Discover the Kaleido™ Color Lab by Armstrong Flooring

This blog post outlines a virtual cabinet color consultation service offered by Sarah Karon Interiors, designed to help clients select appropriate paint or stain colors for various interior elements such as kitchen cabinets, islands, bathroom vanities, and millwork. The service emphasizes accessibility and customization, catering to individuals who prefer to handle the physical implementation of design recommendations themselves, without requiring extensive tangible deliverables like renderings or mood boards. The core offering of the virtual consultation is a one-hour video session conducted via platforms like FaceTime or Zoom. During this session, clients can discuss a wide array of interior design topics beyond just cabinet colors. These topics include the appropriate sheen for paints, different cabinetry door and drawer profiles, hardware selection, kitchen island designs, and various kitchen finishes such as countertops, tile, grout, and flooring. The consultation can also extend to furniture and home decor selection and placement, floor plans, furniture layouts, recommendations for stores and brands, upholstery and textiles, styling advice for different areas of the home, window treatments, light fixtures and lighting plans, plumbing fixtures, and even sourcing artwork. For exterior design, clients can discuss paint and stain colors, shutters, roofing, lighting, and hardware. A key feature of the service is the provision of large paint swatches from Sherwin-Williams and/or Benjamin Moore, which are delivered to the client's door the next business day after the consultation. This ensures that clients can promptly begin visualizing and making decisions based on physical samples. The service is highly customizable, allowing clients to discuss multiple paint or stain colors to perfectly match their aesthetic preferences and project requirements. For more complex projects or discussions involving more than three rooms, clients have the option to book a 90-minute consultation. Repeat clients can also avail themselves of shorter, 30-minute follow-up consultations for quick questions. The cost for a standard 60-minute virtual consultation is $225. While the service covers extensive design advice and recommendations, it explicitly states its limitations. The consultant does not order or purchase items, oversee construction or design work, communicate with other professionals (like architects or contractors), or provide tangible end products such as renderings, mood boards, floor plans, or mockups, unless the client formally engages them as a full-service designer for the project. For clients located in or near Atlanta, an in-person consultation option is available upon request. The booking process is streamlined, allowing clients to schedule their consultations online, with contact options available for any preliminary questions. #VirtualConsultation #CabinetColor #InteriorDesign #PaintColors #HomeDecor #DesignServices #KitchenDesign #ColorConsultation #InteriorStyling

This article explores the recommendations of color expert and designer Maria Killam regarding popular and timeless color choices for living rooms. Killam advocates for incorporating vibrant hues over traditional neutrals, asserting that the latter can quickly become dated. She highlights eight specific shades that offer both aesthetic appeal and design versatility. Yellow, particularly a bright and happy shade, is presented as a surprisingly timeless choice for living room furniture, such as a sofa. Killam notes that her own yellow sofa has remained relevant and beautiful in her living room for over a decade, adapting well to various decorating palettes. This challenges the common perception that bold colors are inherently less enduring than neutrals. Traditional blue is another color recommended for its classic and serene qualities. It is described as a versatile option that pairs easily with white and can be accented with other colors and warm wood tones to create a polished and classic aesthetic. The adaptability of blue makes it a reliable choice for long-term design. Sophisticated pink is identified as a versatile and enduring hue, suitable for a living room sofa. The color's ability to be integrated through paint choices and area rugs allows for a cohesive and tasteful overall design. Deep green, inspired by nature, is highlighted for its versatility and calming effect. It can be introduced through various decor elements, including plants, and complements a wide range of interior styles. Rich ochre, a more muted gold variation of yellow, is gaining popularity for its ability to work well in both modern and traditional decor settings. It can be used for larger elements like sofas or as a bold wall color, providing a cozy ambiance. Warm burnt orange is presented as an antidote to desaturated decor, offering personality and warmth. With variations ranging from spicy red-orange to cleaner coral tones, it allows for customization based on individual preferences and coordinating decor. Cerulean blue-green, reflecting the colors of the sky and sea, is suggested for its calming and joyful qualities. This aqua tone is perennially popular and balances cool and warm elements, making it an excellent choice for rooms drenched in color. Its widespread availability in decor items simplifies integration into a design scheme. Finally, classic cognac is recommended for those who desire to add vibrancy to a neutral space without committing to overly bright colors. As a warm neutral, cognac provides more depth than charcoal and can effectively liven up black-and-white or all-grey rooms. A cognac leather couch is considered timeless, and the color can be echoed through warm wood tones, yellows, and golds, while also harmonizing with a broad spectrum of accent colors, including rich greens, blues, deep plum, and warm pinks. These color recommendations emphasize timelessness, versatility, and the ability to inject personality into living spaces. #ColorExpert #LivingRoomDesign #InteriorDecorating #DesignTrends #HomeDecor #ColorPsychology #MariaKillam #InteriorDesign

