Want answers to your most pressing painting problems? PPC’s Ask Your ProPartner™ columnist Dennis Fiorilli is here to help. This time: Dennis talks about expanded color availability in four of the favorite coatings of professional painting contractors.

As a pro painter, you have your go-to products. Coatings and applicators that you know you can count on to give your customers the best results possible on a consistent basis. One of the issues that can arise is when the homeowner or their designer is looking for a specific color that is not available in the paint you want to use on a specific project.

Now, this is less likely to happen due to the expansion of our premium Designer Color Collection into four of the most popular coatings choices of professional painting contractors.

The 200-plus colors in the Designer Color Collection (formerly known as the Emerald Designer Edition Collection) are now available in:

• Emerald® Interior Acrylic Latex
• Emerald® Urethane Trim Enamel
• Duration Home® Acrylic Latex
• Gallery Series™ Waterborne Topcoat

That means your customer can get any of the popular Designer Color Collection colors in these four pro products. So they get their desired color and you don’t have to sacrifice on quality.

The products pros prefer

Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, for example, has quickly become a pro favorite for doors and trim. It resists yellowing, offers outstanding flow and leveling for a smooth, uniform finish and has excellent color and gloss retention. I recommend pairing Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel with a Purdy® Syntox™ brush or Purdy® WhiteDove™ roller cover, as these applicators are designed to help you achieve the smooth finish your customers will notice.

One great advantage of Emerald Interior Acrylic Latex is that it offers an advanced flat finish that delivers the same washability, durability and burnish resistance as the matte or glossier sheens. It also offers maximum resistance to water spotting and streaking. For this paint, I recommend using the Purdy Clearcut® Elite™ brush or the Purdy Marathon® roller cover.

Gallery Series Waterborne Topcoat is our latest hard-wearing, professional-grade coating that will help you achieve a flawless-looking, factory-like finish on cabinets, trim and millwork. Developed for spray application, this premium waterborne coating technology is ideal for use on kitchen cabinets, allowing you to achieve two-component performance with a one-component system.

Duration Home is built to tackle tough rooms like kitchens and bathrooms with advanced stain blocking and moisture resistance technology. It’s extremely washable, repels stains, and inhibits mold and mildew growth – perfect for providing color and finish that will last in high-traffic areas. To maximize the washability and moisture resistance of Duration Home, it is key to apply the correct amount of paint on the walls. Because of that, I recommend using it with a Purdy® XL® brush or Purdy Marathon® roller cover, as they will not only help you apply the right amount, but also leave a smooth finish.

Bottom line

The brightest, purest whites that homeowners and designers are asking for are now possible in coatings that pros are already using and are comfortable with – along with all the other great colors of the Designer Color Collection.

The Designer Color Collection includes six different palettes: Pure + Pristine, Form + Function, Minimal + Modern, Warm + Welcoming, Rustic + Refined and Classic + Collected.

See all the colors in the Designer Color Collection

Dennis Fiorilli is Director of Product Excellence at Sherwin-Williams and PPC’s Ask Your ProPartner™ columnist. This article was originally published in the Winter 2024 issue of PPC magazine. ©2024 Fusable. Photography courtesy Sherwin-Williams. For more answers to pro questions, visit the PPC magazine archive.