Selecting Finishes. It’s one of the most common reasons my clients seek my advice through consultation. In this installment of A Standard of Living, I’m going to share my #1 tip for successfully selecting finishes.
I see you there! You’re standing in front of the wall of paint chips at your local Sherwin Williams or wandering around the local tile shop… Or worse, you’re ready for demolition on your new kitchen remodel and you’re making your 10th trip to the tile shop to pick your backsplash!
I know, you feel totally lost and you feel like it’s probably too late to book a consultation with an interior designer to help you. So what can you do?
When I am specifying materials for clients or when I am helping a client make selections during a consultation , I make a flat lay.
What is a “flat lay”?
A flat lay is where I gather all of the finish samples and lay them together to make sure the colors all work together. This is a fairly common practice with designers when selecting finishes. When you gather the materials and compare them to each other, it give you a chance to make sure that there is harmony amongst the materials and that there aren’t competing undertones.
Below are a couple of examples of flat lays that I have done when I was selecting finishes for clients to make sure that the materials worked well together. In the first example, notice how the deep blue subway tile brings out the gray veining in the counter surface, which has a slight blue undertone. These materials look great together!
In the flat lay below, you will notice that the large tile has some warm, charcoal gray veining, the mosaic tile has a similar warm charcoal veining, and the cabinet stain, while maintaining a brown wood color, has a charcoal gray glaze, giving the wood an overall warmth. These materials all work well with the wood flooring below.
Selecting Finishes: Samples To Go!
When you are selecting finishes, you can also order samples of the finishes or request to take home a returnable sample if you need to. This is especially important if you are planning to keep some element of your current design. In the picture above, I was comparing tile samples and a cabinet sample to each other, but I also wanted to assess how well they coordinated with the existing wood floors.
To do this, you need finish samples to go! Most retailers will allow you to check out samples or even purchase samples for a nominal fee. So, if you need to take the samples home to compare them to an existing element or if you simply want to mull them over for a bit.
The next time you are preparing for a remodel, will you use this tip to help you with selecting finishes? I hope you will and I hope you find it helpful!
At Paradigm Interiors, we’re known for helping our clients create homes with cohesive style. If you want to learn more about how to create a beautiful and cohesive look for your home, download our Cohesive Style Guide and get our best tips emailed to you once a month!
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