, these particular palettes, but again, you can take a picture and kind of upload it and be able to kind of see how that looks. And like, oh, maybe I want more beige, or I want more gray or whatever. So we have all kinds of stuff on our website, on the app, again, Sherwin williams.com and just ways for them to kind of play with it. They can again, go into the stores to get the paint chips or the peel and stick samples, or, I think you can also order those online. So if. They could do it from the comfort of their own home if they wanted to. You know,

Unknown Speaker 15:02
those are all great, wonderful tools that I will pass along to my clients as well. And of course, those that listen to the podcast, I'll pick up those those ideas and those notes as well. We touched on briefly when we were talking about exterior paints in terms of off gasses and voc. I'm my question is, let's talk specifically about paying for those that are concerned with their health and safety. You know, these days, there's a lot of everyone has like air purifiers. They're they're concerned about the sustainability. They're concerned about their health in general and trying to choose products that are safe for their home and their family. I'm just wondering if there is anything that any recommendations that you make in terms of paints for the interior that take those considerations into into play when selecting a paint, a paint for the interior of your home, absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 16:01
So I will say that all of our interior products are residential interiors. You know, there's different kind of subsections, right, commercial interiors, things like that, but for residential interiors, all of our interior products are either low VOC or zero voc, and that's mandated by the EPA. And because we're a national company, international company, you know, South Coast Air Quality Management in Southern California has some of the most stringent voc requirements in the country. And so as a company, we don't want to manufacture one paint for California, one paint for Ohio, one paint for Las Vegas. So we make sure that all of our residential interior products meet those specifications, so we all kind of benefit from those strict regulations. And so all of our interior products are low odor. The odor you don't, you know, doesn't smell so much. And low VOC, which is that volatile organic compounds, those are the things that can get into your lungs and kind of bother you. So low VOC is 50 grams per liter or less, and zero feet. Zero voc is obviously zero. And then, in addition to that, all of our colorants. So when you decide what color you want, all of those colorants that go into that paint are zero voc so we're not adding to any of like the VOC count in any of that product that is going into our residential interior. Now on top of that, we do have a particular product called our super paint air purifying product. And that is a big thing to say, right? It is air purifying product, but it is exactly what it does. So what it does is, when you put it on your in your space interiors, it will actually purify the air and remove voc off gassing from other building materials. So when you put carpet in, that carpet glue has them VOCs. When you put cabinet in or furniture, all of those building materials have them VOCs that are off gassing. This particular product actually takes all those voc gasses and neutralizes them. Please, don't ask me how it happens. I'm not a scientist, so it does that, but it also, but wait, there's more, right? It also will help to reduce odors in the space. So let's say you know your client has you know one of their children is like on the football team or the hockey team, and they come home after practice and kind of throw everything into the closet, and the closet, you know, it starts to smell a little right? This is the type of product that actually, again, absorbs all those odors, or, I know, for me, right? Like I love making brussels sprouts, but boy, like my little kitchen really smells like Brussels sprouts for a day or so after it can absorb all of those odors. So that's our super paint, air purifying. And that's something that a lot of people have really found some satisfaction in being able to again, absorb those VOCs that are off gassing from other building material, and then also absorb different ambient odors that are in the space, and the product itself is low odor, low VOC. So it kind of meets all those needs.

Unknown Speaker 19:25
I have a question about the off gassing. How long do carpets and cabinets, you know, say this is a new build? How long does the off gassing occur? Is this forever in a day, right?

Unknown Speaker 19:39
So I couldn't speak to those particular products, but I do know for paint in general, that off gassing will occur for about 30 days. Okay? So usually within 30 days, your indoor air quality is returned to normal. So a lot of times you paint like no one lives in the space and your pain. Training and what have you, and you're fine. I really couldn't speak to other building materials. That's not my specialty, so I don't know, okay, but the one thing I would say is think about a new car, right? I bought a new car last year, and we just love that new car smell, right? It's like, Oh, I love this. It's a new car smell. I think that probably kind of smells like that for a good probably three to four months, maybe up to six months, we had that new car smell. Well, that new car smell that is off gassing from all the materials. I don't know if I like it so much anymore, right?

Unknown Speaker 20:34
Oh, that is so funny. What a revelation. I never equated that. Thanks for that bit of information. Boy, I know, right, but I am excited about that product that you mentioned in terms of absorbing odors. So that's that works for clients that have pets or just kids like you say we play soccer. And of course, for me, that seems like that might be a favorite in my house, household, because Fridays are fish Fridays, and so the smell of cooking catfish or snap or any of those kind of things like it can be avoided with that pain. So that's good to know

Unknown Speaker 21:16
well. And I'll tell you, when we came up with this technology, we tested it in cigar rooms. Wow. So we had one cigar room with and one cigar room without, and noticeable difference, as you can imagine.

Unknown Speaker 21:30
Well, yeah, because that, well, that's, you know what? That's very interesting. Because, I mean, obviously we have a clientele that's expansive, and some clients are still smokers, and that this type of paint would be do wonders for their household, for those that are non smokers who live in the household. So I definitely think that's amazing. Well, let me ask you about professional painters. Now, if a client is seeking to which they often do, I'll start a project, and they'll they'll have a painter that they've used before, that they love, and I'll succumb and say, Okay, we'll use your painter. And oftentimes their painters are maybe just doing small projects or touch ups or things like that. Is there what's the best way to select a painter as a profession? I mean a professional painter. I have, of course, those tools in my tool bag, but oftentimes, I think a client may go on their own and decide to hire a professional painter themselves. What's the best recommendations or the best things to consider when selecting a professional painter?

