When It Comes To Paint, Fall Colors Are Far From Chilly

Just as textiles adapt to fashion, paint color trends follow the seasons. And as autumn falls upon the East End, so do silvery blues, sagey greens and creamy beiges.

“Summertime is more bright, more airy,” said True Value paint saleswoman Denise Spitaleri in Westhampton Beach last week. “Now, we’re leaning more toward a muted color. I think that’s just the style out here. It’s not really bright. I rarely come by anybody who wants to do oranges or corals or reds.”

Ms. Spitaleri led the way to a wall of Benjamin Moore paint chip cards. While the paint company boasts more than 4,000 colors to choose from, none are particularly new this season, she said. So to achieve an autumn look, it’s about using the right combination of the established colors, according to the company’s website.

The “Autumn in the Air” palette—a beige Powder Sand, an earthy Indian River and forest Jojoba—evokes a walk through the woods on a fall day, the website states. “Seasonal Splendor”—a cranberry Pottery Red, Ashen Tan and Davenport Tan—teases at the holiday season.

What has changed in determining fall colors at Benjamin Moore is the fall collection at Pottery Barn. The housewares retailer is now affiliated with Benjamin Moore, Ms. Spitaleri explained. Customer favorites include Jute, Van Courtland Blue and Linen White, she said.

“People tend to use historical colors, especially out here,” she said. “I think it’s because of the style of the houses that are out here. They’ve been around for a long time, and they like to pick

the calming, woodsy, beachy colors. We have the same trends with exterior colors.”

True Value owner Ted Jankowski said for some homeowners, it’s time for exterior touch-ups, now that the summer season and the parties that go hand-in-hand are over.

“They’re sprucing up their homes and getting ready for winter,” he said. “Unfortunately, they’re not terribly exciting because it’s pretty much the same around here. People can’t go bananas with their house colors.”

While beiges and grays are safe bets, Shinnecock Hardware’s paint department head, Kelly Simmons, said some homeowners—and their children—can be less predictable when it comes to interior paint choices.

“The kids are always into the lime greens. We get that all the time,” Ms. Simmons said during an interview at the Hampton Bays store last week. “Or the very hot, very bold pink. They love to even mix the lime green and pink together.”

In general, specific rooms have painting formulas, no matter the season, Ms. Spitaleri explained. For instance, bedrooms tend to utilize quiet, muted tones and kitchens are usually more lively with creams and grays, which complement stainless steel.

“A lot of people are taking colors off their granite countertops,” she said. “They’ll find a little river of whatever’s going through there, and that will be the color they want in their kitchen.”

Living rooms are simply an extension of the furniture, Ms. Spitaleri explained, starting with the flooring and working up. A light floor pairs well with a darker wall, she said. Alternatively, sofas and pillows can bring pops of color to a room with lighter walls, she said.

But a summer home’s color palette is much different fromn that of a full-time abode, she said.

“Bright, bright colors don’t work well in the wintertime,” she said. “A muted tone will go with anything. At that point, you change your accessories in the room, and you don’t necessarily have to change your wall color. You can change your art on your wall or the dishes on your dining room table, which will bring out different colors in the wall.”

One gallon of paint covers about 400 square feet, the saleswomen explained. But the color isn’t the cost. It’s the paint.

Benjamin Moore’s “Ben” line is the least expensive, coming in at $33.99 per gallon, Ms. Spitaleri said. Next is “Regal Select,” which also includes a primer. It sells for $44.99, she said.

The superior paint line from Benjamin Moore is “Aura,” both Ms. Spitaleri and Ms. Simmons reported, whose stores sell it for $60 and $64, respectively.

“If you wanted a dark color, you’d normally have to paint a room three times to get the color you’re looking at,” Ms. Simmons explained. “With ‘Aura,’ it’s no more than two.”

But color isn’t the only thing that customers look for when it comes to paint selection. The environment also plays a part, according to Aboff’s assistant manager Vincent Marcoccio in Wainscott.

Most paints will make the shift toward being more eco-friendly in the coming years, he predicted. The “Natura” line from Benjamin Moore is already on its way, he said. That line is odorless and chemical-free and sells for $44 a gallon.

“Most of the lines, these days, are really changing,” he said. “They’ve got the technology now. Oils are going out, period.”

Exclusive to Aboff’s is Fine Paints of Europe, a high-end, Holland-based paint company best known for its high-gloss, lacquer-looking enamels, Mr. Marcoccio explained. A .75-liter can runs $40, and a gallon costs upwards of $120, he said.

“They’re like butter. It’s smooth, smooth stuff,” he said. “It’s put on with a brush, usually for trim work.”

But no matter the paint, or its cost, Ms. Spitaleri recommends testing it out under natural light and in the home before committing.

“Pick out a swatch, buy a sample—we sell sample cans for $6.99—paint a nice 2-foot-by-2-foot square and see what the paint looks like in the morning, at night, with artificial light, with no light,” she said. “It’s a lot cheaper to deal with if you don’t like it, and that way, you didn’t paint the whole room and waste all that time. Picking out the color is the easy part. Painting is the time-consuming part of it.”