Getting Inspiration

 Now on to a fun step, getting inspiration. Sudden inspiration may be the reason you decided to start your painting project, but it’s now time to dig in deeper to provide more details about what you want. You may start out with some basic color/design questions:
• Do I want to keep things about the same (color/design wise), or am I looking for a more dramatic change?
• What are my favorite design styles – contemporary, traditional, modern, rustic, etc.?
• In terms of color, do I want bright and bold or muted and tame?
When you ask yourself these questions, you may want to think back at why you wanted to paint in the first place – your wants versus how the current home is not meeting those wants can direct the project.
After you have some basic ideas about design, style, and colors, you can seek out inspiration on the more specific looks you want to achieve with your painting project. You can get inspiration by searching online, looking through magazines, browsing Pinterest, watching home improvement shows, getting advice and inspiration from friends and more.
Researching Paint Contractors
By now you have defined the scope of your project and gotten some basic inspiration. These steps are important because now you can communicate better with contractors – you can tell them exactly what you want to be painted and the look you are trying to achieve. Since you’re prepared to deal with contractors, now it’s time to research to find a few you’d like to pursue.
Like many steps on this list, researching contractors is an important step that many homeowners skip. Sometimes homeowners move fast (choosing the first contractor they find); sometimes they choose a contractor based on relationships (Company X is run by my brother’s friend); and sometimes they choose based on someone else’s experience (my best friend Mary used this contractor and she was happy with the results). These emotionally-based reasons can lead you to choose the wrong contractor, so it’s wiser to do the research first.
• First find a pool of potential candidates. You can find local painting contractors through online searches, home improvement websites like Houzz or service-based websites like Angie’s List.
• Next, look at ratings and reviews. You can find this information on sites like the Better Business Bureau, Houzz, Yelp, Google, and your local Contractors State License Board.
• Finally, you should also check each business’s website to learn more about their services and to view portfolio pictures of their past projects.
The point of the research is to determine what other people are saying about the company: do people recommend them, do they perform quality work and are they reputable. After conducting this research, you should be able to narrow down the candidates to a shorter list of painting contractors that you will request estimates from.
Hopefully, the resources in this article will help you plan and execute your next project. ALLBRIGHT 1-800-PAINTING provides painting services to homeowners in the Los Angeles area, including Santa Clarita, San Fernando, and Ventura County.  If you’re looking for a professional residential painting company you can trust, give ALLBRIGHT 1-800-PAINTING a call today at 661-294-1159.
To read the full Homeowner’s Guide to Painting Your Home please visit ALLBRIGHT 1-800-PAINTING’s website, www.allbrightpainting.com.