Color Conversations with Cristina

Color does more than convey a mood or set off a room. Color is a language that continually evolves with the cultures that contribute the shades and tones of meaning each of us sees. Artist and Color Consultant, Cristina Acosta, shares her insights and expertise about the colors in your life – your home – your business.

Matching Pantone Colors to House Paint Colors – Is a Color Match as Good as Buying the Real Thing?

When color consulting clients look at paint color samples the most common question I get from them (after they choose their colors) is this: Do I have to buy “this” brand of paint to get the color I want, or can I buy something cheaper? The answer isn’t simple. There are at least 3 parts to how a latex house paint color looks: Base tint, pigment and sheen. House paint isn’t just white paint with colors added. Depending upon the color, the paint store selling the brand uses a particular (there can be several choices) tinted base color to which they then add measured amounts of their color pigments.

Color Captures Your Attention – So Think Before You Paint Your Garage Door Trim

Put a red tomato on a white sand beach and your eye will instantly focus on the tomato. The color difference (even if you know nothing about tomatoes) will be enough to capture your attention. Not only does this visual attribute help you find a snack or your socks, it’s an important concept to keep in mind when you’re painting your house.

Exterior House Paint Colors – Tips and Ideas

Exterior paint colors can change the way you perceive architecture, and it’s the least expensive “remodel” you can do! Artists know that color “moves” visually in space. Colors recede or advance depending upon where they are in relationship to each other and their surroundings. If you are a homeowner choosing exterior paint colors to create color schemes or a color plan for your home, here are a few color tips:

Best Ever You Paint and Color Expert

Best Ever You magazine has invited Cristina Acosta to be their Paint and Color Expert. The editor, Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino along with her team has put together an anomaly in the current publishing business climate; a successful and growing magazine. Kudos to the staff at Best Ever You!

Why do Americans Have a Fascination with White Ceilings?

Painting your ceiling white is not necessary or even always a good idea. White paint will not always make your room look larger, cleaner and more fashionable. Sometimes it will, but sometimes it’s a big mistake. Mostly, people paint their ceilings white because they don’t know what else to do. I’m not exactly sure when white ceilings became the fashion, though I suspect the country’s fascination with white paint began in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair. The famed White City made of white stucco and brightly lit with the new-fangled street lights must have been an entrancing alternative to the dark countryside and dimly lit city streets filled with dark tenement buildings.

Changing Two Paint Colors Takes Contemporary Architecture from OK to Gorgeous

Have you ever painted your house and when it was done, wondered why the paint job didn’t look as good as you thought it would? Changing paint colors doesn’t have to be a complete re-do. With a few strategic changes of color you can get the look and pizzaz you want by changing only the colors or areas that make the most difference, rather than repaint the entire exterior of your home.

Painting Your Home? Color Tips for Home Exteriors

Choosing exterior paint colors? Cristina Acosta’s shares tips & shortcuts that guarantee your success.
Contact her to schedule a color consult for your project.

Colors Together Create a Melody Line

Have you ever found yourself looking at two or more house paint colors or other home decor colored items and been completely confused as to which paint color is the best choice? Cristina Acosta says that you need to be aware that every color in your home links to another color and is part of an overall melody line of color. Keep that concept in mind when you get stuck between two color choices.

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  • Pittsburgh Paint Voice of Color Featured Designer

    CP_tiny-Portrait1 Pittsburgh Paint's, Voice of Color program, invited me to be a featured designer. Thanks VOC! This isn't a paid position, so I still specify paint colors using all of the big national brands. Voice of Color logo
  • Featured Color and Paint Expert for Best Ever You Magazine

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  • Cristina Acosta is a member of the Board of Visitors for the University of Oregon college of Architecture and Allied Arts

    University of Oregon Architecture and Allied Arts Foundation
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