Color Selection: Nightmare or Rare Opportunity? by Arthur Raybold

Webster defines color as "a phenomenon of light or visual perception that enables one to differentiate otherwise identical objects," or "an outward often deceptive show." In either case, not much help. The point is that color is quite a personal and often emotional thing to us humans which means that 100 home-owners might find it difficult to agree on a new color for the repaint.

Even having made a good decision, a board or its architectural committee might experience one of the following real situations:

Four buildings were painted an Arizona white. Over a year later, the maintenance supervisor noticed one afternoon that one building was different from the other three. The paint manufacturer did not shoot enough color into the containers used for building four. In the morning light,  the four buildings were exactly the same, but in the afternoon the difference could be discerned. The building was repainted.

A condominium was to be repainted a tan, close in color to the original, but no one noticed the building was painted exactly the same color until the rails were painted turquoise instead of black. The association took a credit on the stucco but preferred to have the rails painted black.

In a planned unit development, where the owners are responsible for their own repaints, a resident applied to the architectural committee to paint his trim a bright salmon color. The committee rejected the application on the grounds that the salmon was inappropriate for that neighborhood. The resident couple appeared at the next architectural committee  meeting with 27 signatures of  approving neighbors as well as documentation showing where a color somewhat similar had been used by eight of the other 850 homeowners. A misunderstanding between two committee members resulted in the applicant's receiving an approval letter.

My favorite color story involved my home in Massachusetts. We left on vacation with instructions to have the painters repaint the trim brown instead of black  to offset a pink stucco house. When we drove up to our house, refreshed by our two week vacation, one of my children said, "Dad, your friend made a big mistake." The painter was Eddie Mecka, who soon after became Carmine on the Laverne and Shirley show. I kind of liked the black anyway.

My best advice is to have a color committee work with a paint manufacturer 6-12 months before painting. Ask for draw downs as well as computer simulations of what several combinations of colors will look like on your actual buildings. If you are still having a problem deciding, then ask a paint contractor to repaint a section of a building, displaying the two or three colors you are planning to use. These colors are going to be present for a long time. Make sure they are right.

If your building colors are still stuck in the 70's, ask your paint manufacturer's agent to help shift you into the 90's, not only for aesthetics but the practicality of appealing to younger buyers.

With a hard-working paint committee communicating to the board and its homeowners well in advance of application, I see color selection as a rare opportunity to enhance the beauty and value of your community.