The world abounds with inspiration for the talented and experienced eyes of Closettec’s design staff. Architectural styles, artwork, classic structures, color pallets, and much more give us the raw materials to create a closet system that meets your vision, while also providing you with the functional storage space you need.
All these sources of inspiration and the innovative materials offered by our vendors provide us with a broad, and flexible palette. During our initial consultation, we can start to put together an overarching style theme. In many of these cases, we have sample materials close at hand for you to draw your inspiration.
Finding Your Ideal Color Palette
For some people simple white, gray, or black is all the color they need. Especially if you prefer a sleek and minimalist look. For others who want more vibrancy, our designers have access to a broad color palette. This includes not only every paint color in the rainbow, but it also includes premium wood stains and natural organic shades, as well as visually interesting grain patterns.
Paint Finishes
The appearance of a painted surface can be influenced by more than just the color pigment of the paint. Each type of base paint has its own inherent finish properties. This is largely related to its sheen or shine. The type of finish that is right for your closet space or surrounding area can vary depending on the available light, as well as the type of light. Daylight, LED, soft white, and fluorescent can all alter a paint’s appearance depending on it’s finished. At the same time, the finish can impact the overall durability of the paint.
Stain And Wood Laminates
Stain differs from paint in several different ways. Some stains are meant to do little more than accent the natural grain of the wood. They are common with hardwoods like oak, ash, and maple. Stain usually isn’t applied to softwoods like pine, as they tend to mute certain aspects of the wood grain.
There are other types of stain that have significant coloration to them. Some of them are meant to mimic the appearance of a different type of wood. One of the more common examples that were popular in the 1980s, was to take oak and then apply a dark walnut stain to it. This would allow relatively affordable oak, look like premium price walnut wood. There are many combinations like this including red oak, golden oak, cherry, walnut, and fruitwood, just to name a few.
Adding Color To Stain
There is another classification of stain that goes beyond simply making one type of wood look like another. Some stain manufacturers add pigments like green, red, and blue to a base stain. This helps accent the grain, while also giving the wood a color that might match other styling cues in the closet or room.
Wood Veneer Makes Affordable Wood Look Natural
Particleboard, MDF, and plywood are relatively inexpensive compared to natural wood and laminated solid wood shelves. In many of these cases, a veneer can be carefully glued onto the inexpensive wood to make it look natural, yet at a more affordable price per board foot.
Wood veneer is actually very thinly sliced sheets of natural wood that have been treated with a bonding and preservative agent. Old growth oak tends to be the most popular type of veneer. Though there are other options like maple and ash that might also be appealing.
Stain And Varnish Finishes
There are some types of stain that have their own finish or sheen formulated into them by the manufacturer. However, most stained wood needs some layer of varnish to finish the surface. There are different sheens to choose from based on your overall design concept as well as the lighting