One of the most prominent features of most homes here in the Los Angeles area is the garage door (or more often, doors!). Because they are such a large surface, these doors play a large part in creating the overall look of your home exterior. That's why it's important to keep your garage doors looking great! So, the question is, "Should I paint my garage doors?"

If your garage doors are made of wood, there is no reason to hesitate in painting them. Especially if you can see any places where the paint is beginning to fail, it is vital that you have your garage doors recoated soon. If your doors are stained rather than painted, the same principle applies.

Should Metal Garage Doors Be Painted?

If your garage doors are steel or aluminum, there may be a reason to hesitate before painting them. The reason is that they come from the factory with an extremely durable finish, sometimes called "baked enamel" or "powdercoat." This factory finish will normally last for a long time and require very little maintenance. However, if you paint over the baked enamel, it will need to be maintained every 5 to 10 years.
That said, if your house is in need of updating for some reason, it will probably be worth it to you to paint your garage doors. There are several reasons someone might do this:

• the existing paint is wearing out (chalking, rusting, peeling).
• the house has been repainted, and the garage doors no longer match.
• the house looks drab with too much of the same color, and the garage doors could provide an attractive contrast.
• you are ready for a change in the look of your house, but you are not ready for a complete repainting.

Whatever reasons you may have for wanting to paint your garage doors, A. Allbright Painting is here to help. We provide reliable, top-notch painting services to Valencia and the whole Los Angeles region. Contact us for a free estimate for garage painting and much more!

When choosing colors for your home exterior, there is not a single “right way” to do it (though there are undoubtedly some wrong ones!). As an exterior house painter, A. Allbright Painting is happy to provide a few tips on how to choose colors for your house. Just remember, in the end it’s not about what the experts say—it’s your house; choose what you like!

One of the best ways to begin is to just start looking around at other people’s home exterior as you drive around. Keep your eyes open for ideas that you like; use your cell phone to take pictures of ones that stand out to you, so you can remember. Pay special attention to other homes in your area. You don’t need to do the same thing that they do, but you don’t want to clash either. Also take note of homes that are built in a similar style to yours. Houses that are constructed in the same architectural style usually have certain colors and designs that tend to look good on them.

Another way to choose exterior house colors is to use online photo sites, like Pinterest or Houzz. Houzz is an especially effective source of ideas, since you can search through the photos very efficiently, and everything on the site is especially for home design. As you see ideas you like, you can create a collection of your favorites.

Here in the Los Angeles area, the most common colors are shades of brown, gray and tan. These neutrals are a safe choice (though not very creative), looking good on just about any home. If you stay with these classic tones, the way to distinguish your home is by creative and careful use of bold accents. If you walls are a lighter color (and they probably should be), then go with darker colors for the trim. Again, the typical choice is to go with darker neutrals: gray, blue-gray, khaki, brown, and so on.

Feel free to diverge from these classics, and you will really draw attention to your home exterior!

" style=" border-width: 2px; border-style: solid; margin: 3px; float: right;" width="175" height="257" }The place to really be distinguished is on the minor details, like your front door, or the window shutters if you home has them. One common rule of thumb for color design is 60-30-10. That means that 60% of your home is one dominant color, 30% is a complimenting color, and 10% is a standout accent. Your front door is the best place for a rich blue, a deep red, or another pop of color.

When you choose your exterior painting contractor, they can also help you with your color choices. For example, we here at A. Allbright offer a professional color consultation service, so that you can exchange ideas with an expert, and end up with a color scheme that makes your home the envy of the neighborhood!

For more advice on choosing colors for your home exterior, or to get a free estimate for exterior painting services in the Los Angeles area, contact A. Allbright Painting today!

There are a million (or so) colors you can choose from for your interior painting, but one thing that most paints can’t do is change every day. Whiteboard paint, however, offers you the opportunity of painting an interior wall so that it can change daily, hourly even, and be a place for creativity, organization and collaboration. Whether you are looking at painting your home or office, whiteboard paint is a fantastic way to break the monotony!

Whiteboard Paint in Homes

How many times have you been on the phone and you just couldn’t find a pencil and paper? Or you wrote an important note for a family member, and it fell to the floor unnoticed? A whiteboard wall is a great solution for this. Create a family noteboard right on the wall, with a cup of markers underneath, so your important numbers, notes and reminders can be written and seen by all. Whiteboard paint is also a great idea for kids’ rooms; provide an artistic canvas for children, so that they can play tic-tac-toe and draw lovely landscapes to their hearts’ content, without doing any damage to the room.