Unknown Speaker 22:37
Well, I think that your client should always go with a recommendation by you, because it's obviously someone that you've worked with before. But if they're going to go it alone and try to find somebody, I mean, there's obviously sites that you can check that are Business Bureau, the contractors, licensing board, you always want to make sure you're hiring licensed professionals. And the other thing is, is, you know, you might have a painter that just kind of scribbles a, you know, an estimate on a piece of paper for them, or they might take the time to really kind of detail out what it is going to cost them for that particular project. And so, you know, I always think it's important to get a number of different estimates, to talk to a number of different contractors, and then kind of really decide for yourself what works best for you and your family. And, you know, get referrals. I mean, if you're hiring a contractor, you want to talk to somebody who's worked with them before. You know, if they're going to go it alone, they can also go into any of our Sherwin Williams stores, and they always have, like, contractor business cards. They have, like, a whole recommendation board of people that you know are working with our products and understand our products. And of course, you as a designer can reach out to me, and I'll work with my local reps to find you know, someone who is, you know, familiar with the product and works in the area that your client is at all of those things. So I think it's just kind of doing your due diligence, right, like anything else, and just making sure you're you're picking the right person, right?

Unknown Speaker 24:12
I totally appreciate all of those helpful hands. I just have a few more questions for you before our time is up and I'm looking through the color anthology that I received recently, and looking through the brochure is very beautiful, and it displays various color blues and greens, and they're divided into different palettes. And the question I have is, in reviewing the brochure, I noticed that there is, there's a touch of black, and just about every every color way that's throughout the the paint scheme. So that leads me to the question of what metals or finishes complement certain colors. And it looks like in this particular book, The brochure, there's black. It. Is that, are you finding that black is still a dominant color, no matter whether you choose a really light palette or something that's a little moody and dramatic or or I'm finding that that seems like it works its way somewhere into the color palette or into the design? Well,

Unknown Speaker 25:16
black goes with everything, right? And our tricorn Black is our most popular black out there. It just doesn't, it doesn't have any undertones that you know will go blue or green or things like that. It's just really kind of like a pure black. And it really does work very well with most color palettes out there. And I think it's really just a preferential choice, right? Like, how do I want my face to be and and we always, in our color forecast and the palette that we put together, we always like to make sure that there's really a good selection of colors represented that people can pull from, you know, if they, if they want to use black in their space, there's one that they can choose to go with that palette, or they can, you know, opt out of it. I don't know if that answered your question or not, but no,

Unknown Speaker 26:06
it kind of did. I mean, I had other questions too, but I think we're kind of short on time, but we'll have to circle back at some point, because I wanted to talk to you a little bit about metallic paints and and they use today. It seems like they're on the rise, and they seem to complement a lot of the metal finishes that we're seeing out there. There's, you know, there is gold, and it's now antique gold. At one time in the 70s, it was probably like a high shine gold, but it's kind of tempered down and and just talking a little bit more about pairing, pairing of different finishes with, oh, yeah, some of the session on that, yeah. So maybe it looks like we might have a few minutes left to touch on that for a little bit. Are you? What about metallic paint? Is that something that Sherman Williams offers. So

Unknown Speaker 27:01
we do have a couple of vendors that we work with to offer metallic paint. So Sherwin Williams, we manufacture our own paint. All of our paint gets manufactured in different Sherwin Williams locations throughout the country and throughout the world. Really, we do not manufacture a metallic paint. So we again, we work with different vendors that have that metallic paint. The one thing I would tell you is that when working with any kind of specialty finish, whether it's like a metallic paint or like a clay finish or something like that, you always want to make sure you're working with a painting contractor that has done it before. Interestingly enough, metallic paint, you know, like, when I go to, like, paint my wall, I use a roller. I kind of roll everything on there with a metallic paint. You would really want more of a sprayed finish, because you want to make sure it's just, it almost looks like a piece of metal is up there, right, right? You want to make sure that painting contractor knows what they're doing. And again, coming into one of our stores, if you're you know, your clients would refer to you, and I can help you find some painters that know how to work with that so, and there's all different types of metallic paints out there. Like, it doesn't have to be silver, right? It could be blue, it could be purple, it could be gold, you know, any, any color of gold that's out there, if you think it, they probably make it. And we actually have vendors that we work with that that can also custom make those colors. So really, it's endless. It's, you know, you're let your imagination run wild, and we could probably do it. You know,

Unknown Speaker 28:39
I appreciate that. I appreciate your sharing with us your wisdom and tips and ideas and current trends for paint.

Unknown Speaker 28:48
It's always a pleasure to glean from you. Lori, we sure appreciate you taking the time to be on the podcast. Well, I

Unknown Speaker 28:56
appreciate the opportunity. Thank you so much. Yes, yes.

Unknown Speaker 29:00
So Debray, another podcast in the books. You want to tell everyone about Debray, little podcasts and how they can listen to you, where they can listen. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 29:12
you can find luxury living with Debray, wherever you find podcasts. And I look forward to speaking to you On our next installment, KU envy 91.5 you

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