How do I know what undertones a paint has?

mrsbird1129

I'm looking at a lot of warm neutrals from Sherwin Williams for the rooms in my downstairs.  How can I tell what undertones each paint has? I don't see any marking online or on the back of the swatches I picked up, so how do I know??  Thanks!

TarHeels&Rebels

Read every post in this blog.

hippie4yahweh

TarHeels&Rebels:

Read every post in this blog.

! And sign up for her newsletters, they don't always have info I'm dying for at that moment but I can't tell you how many times I've referred back to old ones!  

TheBridesMom

hippie4yahweh:

TarHeels&Rebels:

Read every post in this blog.

! And sign up for her newsletters, they don't always have info I'm dying for at that moment but I can't tell you how many times I've referred back to old ones!  

 

I find it interesting that you guys think so highly of the blog.....I have tried several times to read it and just felt like she leaves just enough vague so that you will purchase her books or sign up for her seminars, and a lot of what I see on there is just other people recommending her.

I am guessing that the stuff that I see spouted by devotees sometimes is slightly misinterpreted, because I some of what I see on their blogs just doesn't make sense, and I don't get the same information from her blog.

 

To OP- I found the undertones to be pretty obvious when I was looking for the perfect gray for my bedroom.  Once I put all of the paint chips next to each other, I could see the yellow/brown/green/purple/blue/whatever pretty easily.   I finally chose a gray that had a true black as the darkest color on the swatch, because sometimes the darker versions of the colors give it away too.

If you look on Sherwin Williams website and use the color visualizer tool, it gives you options to see shades that have more yellow/whatever, so you can see where your choices fall compared to the others. 

hippie4yahweh

TheBridesMom:

hippie4yahweh:

TarHeels&Rebels:

Read every post in this blog.

! And sign up for her newsletters, they don't always have info I'm dying for at that moment but I can't tell you how many times I've referred back to old ones!  

 

I find it interesting that you guys think so highly of the blog.....I have tried several times to read it and just felt like she leaves just enough vague so that you will purchase her books or sign up for her seminars, and a lot of what I see on there is just other people recommending her.

I am guessing that the stuff that I see spouted by devotees sometimes is slightly misinterpreted, because I some of what I see on their blogs just doesn't make sense, and I don't get the same information from her blog.

I don't disagree about the vagueness! I can see it being interpreted as a book plug but for some reason I see it more as an opportunity to figure it out a little, kwim? That's part of why I like Killam so much, her color theory is sound and she gives good clues, but I learn by doing (not reading) so I'm far more likely to retain info I worked out myself. Re: her "devotees"... I haven't read any of it so I can't really comment there. But color theory is not one dimensional, there are big gray areas (HAR!) and I'm easily distracted so I stick with the sources that I know to be reputable... Or I just ask my friend who's a professor at our local fine arts college What I find most amusing about TH and I both rec'ing Killam so highly is that our styles are so wildly different!

TheBridesMom

hippie4yahweh:

I don't disagree about the vagueness! I can see it being interpreted as a book plug but for some reason I see it more as an opportunity to figure it out a little, kwim? That's part of why I like Killam so much, her color theory is sound and she gives good clues, but I learn by doing (not reading) so I'm far more likely to retain info I worked out myself. Re: her "devotees"... I haven't read any of it so I can't really comment there. But color theory is not one dimensional, there are big gray areas (HAR!) and I'm easily distracted so I stick with the sources that I know to be reputable... Or I just ask my friend who's a professor at our local fine arts college

What I find most amusing about TH and I both rec'ing Killam so highly is that our styles are so wildly different!

 

lol @ 'big gray areas'.   

I have seen a few blogs that I have come across where people use her as their bible, but it comes off a bit like YHL talking about balance, and makes me cringe a little.

I would actually have a book in hand to refer to, than try to navigate through her blog, (I find it too cluttered and distracting) but that's just me.

I saw a book in the remainder books at Barnes & Noble the other day, that was a Benjamin Moore book about color.  The palette used as examples in the book was a bit subdued for my taste, but the information was pretty good....it talked about complementary colors, analogous colors, the basic stuff.

TarHeels&Rebels

I started following her in 2009 shortly after she started the blog.  Her early posts, years before she had even conceived of a book, do give real, specific guidance without any of the vagueness or shilling for her book.  I agree that the more recent posts do push the book pretty hard.  Her old info, though, is definitely worth digging for.

MIL bought the book, but I haven't asked her what she thought of it.  If her seminars weren't $1600 (maybe they're a full $2000?), MIL and I had planned to make a girls weekend of it, but that price is just insane.

TheBridesMom

TarHeels&Rebels:

I started following her in 2009 shortly after she started the blog.  Her early posts, years before she had even conceived of a book, do give real, specific guidance without any of the vagueness or shilling for her book.  I agree that the more recent posts do push the book pretty hard.  Her old info, though, is definitely worth digging for.

MIL bought the book, but I haven't asked her what she thought of it.  If her seminars weren't $1600 (maybe they're a full $2000?), MIL and I had planned to make a girls weekend of it, but that price is just insane.

$1600?  That is insane.    Good to know about the old info.