A whiteboard wall does not need to actually cover the whole wall. Using a few pieces of trim, a simple frame can be constructed so that only a tidy portion of the wall becomes a whiteboard.

Whiteboard Paint in Offices

Memos, ideas, diagrams… there are a thousand ways to use whiteboard paint to good advantage in an office.

• create a whole idea wall, where team brainstorming or large-scale planning can have free rein!
• create a message board, where memos and reminders can be posted
• create a doodle wall, where employees can express some creativity on break times

Unleash Your Creativity!

Whether large or small, personal or official, a whiteboard wall is a great way to get information expressed and communicated. It can also have magnetic paint behind it, further increasing the usefulness of this already versatile surface.

As a commercial and residential painting contractor, A. Allbright painting is an excellent choice for installing your whiteboard paint, at home or in the office. We can help you refine your ideas and produce a work or social area that is both attractive and functional. Based in Valencia, we serve the Santa Clarita Valley and the whole Los Angeles area.

Photos are from IdeaPaint, a leading manufacturer of whiteboard paint.

Whenever you undertake a project in the home, it is important to go about it in the right order. For example, you need to mount a coat rack firmly to the wall before hanging coats on it, otherwise the results will be thoroughly unsatisfying! This is also true of choosing colors for painting your home interior. If you start in the wrong place or go about it with the wrong method, you might end up very unhappy with the results. So how do you choose colors for your home interior?

Choosing Paint Colors: Begin with a Connecting Areas

The important consideration when choosing color for your home is that all of the spaces have a continuity and sense of connectedness. Otherwise, the process of walking from one room to another will cause a visual jolt, rather than a smooth transition. The way to achieve this harmonious effect is by beginning with the connecting areas.

Connecting areas of the home are those which have walls that extend into other areas of the home, such as the foyer or entry area, hallways and stairwells. In homes with a very open floor plan, the main gathering room of the house can also be considered a connecting area. The color you choose for the walls in this space is going to branch out into the other areas of the home, providing a consistent foundation that you can build on in each separate area of the house.

Generally, the connecting areas of the home are not the places to express extreme individuality. Begin with a relatively neutral color that is easy to coordinate with. Use something lighter, rather than dark, and avoid anything too close to white. Here in the Los Angeles area, earth tones are a popular choice, as they keep the visual temperature at a cooler level and are easy to build on. The tan, beige and grey color families are a safe place to start, and they can come in warmer or cooler tones, with hints of yellow, brown, blue or green.

If you would like to use a variety of colors in the home, the best choice for your baseboards, trim and crown moldings is white. This provides a crisp, classic look that makes a satisfying visual border and transition between spaces. Once you have the foundation and trim colors chosen, it is time to branch out into the other areas of your home.

When you choose colors for rooms that are self-contained, you have a large degree of freedom when you choose your colors. Since the rest of the house will not be seen from that room, and the room is not seen from other parts of the house, the color choices in the room can be distinct in character. Nevertheless, use your foundation color as a guide, and use colors that coordinate with it in the room. The white trim will also help maintain a feeling of unity in the house.

If your rooms have glass doors or open doorways, you will want to closely tie your color choices to the foundation color. The different rooms of your house do not need to match each other, unless you can see into one from the other. All they need to do is work with the foundation color, and you are in great shape.

Finally, consider accent walls. Your large connecting spaces can be overwhelming if they are all one color. Try adding a splash of interest with a small accent wall, either coordinating with a piece of furniture in the room, or with a color from an adjacent room.

Many homeowners feel at a loss when it comes to choosing colors for their homes. That is why A. Allbright Painting offers expert color consultations for our clients. We work with your tastes and preferences, and we advise you on how various colors will look in your home lighting and environment. With long experience of painting and color, we are sure to produce the results you are hoping for!

Serving the Santa Clarita Valley and the Los Angeles area, A. Allbright Painting is a premium residential painting contractor.

