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July 22, 2008
Ellen Kennon Paint
Has anyone used Ellen Kennon full spectrum paint and if so is it worth the extra money? Thanks.
Comments
I've heard of full-spectrum lighting (basically a little-worthy marketing hype) but what is full-spectrum paint?
Posted by: cmu at July 22, 2008 12:29 PM
I've used Donald Kaufman paint, another full-spectrum brand that's comparably priced to Ellen Kennon, and it was worth it. I picked all DK colors and then my contractor had a paint store custom blend Benjamin Moore paints to try and color-match the DK colors (about 3x cheaper). There was one color that kept coming out orange with BM paints, no matter how much the paint store tweaked the mix, but the original DK color was a beautiful color somewhere between gold, nectarine, peach and rose. That one room was a showpiece room anyway, and I never regretted paying the extra for the DK paint.
CMU, my basic understanding of full-spectrum paint is that it uses the full spectrum of colors to achieve its shades, so there's more 'depth' and richness to the colors. Most standard paints mix a few pigments, then adjust the tone using black; full-spectrum uses every other color EXCEPT black to change the tone. So: for a white paint with a hint of gray, the paint company can either add in drops of black OR mix two opposite colors on the color wheel, like green and red, to achieve a darker muddy color with more complexity than black, and add that to the white.
From what I've seen, full-spectrum paint generates the same sort of passion that 'recessed lighting in a brownstone - yes or no' generates on this forum. Some say it's all marketing hype; others think it's worth the money.
Posted by: zeebee_in_bklyn at July 22, 2008 1:06 PM
zeebee - Thanks for responding and for explaining what full spectrum paint actually is. I never would have been able to as well as you did. lol
Posted by: valerieann at July 22, 2008 2:22 PM
You're welcome! I hope some DIYers or painters will weigh in with their opinions too.
One of my favorite sites to search for home questions is Garden Web home forums at http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/. There are two forums, Paint and Home Decorating, that have long threads about full spectrum paint and Ellen Kennon in particular, if you do a search once at those forums.
Posted by: zeebee_in_bklyn at July 22, 2008 3:03 PM
Thanks zb...that certainly seems less hype than the lighting thing (which I do know about); at least it's sorta intuitive.
Posted by: cmu at July 22, 2008 4:38 PM
If you've ever tried to match a color in a photo...I made myself crazy one time trying to get that perfect shade of orange too. Now I understand why I couldn't. Color is so fascinating- and when the light comes into play it can make or break your room. Having recently repainted my bathroom 5 times until I found the color I was happy with, I think next time I'll look for full spectrum paint.
Posted by: bxgrl at July 22, 2008 7:44 PM
I have used Ellen Kennon's paints (and use them for all my decorating clients) and they are fabulous! They cannot be copied--well, maybe they can come close to getting the "color" right, but when the knock-off paint is applied to the wall, it won't have the depth and luminosity her paints have. (I know, because I can't tell you how many clients' painters have tried!) Once you live with full spectrum paints, all other walls look dead. I found her discussed frequently on Gardenweb and HGTV decorating forums as she has a huge following--not just for such great colors, but also because she's known as "the Nordstrom's of customer service"!
Posted by: gardenlover at July 24, 2008 10:39 AM
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