Designer Creates Her Own Line of Paints

For Michelle Winick, art and design begin with color.

Winick, a resident, has used her appreciation of color to create her own line of paints, the Michelle Winick Color Collection. The collection is sold in several North Jersey paint and home improvement stores.

Winick’s father was a pencil artist and was always drawing. She often attended museums and took note of the way color enhanced the artwork she saw. She has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and design.

“What I started to see was how something like the colors of a painting can affect the look and feel of a room,” Winick said. “That’s the power that color has.”

The 45 colors that Winick has created are very subtle, muted, almost peaceful tone to them. The paints are manufactured by Muralo Co.

“The colors are earthy and calm and aren’t bright. They are very practical colors that are very appeals to look at,” Winick said. “They’re designed to help make someone’s home an oasis and comfortable and a place where they want to be.”

 Winick said selecting a color to paint a room can be one of the most daunting home improvement tasks. The colors are designs to make that process as stress-free as possible.

“People find it almost impossible to pick out a color when they are looking at thousands of tiny samples on a wall or bringing swatches home and holding them up to a wall,” Winick said. “There’s nothing worse than painting a room and once you’re done saying ‘I can’t believe it looks the way it does.’”

Paint swatches are often printed with ink. Winick’s 9-by-11 inch swatches are made with two coasts of real paint, which provide users with a more accurate representation of what the pain will look like once it’s been applied to a wall.

“Ink and paint aren’t the same thing,” Winick said. “When you print something out rather than paint it, it’s a different color so you’re not even really looking at the color you think you’re looking at.”

Winick’s paints are broken up into four color groups: Neutral, Earthy, Serenity, and Warm. Each group has corresponding ceiling and trim colors.

“People often pick out a color they link and don’t even consider what to paint the ceiling or trim, which is a huge mistake,” Winick said. “You need to consider everything when painting a room and these paints take the guesswork out of that.”

The color and type of furniture in a room and the lighting are also overlooked considerations when deciding room color.

Winick said there is a joy she gets from helping others make an educated decision about something that, she said, most people don’t put enough thought into.

“If I can help someone transform someone’s personal living space and have them say: ‘wow, I really love this room’ then it’s worth it,” Winick said. “There’s so much stress in the world so if I can make someone’s home a more inviting, more pleasant place to be, then I’ve done my job”