When color alone has reached its limit for individuality and class, faux-finishing is the next frontier! Decorative finishing has come a long way from the sponge painting and rag rolling of the 80's, with innovative ideas and beautiful designs cropping up regularly across the Los Angeles area. One great way to create an eye-catching effect is by working with sheen to create patterned highlights.

The basic idea of this faux finishing technique is to paint the wall using a a flat or eggshell sheen, then paint a pattern on the wall using a higher-sheen version of the same color. One method for doing this is to add glaze to the pattern paint, giving it a translucent, pearly sheeen. Another option is to buy the same color in a satin or semi-gloss sheen. The greater the difference in sheen, the more noticeable and apparent the pattern will be.

A variant of this idea is to not only change the sheen of the pattern paint, but to also make it slightly lighter or darker than the wall color. However you choose to do it, the effect will be similar; a subtle and sophisticated pattern that will evoke the appearance of high-end wallpapers.

Choosing the Pattern.

One popular trend in the Santa Clarita Valley is to make shadow stripes, which are wide, vertical stripes that allow for a variety of options. They can go on just one wall, or around the perimeter of a whole room. Also, they can stretch from floor to ceiling, or if the room has a chair rail, they can be on either the lower or upper portion. Use caution to measure your stripes and tape them carefully, checking the verticality with a level.

Another variety found in some high-end Los Angeles homes is to use a stencil to create a repeating pattern across the wall. This could be a classic design, such as the fleur-de-lis, an abstract design, or even a vertical or diagonal checkered pattern. Again, use caution when placing the stencil to make sure the pattern is regular, and paint the stencil using a small paint brush.

One advantage to using this faux painting technique is that it acheives the same effect as certain wallpapers, but without the expensive hassle of removing it when you want something new.

A. Allbright Painting provides premium painting services to the Los Angeles area, including a variety of faux finishing techniques and mural painting. For shadow stripes, wood graining (faux-bois), stencils, murals, marbleizing, Venetian plaster and much more, contact us for an estimate.

Serving the Santa Clarita Valley and the broader L.A. region, A. Allbright Painting is your choice for superb residential and commercial painting.

Photo Credit

One of the best ways to get creative ideas for your home designs is to look at what other people have done. Since you can't just go prowling around people's mudrooms and bathrooms whenever you wish, a great tool for this purpose is the website Houzz. If you are planning to paint your home or make other redecorating decisions, take a look! As you browse the site, you can find great ideas for colors and designs that you like, and you can even rule out colors you know you don’t want as you run across them.

Houzz is similar to Pinterest, if you are familiar with that site, except Houzz is dedicated completely to home design and decoration. When you are going to paint your home, and want to look for ideas, you can create an “Ideabook” of photos you like. As you gather a collection of photos that pique your interest, you can look for patterns in the kind of colors and designs that seem to grab you. You could then choose the colors and carry out the design on your own, or show your favorite pictures to your painting contractor and ask, “Can you do this?”

One way to browse the Houzz website is by style. Just click the style name that interests you (Asian, Mediterranean, Tropical and more), and you will find thousands of inspiring pictures for your perusal.

Another method to use the site to find painting ideas is to “Browse by Space.” Click the part of your home that you want to redesign, and instantly find hundreds of amazing photos.

If you want to find out what trends and creative ideas are popular in a major city, you can “Filter by Metro.”  So whether you want to imitate the current styles of Albuquerque or London, Houzz can help!

If you want to search for a specific color or home feature, just type it into the search box at the top. For example, the search “blue curtains” instantly pulled up nearly 1,400 photos.

Finally, if you would like personal help for painting ideas from the Houzz community, you can create a question and post it on the site. Other participants are eager to respond with friendly and helpful advice for your specific situation.

These days, in the world of painting and redecorating, there are more options than ever, and the prospects are exciting, but also dizzying. If you want to paint your home interior, use any and all resources available to you to help make your choices clearer. One helpful resource offered by many professional painting contractors is a color consultation. A. Allbright Painting, based in the Santa Clarita Valley and serving the Los Angeles area, provides expert color consultations to ensure spectacular results.

We are honored to be featured in “The Signal” newspaper. The article, “ Paint your home like the pros,” describes tips that homeowners can use to give their homes an upgrade. Whether it’s protecting the wood with a thorough paint job to prevent peeling or decorating the inside of your home with the latest design painting techniques, homeowners have options. We are glad to be of service to our local paper and hope homeowners have a great time working on their homes.! To read the full article, please click here.

