THE PAINT BARISTA K I M R A I N E S
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Kim Raines, owner of Mountain Colors, a paint and design store, never really considered herself a creative until she was encouraged to register her business in the Creative District listings on their website. “What drew me to this business was the creative side of things but I never thought of myself as a creative. I don’t draw, I’m not an artist, but then I realized that I was actually creative because I’m helping people make their homes beautiful, helping other people to be creative. It’s the side of things you don’t realize about paints, that it’s creative art-wise,” Kim says, but she’s more than a retail paint and fixture shop owner – Kim is a true colorist with a highly trained eye able to differentiate subtle details in hues, and color relationship to space and light. The dictionary defines a colorist as an artist, designer or person who uses color in a special or skillful way, or a painter who emphasizes color relationships in a work of art. Kim certainly embodies that description. Kim purchased the store from the previous owners in October of 2006, after working under their tutelage for two and a half years. Mountain Colors opened in 1994 to fill a need in the upper valley for lighting and hardware. Kim notes that there are still very few places in the valley to buy good lighting, “The need is still here. You have to come to either Mountain Colors or go to Montrose. If you’re building a house or remodeling, you need these things. Paint is more than just paint, it’s color, it’s color decisions, and for us, it’s helping people with that and we help almost every single person who comes in here because most don’t just come in and pick a color off the wall.” In Kim’s experience, many of her clients don’t understand or know how to pick the colors they want to create a certain feeling or ambiance in their homes. Contractors 46 Arts Adsvisor Magazine 2017
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will send clients to her who will then benefit from her expertise of color application and characteristics. Most people do have an idea of what they want, how they want their color to reflect certain moods, many bringing photos or pictures depicting their desired atmosphere. The internet is a great source of information as well as inspiration, an ease of finding a profusion of ideas that wasn’t available twenty years ago. “The whole design industry has changed drastically, especially with HGTV, (Home and Garden). Years ago, you’d go into someone’s house and use that as your idea basis,” Kim says, “and now you have that constant resource of internet and specialty TV. It’s a way for me to connect to you but not have to read your mind for a visual interpretation.” Oftentimes someone will come in inspired by a local house’s design. The house is usually in Kim’s database which she can then look up and direct the client to the appropriate colors and fixtures. “Ninety-eight percent of the people know at least what kind of color they want in their homes. We give them options. Obviously, paint’s pretty magical in that it’s very subjective. You and I see colors totally different,” she corroborates with the scientific studies that reveal the human eye depicts colors differently in each individual. It’s interesting to understand the scientific explanation as to why this happens and it’s all in the physiology of the human eye; the wavelengths of reflected light off an object determine what color you see by reflecting off the light-sensitive retina at the back of your eye. Most people have three different photoreceptors that perceive red, green and blue but the amount of each color receptor can vary from person to person. There are photoreceptors called
cones, which are the tiny cells in the retina that respond to light, and also rods, which transmit mostly black and white information to the brain. You lose most color vision at night or in dim light because most of your cones process the longer light wavelengths of reds, oranges and yellows, whereas rods are more sensitive to dim light than cones, so your vision is less colorful in the dark. It’s also important to understand color itself and its relationship to light, and Kim has an extensive knowledge in these areas. Color originates in light, so being a specialist able to recommend both the perfect lighting to go with the chosen colors goes hand in hand. Since people may not see the same colors when they look at the same objects or scenes, not to mention that computer, tablet and phone screen colors will all vary from screen to screen, Kim’s mastery is essential in helping people to “see” and determine the final result. And Kim points out that looking at color on a chip will not be the same as when it’s painted vertically on a wall with each home’s unique lighting. Interestingly, research shows that even with people’s different perceptions of color, their emotional response to the same shades do not change their reactions to what they perceive as blue still has a calming effect due to the shorter wavelengths of light hitting the retina, while longer wavelengths of yellow, orange and red are more stimulating. With her extensive color training, what Kim notes is that color is subjective, “I’ve been staring at drywall swatches for fifteen years so my eyes are highly trained. I see different things. I tell people, you can’t paint color swatches on a wall all next to each other because it confuses your eye. You need to isolate your colors.” The eye reads colors that are viewed next to each other differently than when those same colors are singularly isolated on a neutral white background. A green next to a blue will appear differently hued altogether if that same green is viewed next to a