PPG Paints: The Color's the Thing

Paint color is personal.

My self-proclaimed and friend-certified eye for color evolved over years of renovating my Mt. Lebanon home. With a growing family and changing needs, painting was the simplest, most economical way to spruce up our living space. As a kid, I always tagged along to the hardware store with my dad and my favorite spot was the brightly lit wall with the rainbow of paint chips. It was magical.

 In 1973, when I convinced my parents, against their better judgment that bright orange and nearly-neon yellow was "where it's at" for my bedroom, I got rave reviews not only from my adolescent friends, but from my parents and their peers as well. Maybe I was born with it, or maybe it's Maybelline, but somewhere along the road of life, color became an integral part of almost every decision. From mundane (plastic salad tongs at Ikea) to grand (the brick exterior of my home), I am borderline-obsessed with choosing the right shade.  

Over the years, friends have asked me for color advice. My painter, a former ad man, has photographed my walls and catalogued my color choices to share with other clients. It's natural to me to choose a red-yellow (warm) over a blue-yellow (cool), or to reject a white for being too pink. It is also important that my whole palette is compatible. It is so inviting to look through one room into another and have complementary colors pull you along.

It turns out Pittsburgh is the perfect place to live when you love color. Picture our yellow bridges, the red incline, the black and gold of Heinz Field, and the blue seats at the baseball diamond–a custom color designed specifically for PNC Park. Pittsburgh is synonymous with Pittsburgh Paints.

Known nationally as a brand trusted by contractors, designers and consumers for over 100 years, PPG Pittsburgh Paints is a global leader with 120 manufacturing facilities in 23 countries around the world. PPG is a color trend leader as well.  Like nearly all retailers, they use the Color Marketing Group and various web sites to project color trends. In addition, Pittsburgh Paints conducts independent color research at shows worldwide and employs PPG stylists all over the globe to gather and project international color trends--successfully predicting new cell phone colors six months out, and automobile exterior colors five years out.

Founded in 1883, PPG's world headquarters remains here in Pittsburgh and the company invests hundreds of millions of dollars annually in developing new and improved products and processes to adapt to new markets. For example, they now offer LEED-certified green paints with zero volatile organic compounds now used in schools, hospitals, hotels.

Locally, PPG paints adorn the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, and the dazzling new  color-coded Children's Hospital, and soon, the new Penguin's arena. They also hold the exclusive color palette for the Fallingwater renovations. (Click here to learn about Frank Lloyd Wrights' approach to color.)

According to Dee Schlotter, The Voice of Color brand manager for Pittsburgh Paints, store displays and the on-line Color Sense Game do their job–they invite you in. Next to the nostalgic wall of paint chips, you'll find convenient sample pots (enough to cover a 2'x 2' area in two coats) available for about $3.99 each to avoid timely mistakes in color choices.

Limerick. Crumb Cookie. Cool Lagoon. Oregon Trail. Color choice is personal and associated with moods on all levels – from the soft, compassionate pinks and browns of post-9/11 to the grays and neutrals popular during today's economic environment, color is not only what we see, it reflects how we feel.

Dee Schlotter agrees. "The impact of color is twofold; combining the visual response and the emotional response," she says. "It's said that when Helen Keller walked into a red room, she could literally sense its color by the vibrations around her."

As a color connoisseur I never imagined I could take an on-line quiz and actually rely on its results. But, not only was this interactive survey engaging and fun, it was also accurate. By selecting photos, written descriptions, and activities, all based on the five senses, this quick and easy quiz does just what a well-chosen palette should do--it draws you in. The Color Sense Game rewards your self-reflection by handing you a magic wand–your color personality! Color is subjective, and on this site your moods, needs, and emotions are mixed together to create the perfect palette.  So check it out and discover the hue that is you.

Initially, upon clicking through my color quiz, I was surprised, and perhaps a little humbled, that this on-line questionnaire could successfully place me into a color category. But after meandering through the on-screen rooms and carefully considering the corresponding color cards, I glanced away from my computer, through my own 3D living room, dining room and kitchen, and realized that Pop Art, with Desert Spice tendencies, really does represent me. This online assessment was right on! And speaking of right on -- that 70's bedroom masterpiece I was so fond of would fit right in with my Pop Art color personality.

Try it for yourself, click here.

Beth Evans is a colorful freelance writer from Mt. Lebanon.

Captions: Beth Evans; Dee Schlotter

Photographs copyright Brian Cohen