Here in Southern California, though we don't get much rain, we still can have problems with rotted wood. For Los Angeles homes near the ocean, the additional moisture can be the culprit. In most cases, however, the sun is the cause of our wood troubles. In the long hot months, exterior wood tends to dry out, crack, split and twist. One great solution to this issue is to use PVC trim, commonly referred to by the popular manufacterer's name, Azek.

Azek trim has a number of innate characteristics that can make it a great choice for replacing natural wood. Most importantly, it will not split, rot or crack. Very long pieces of PVC trim have been known to warp in prolonged sun exposure, but so does wood, and correct installation can minimize this risk.

Another advantage to PVC trim is that it is impervious to water and insect penetration, and is naturally resistant to mold and mildew growth. Of course, Azek comes in dozens of common dimensions and can be shaped with normal tools just like wood. This means that no matter the wood features of your home exterior, PVC trim can probably be formed to take its place.

Some homeowners elect to replace all of their exterior trim with PVC at one time, including window trim, fascia and door edging. For others, however, this can be an expensive proposition. A good middle-ground is to replace just a few pieces at a time, as needed. This allows you to restore the appearance and protection of your home gradually.

For those who enjoy the natural beauty in the grain and knot patterns in natural wood, PVC trim lacks a certain charm. The goal of trim, however, should not be to draw the eye to an individual piece of wood, but rather for that piece of wood to contribute to the outlines and design of the home. For this, Azek works just as good as, or possibly better than, natural wood.

Does your home exterior have places that are suffering from dry rot, splitting or twisting? Trim, decks, rails, and all kinds of wood are succeptible. A. Allbright Painting is committed to the health and beauty of your home, and we can replace your damaged woodwork with PVC or natural wood, according to your desire. Our craftsmen are true professionals, dedicated to doing each job with precision. Call us for a free project estimate, or schedule an appointment online.

Tired of your plain one color wall with no artwork?  Want to get creative in your home?  Take full advantage of your empty wall space with this popular painting technique called color blocking.  It’s a great way to add a punch of color to a plain wall or simply compliment the existing color with different hues. You can pair the rectangles next to each other to create an orderly design or overlap them as seen in the example below.  The important thing is to have fun with the process as you arrange the shapes how you like them.  Once you’ve completed the sketch it’s time to transfer them to the wall.  To create clean lines as you work make sure to use our recommended frog tape.  A level and a pencil might come in handy as well.

Happy painting and have an Allbright day!

We’d love to see your results, please share photos with us by e-mailing them to us at: ana@aallbright.com

Stucco is an incredibly durable, versatile product, and it has been a popular building material from Los Angeles to New York to Florida for over 100 years. The problem with enduring  materials, however, is that tastes, trends and styles don't last nearly so long, leaving many homeowners wondering what they can do do change the color of their stucco exteriors. The simple answer is, "Yes, you can paint your stucco."

One of the most popular products for painting stucco home exteriors is elastomeric paint. This clay-based product is waterproof and flexible. The fact that it is waterproof means that it will prevent the stucco from absorbing moisture, which could become trapped and cause mold and rot in the home. The flexibility means that it will expand and move along with the material underneath, so if hairline cracks develop, the elastomeric paint will stretch and continue to cover the spot.

An additional benefit to elastomeric paint here in Southern California is that it is fire-retardant, and some insurance companies will even give a discount or bonus for applying it to your home or business. Use a lighter color to reflect sunlight and keep your home cooler.

Some homeowners prefer to color and seal their stucco in other ways. One option is to use a penetrating sealer with an added colorant. Others will apply another thin coat of stucco to the surface, again with a colorant added. These options work well if the house has not been previously painted.

When painting stucco, spraying is the preferred application method. It is too labor intensive to use a brush, and a roller is not effective at getting paint into all the crevasses in the stucco.

If you live in the Santa Clarita Valley or anywhere in the Los Angeles region, A. Allbright Painting would be happy to give you a free evaluation and estimate for painting the stucco on your home. As one of SoCal's premier painting contractors, we have a long list of delighted customers.

Shadow stripes are an elegant trend that is gaining popularity in fine homes across the Los Angeles region. This faux-painting technique is used by decorators and professional painters to evoke a subtle sophistication and calm order.

