Downtown warehouse gets fresh look
The Benjamin Moore Personal Color Viewer computer software, which Main Street Arkansas design consultants Susan Shaddox and Nancy Lowe began using in 2009, is a fast and easy way for them to show downtown constituents the transformative powers of paint. “It’s great for property owners to be able to see possibilities with their buildings. It helps them see things in a new light before ever picking up a paint brush,” says Interior Designer Susan Shaddox. Design changes can be abstract to talk about, and people often need to visualize them before they can begin to make rehabilitation plans. “This is a great way to get that conversation started,” says Lowe, who is Main Street Arkansas’s exterior design consultant.
The software allows Shaddox and Lowe to import digital photographs of downtown buildings and digitally render them in preservation-friendly colors to their constituents’ likings. There are nine Benjamin Moore paint collections from which to choose, although Main Street Arkansas’s purpose with the program is primarily to show clients color concepts. Sometimes, a new color rendering will inspire a property owner to intensively rehabilitate the interior or exterior of his or her property. In such cases, the Benjamin Moore program is used as a starting point for a larger project requiring high-tech design software that Shaddox and Lowe use, such as AutoCad and Adobe Photoshop.
Still, at its most basic level, the program shows how far a little paint can go. Shaddox and Main Street Arkansas design intern Erik Holbrooks just wrapped up a project for Abilities Unlimited, Inc, a non-profit consignment store opening in downtown Blytheville. “We wanted to give them a fresh, modern look, one that was not too uppity or upscale,” Shaddox said of the non-profit’s need adapt quickly to a property that consists of two adjacent warehouse buildings.
With the click of a mouse, Shaddox and Holbrooks gave the façade a fresh, two-tone green color scheme that helped define the entry and exit points of the buildings and visually connect the two properties. “We carried the fresh clean exterior look into the store’s interior to continue the store’s branding,” said Shaddox. The interior floors and walls were likewise painted to define the men’s and women’s clothing sections, which, Shaddox noted, “has increased profits.” When Shaddox and Holbrooks presented their exterior and interior renderings to Abilities Unlimited, the non-profit responded immediately by implementing the new color schemes. In fact, they will be using the same design layouts for their two other locations in Paragould and Jonesboro.
The Benjamin Moore program is a service to all Arkansas Downtown Network and Main Street communities. Anyone interested should call Shaddox at susans@arkansasheritage.org or Lowe at nancy@arkansasheritage.org, or call either of them at (501) 324-9880.
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