Color walls, merchandising displays designed to showcase a wide range of colors and style options for flooring products, are increasingly being utilized to attract consumers and facilitate the sales process for both soft and hard surface flooring. These displays aim to simplify the shopping experience for consumers and retail sales associates (RSAs) by presenting numerous options in an organized and accessible format. Mohawk Industries, for instance, has evolved its color wall approach. Previously offering a limited number of styles across many colors, their current color walls typically feature eight to 12 styles in multiple weights, constructions, and colorations, all sharing an expansive colorway. These displays often include 60 to 80 color options. Mohawk's core strategy is to provide a simplified shopping experience, and for 2020, they highlighted SmartStrand Silk with an interactive anchor display targeted at 2,000 premier retailers. This SmartStrand Silk Destination display features over 40 styles in various constructions, colorations, and weights, a significant departure from earlier, smaller merchandising formats. Mohawk's objective is to emphasize the product's unique attributes, design, and style, offering dealers an exclusive method to attract consumers and comprehensively present the product narrative. Similarly, Shaw's "Color that Speaks to You" display is an updated version of their Anso color wall, initially introduced in 1997. This iteration showcases 138 colors, including solids, tonals, and accents, and is exclusive to the Shaw Flooring Network. It also provides 20 color options in three coordinating small-scale patterns. The display incorporates "Designer Pick" colors, curated based on best-selling options and current design trends, to help consumers narrow down their choices. Consumers can also select their preferred plushness level and enhance their flooring investment with LifeGuard Spill-Proof Backing. Shaw emphasizes that the color wall serves as a showroom destination within their Flex Merchandising system, characterized by clean, white lines and an inviting lighting system, designed to simplify the carpet buying process. Coretec The Original offers a curated selection of 48 styles, exclusively available at Shaw Flooring Network (SFN) retailers. This 100 percent waterproof collection includes four distinct grain patterns, each available in 12 popular shades. The interactive display incorporates a large monitor to facilitate consumer decision-making by simulating an online experience for comparing styles and colors. The display also provides take-home samples for all 48 product options, along with trims and transition boards located behind the main sample panels, to help finalize the selection. While color walls occupy more retail floor space than standard wing displays, manufacturers assert that this is a key factor in their success. Mohawk’s Harry Scott notes that their productivity can be two to three times higher than smaller displays, making them a valuable destination display for attracting consumers. Mohawk continuously tracks placement numbers, productivity per style, and overall sales volume generated by these displays, committing to ongoing innovation in this area. Shaw’s Teresa Tran reports that extensive consumer testing and collaboration with Shaw Flooring Network retailers informed the design and shopping experience of their new color wall. The Shaw Floors color wall has historically been a successful merchandising system, with over 40 million yards of carpet sold through it. Coretec's Kathy Young highlights that monitoring the activation of each placement and SKU confirms the effectiveness of their style and color choices, and ongoing RSA training further boosts interest and conversions. The initial success with Coretec's exclusive aligned program and its WPC specific product assortment has provided an effective innovation platform, delivering solutions for performance and comfort. In contrast, The Dixie Group (TDG) intentionally avoids color walls for its Masland and Fabrica brands due to the extensive color lines—some styles featuring up to 100 shades—which they believe would be overwhelming. Instead, TDG utilizes flip board displays, where units can hold 60 products, each with potentially 100 colors. Fabrica also offers custom color options for as little as 40 yards with a small upcharge. TDG’s marketing vice president, Dan Phelan, explains that their approach focuses on integrating style, design, and color to offer unique products. He notes that consumers, often starting with a basic color preference, can find a higher level of service at specialty stores, where RSAs can assist in locating unique colors within TDG’s lines or even arrange for custom production. #FlooringRetail #ColorWalls #MerchandisingDisplays #MohawkIndustries #ShawFloors #CoretecFlooring #RetailInnovation #ConsumerExperience #InteriorDesign