What Are Shadow Stripes?

Shadow Stripes are an alternating pattern of glossy and satin stripes, oriented vertically along a wall or around an entire room. Generally ranging from 4 to 12 inches in width, these lines are the same color but a different sheen, so that the effect changes based on the lighting and the location where you stand in the room.

Where Are Shadow Stripes Used?

Formal and classy, shadow stripes are often used in dining rooms, powder rooms and sitting rooms, though they would also look good in many bathrooms, bedrooms and living rooms. They can span the whole height of the room, floor to ceiling, or they can take only part of it, occupying the space below the chair rail or above the wainscoting.

How Do You Paint Shadow Stripes?

First paint your walls with the satin or eggshell version of the paint to get the base color. When the paint is completely dry, begin taping your stripes. Use blue painters tape or frog tape to mark the edges of where your semi-gloss stripes will go. Make sure to measure carefully and use a level to make straight lines, and press the edge of the tape firmly to the wall along the edge that will be painted. After painting your stripes, be sure to remove the tape quickly so that it does not tear the paint as you remove it.

Experienced and capable in all kinds of sophisticated painting techniques, A. Allbright is the painting contractor of choice for discerning homeowners in the Los Angeles region. We can paint shadow stripes, murals, faux-bois, soft glazes, patina, Tuscany, Venetian plasters, parchment and much more. Contact us for a free estimate. We also offer a free expert color consultation for qualifying projects!

Based in Valencia, CA, A. Allbright serves Canyon Country, Castaic, Newhall, Newhall Ranch, Northbridge, Saugus, Stevenson Ranch, Westbridge and the surrounding counties.

My review on a new color app in the Apple store.  I came across a neat little app on my iPad this morning, called Color Uncovered.  It was created by the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California and it's FREE.  This app helps take some of the mystery out of color and why it does what it does.  So many times we don't understand why color does what it does and we are baffled at how we can think we like one color on a small paint chip to only find out we hate it once it is on all four walls.  

Color Uncovered features a wide spectrum of cool color-related topics to explore.  Learn when is yellow yellower than yellow.  Other fun facts about why friends don't let men buy bananas and don't let dogs drive.   This is a real fun and interactive app that allows you to learn while discovering new things through the science of color.  

A.Allbright 1-800-PAINTING has been a leader in the painting industry by developing tools to help homeowners and business owners select the perfect paint colors for their projects.   See A.Allbright's Color Consulting.  Our helpful system has been so popular that many other painting contractors aroiund the nation have purchased this system.  For more information on our revolutionary color assistance program called Colorchoice and other tools we have developed for our industry, visit Allbright Products

Chalk-Bored? Never!

From kids’ rooms to coffee houses, chalkboard paint is a new-found trend with an old-school charm. Useful in the office, the kitchen, a bedroom or a playroom, chalkboard paint offers myriads of exciting possibilities!

At Work/Home Office

While coffee shops and bakeries are accustomed to presenting their menus artistically with chalk, other types of businesses can also create a trendy tableau with chalkboard paint. Create a wall space for brainstorming, memos, and reminders. Or make a kids’ corner in your waiting room, so that children can be entertained while their parents conduct business with you.

In The Kitchen

The kitchen, in many Los Angeles homes, is already a creative center of the house, where culinary masterpieces are crafted and new ideas discussed. Chalkboard paint can add to this atmosphere by offering a new outlet for creative impulses. A place for recipes, fanciful doodling, phone messages, and to-do lists, a chalkboard in the kitchen can bring fresh inspiration to our everyday activities.

In The Kids’ Areas

Parents looking for fresh ideas for painting children’s rooms are also turning to chalkboard paint. Since children have a natural urge to create masterpieces, this gives them an appropriate canvas for their artistic expressions. Practice forming letters, drawing shapes, or recognizing colors—this was originally a schoolhouse item after all!

Design Ideas

In some rooms, a chalkboard wall would make a terrific accent, especially when livened up by brightly colored chalk. If this is too much, however, simply tape off a rectangular area and paint your chalkboard inside it. Be sure to use a level and measure carefully! When the black areas dry, use tape again to create a frame, and paint it some bright, coordinating color.