red. So Kim advises her clients to observe the individual color in their own space rather than make a decision based on what they observe in her shop. If people do that, she says, then very few come back to say the color isn’t working out. “We’re here to give advice to ensure the customer picks the right color, so they don’t have to repaint. If they ask for my opinion I tell them, if they don’t ask then I just smile and ask how many gallons they need,” Kim’s background and degree in psychology enables her to read clients to give them a better experience. She feels that it’s imperative to let people make their own choices after showing them the chemistry of color and she enjoys changing people’s lives through color. “You can change the color every week if you like, that’s what’s so magical about paint.” Color and paint can change the feel and look of a home instantly, both interior and exterior. It can easily upgrade and enliven, and it’s the cheapest way to remodel. Kim’s focus is in color design, “We don’t sell plumbing fixtures or window coverings, we sell three things: paint,
hardware fixtures, and lighting fixtures. These items are usually the last decision you make in the whole design scheme when you’re building or remodeling a house and they’re the easiest things to change. In two years, if you don’t like silver doorknobs anymore and you want brass, it’s not like you have to get a contractor to rip your floors up. It’s easier to make these little changes, like changing your light fixtures, paint and cabinet knobs and you get a whole new house look, keeping your countertops, floors, and all the things that are really expensive.” Although her focus is on color, what makes Kim really love her store is the lighting and the hardware, she confesses. She’s had training for the technical side of lighting, not as an electrician but, “When someone asks me about cast lighting verses ambiance and overall lighting, I’m going to help them pick the right lights and they’re going to be awesome looking, functional and in the client’s price range.” Kim attends lighting shows to keep up on all the new trends and hardware every year. She emphasizes that she’s not an interior designer but works with amazing interior designers when someone needs more help than she feels she can give them. “My interior designers use me because they don’t want to spend hours sourcing and I know my fixtures like I know my children.” Kim loves new construction and compares it to having a blank canvas, but she also feels that remodels can be extremely rewarding because there’s an opportunity to be creative, especially in fixing elements that weren’t originally designed well. This spring, Kim remodeled and expanded Mountain Colors, a massive reappointment of space and its usage. When the adjoining room in her building became available, Kim grabbed it to expand storage for her inventory, allowing the front of the store a lot more space and a better layout for customers. She points out that the beauty of her space in its design encourages trust from her customers. “I mean, if my space wasn’t beautiful, would you really trust me with your design and colors?” she laughs. She explains that there are now specific areas for customers who are there to choose colors, and separate space for the hardware and light fixtures. “I’ve got two different clients, the first are the contractors and painters who don’t want to spend hours in here. They want their paint and want to be in and out of here. So I created a direct line for the painter to get to the counter, order paint and be done. Then I’ve got the other customers who potentially spend hours here and I wanted them to have their space. I want them to feel like they can be creative in my shop and feel like there’s a space for them to hang out.” The new work tables for color choosing are slanted vertically with neutral white tops to view swatches and design elements. Tall-backed wooden stools make the decision process comfortable while the overhead lighting has correct color-neutral bulbs for more accuracy in determining true color. Along the walls are enticing, delicious, variants of every color the eye can see or imagine with rows and rows of hues and tones from vibrant 47
reds and muted greens, to deep purples, stunning blues and everything in between. “The color area is super clean and clutter free and I just wanted people to feel that they could come, bring their laptops, and do whatever they want for hours,” Kim says of the welcoming, warm space she’s created for her clients. Under the shelf in the newly augmented storage room, lays the enormous, sleeping Zelda, the shop pooch and official greeter. Of her redesigned showroom, Kim smiles, “I feel that this has helped define my space so that the creatives can be over here and the workers can be in and out pretty quickly.” As a colorist, with a strong sense of how color can be used to magnify enjoyment of a home, like a painting can transport one to another time and place, Kim understands how color can stimulate one’s mind or calm the nerves into a meditative state. “We’re here to help people be creative, not necessarily doing the creating for them,” she says humbly. Creativity and innovation has always been part of the Crested Butte culture and Kim agrees emphatically, “I think we’re all here because we’re all a little different. It’s really hard to live here so we work our butts off to live and stay here. It draws a certain kind of person, one who is active and loves beauty. We’re all inspired by nature living in this beautiful place, and we’re obviously drawn to that. So we make the spaces that we live in beautiful too.” For more information about Kim Raines and Mountain Colors visit mountaincolorsincb.com.
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