HONEY, WHAT COLOR SHOULD WE PAINT THE CAVE?

by | Sep 22, 2020

Did
you know that there is evidence proving we have been decorating our homes for
over 40,000 years? At an archeological
site in South Africa, traces of yellowish-brown clay are evident on walls, much
like paint. The components of this clay
included earth, soot, animal blood and fatty oils. Even when we lived in caves, we used crude
paints to decorate our homes.

About
2000 years ago, Egyptians preferred brightly colored walls. They created their paints with oil or fat,
lead, animal blood, earth and semiprecious stones or ground glass. At that time, there were six main colors used
for paintings, furniture and living areas.
These colors included white, red, yellow, green, black and blue.

Until
recently, craftsmen or artisans were responsible for most house painting. There is documented proof that house
painting, as a profession, dates back at least the early 1200s. In the 1300s, house painters in England
created the first organized group. Their
purpose was to give credibility to their profession and develop standards of
practice. They did not share their
mixing and application techniques to anyone outside the guild to secure their
trade secrets.

During
the early days of the United States, it was considered ostentatious and immoral
to paint your home. In some areas, it
was even illegal. Criminal charges were
brought against a minister who painted the inside of his home in Charlestown in
the mid-1600s.

Luckily,
the days of Puritan décor, or lack thereof, were not long-lived! Homeowners wanted color, and demand for
interior painting continued. At that
time, oil and water served as a base. To
attain vibrant color, painters would add almost anything to the base, including
coffee, berries, eggs and even ground shells.
Unlike the paint that we have today, this paint was very thick. Paint then was more of a paste affixed to the
wall.

In
the early 1700s, along with the industrial revolution, giant leaps were made in
the paint industry. About the same time,
a fellow named Marshall Smith invented a machine that could grind pigments
effectively. That allowed for paint to
be manufactured in a paint mill, rather than mixed ad hoc. The first recorded paint mill was established
in Boston by Thomas Child.

Another
significant advancement in the history of paint was the introduction of linseed
oil. Linseed oil was a less expensive
way to bind paint and even protected the wood on which it was applied.

Did
you know that the first company that manufactured ready-to-use paint was
Sherwin-Williams? Although it was D.R.
Averill of Ohio who patented the idea, Sherwin-Williams were the ones who first
started marketing it. They also were the
ones who developed the resealable tin can, the design still in use today. You might be surprised to know that Sherwin-Williams
has been in business since 1866.

Another
paint company that has been around since 1833 is Benjamin Moore. They are credited with the design of a
computer-based color-matching system.
They developed this in 1982 and is used throughout the industry.

Beginning
in the 1950s, manufacturers started the voluntary removal of lead from
paint. Since 1978, the use of lead in
consumer paint has been banned in North America.

It
is interesting to know a bit about the history of interior painting. Next week, we will “brush up” on
the different types of paint available on the market for our homes in Mexico.

Love
home décor? Join our Facebook Group for
beautiful images of interiors, great ideas, tips and trends! Mexico Furniture & Décor.

Questions
about furniture for your home in Mexico?
Contact me at sa.novak@solutionsmexico.com

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