If you have any ideas or questions about chalkboard paint, A. Allbright Painting would love to help. We are not only a professional painting company, but we also provide nationally recognized design and color services. We are delighted to serve the San Clarita Valley and the greater Los Angeles region!

Faux finishing with interesting colors is not a new trend. Homeowners are constantly looking for novel ideas when considering a room makeover. Diagonal painting isone of those interesting finishes that can be done with a little color coordination and a little time.

Choose a base color in eggshell, satin or semi-gloss enamel. Repair and prime the walls and apply the base coat. Allow to dry sufficiently. To prepare the topcoat glaze color, pour one part of a premium interior paint (same as base or a lighter or darker shade) into a bucket with four parts of the faux glaze and mix thoroughly. To create a "see-through" look, you will need to mix extra faux glaze into the mixture.  For a dense look, add more paint.  One thing to remember is to mix the entire amount of glaze color into the faux glaze to create a uniform color mixture for the entire project.

To begin, you will cut in the mixture around the ceiling and baseboards. Next, use a medium or mini roller and begin to roll the walls with this mixture in two to three feet sections. While the mixture is still wet, drag a small, whisk broom over the entire section and work diagonally beginning in a corner, overlapping when necessary to create uniformity. As you work, wipe off the whisk broom after each section to remove drying paint and create a fresh work instrument for each use. Continue in these small sections and step back from time to time to guarantee that the project is uniform.

Good colors to use with this technique include golds, salmon, beige, rustic and nature colors, and the diagonal lines create a nice effect.

Psychologists and color analysts agree that the color choices when painting a home should be carefully considered. In addition to contemplating the desired mood in each room, consider the light sources. Appropriate colors that complement the lighting can create an inviting room.

Consider, for example, the kitchen. This tends to be a high-energy room, where delicious food is created and where wonderful smells permeate the air. Good colors that enhance creativity include bright yellow, orange and red. Yellow symbolizes happiness, inspiration, sunshine and joy while orange is warm and reminds us of fall, pumpkins and tantalizing smells. Red is a high-energy color and when any of these colors are combined in the kitchen, a warm, energetic, happy place is created.

A room where bright yellow, orange or red would not be a good choice in the bedroom. This is a room forrest and contemplation. Calm greens and blues or neutral colors like taupe, cream and light browns are good choices for the bedrooms. These "nature" shades represent renewal, health, calm and tranquility and when mixed with comfortable furnishings, soft pillows and dim lights, a wonderful retreat is created.

And what about that kids playroom or game room? This would be the perfect place for a bright red or vibrant green. These colors can raise blood pressure and create excitement and a sense of celebration. Artwork in complementary colors to the wall colors can provide a striking room that any teenager or child would love to play in.

The right colors set the tone for theroom, so ask a paint professional or interior designer for color choice ideas. Small paint sample containers can be purchased frommost home improvement and paint stores and splotches on the wall canhelp when determining how the lighting will affect the color. Doing your homework before putting paint on the wall will create beautiful rooms in which to cook, rest or play!  

Some homeowners have a difficult time choosing colors once they have established a "short list" of possibilities. Or perhaps the home has an open feel with colors that flow from room to room and want a unique way to highlight all of the colors. If you are adventurous and are having a hard time with color choices, consider doing a wall that highlights all your color possibilities! A wall, blocked or squared out in various colors creates an accent wall like no other.

This "blocked" or "squared" accent wall should be in a location that is easily seen. You will be painting large squares and will need 4-6 colors of paint. Consider using a hunter green, deep wine, navy blue or gray, a creamy vanilla color and a khaki color. Or if you are of the teenage persuasion, perhaps pink, orange, cream and sunshine yellow would be great colors to brighten your room. Since you will be painting one square at a time, plan for this activity to take several days. Choose the size of your squares and begin by penciling the grid onto your wall.

Once you have created your grid, plan out the colors and paint a splotch in each square so that you keep the color scheme accurate. Next, use painter's tape to mark off your first square. Paint the first color and give sufficient dry time. Remove the tape when it is dry and then place the tape for the next color. You cannot tape all the squares at once, because there will be the width of the tape that will confuse the pattern.

Recommended paint for this project is a satin finish paint. If you desire even more creativity, you can do "swirls" or geometric shapes in some of the squares. A little patience and fun colors will create a wall that everyone will love!