A Brief History and Surprising Facts About Paint

Paint has been around for hundreds of years, and people across the globe have used it as a way to bring color to their lives. Whether you are painting a road or nursery room, there are many ways to utilize it. With all the diversity in usability, paint comes with various stories as to how and where people have used paint, as well as other unknown facts. Below we go over a brief history and then delve into some interesting things about painting. We'll cover some surprising facts about painting, including subjects such as paint storage, quality, and colors psychological impact.

Brief History of Paint

As we stated earlier, paint has been around for centuries. According to the American Coatings Association, paint “made its earliest appearance about 30,000 years ago.” Although cave dwellers first used it for art purposes rather than for coating walls, it has grown in great esteem over the years.

Once the Industrial Revolution struck, the paint and coating industry became a recognized element of the American national economy. The 1700s brought about paint mills, and in 1867, a man by the name of D.R. Averill patented the first prepared can of paint in the United States. After that, paint factories sprung about all around the nation, and the country produced more cans of paint than ever expected all those years before. However, during this time, people were unaware of the toxic paint’s harmful effects.

Around the 1950s, the risks of various paint components came to light (lead paint, for example) and paint manufacturers responded. For years, the paint industry has readily acted upon the health and environmental concerns by altering the chemistry of its products. All the knowledge and understanding gathered over the last 70 odd years is what encouraged the emergence of environmentally friendly paint. Read on for more interesting, fun, and informational facts regarding paint!

Facts You Didn’t Know About Paint

1.      Paint Storage is Important

When it comes to your paint’s temperature, there are a few things that will make your painting experience easier. Paint freezes, so you have to pay attention to the temperature of the area that you are storing it. You don’t want your paint to become too hot as well, as this can affect the paint mixture, separating important elements.

2.      Bright Colors are Tough

If you’re a color lover, chances are you know how difficult it is to perfect those bright colors for your home. Intense wall colors such as deep reds and bright blues require more work to apply and maintain than their lighter-colored siblings. When light saturates a room, bright colors will fade much faster, so you will have to touch up the paint quite a bit.

3.      Not All Paint is Good Paint

As we briefly mentioned above, people learned after years of paint creation that there are better paints than others, especially when it comes to durability. For example, some paints cannot withstand grease or peel after only a few years. As such, you really do get more bang for your buck when you invest in high-quality paint. You may think that a cheaper paint will be okay, but you will lose out on a lot of the qualities that will save you more in the long run.

4.      Paint Affects Your Mood

One of the more surprising facts about paint, the wall colors within your home can heavily affect your mood. Especially in tighter spaces, the color you choose to paint a room can bring feelings of comfort or discomfort. Cool tones invoke feelings of peace and happiness, where the “wrong” warm tones can provoke anger or high energy; these warmer tones may not be the best option for a child’s bedroom. For example, red raises a room’s energy level whereas blue slows respiration and heart rate, creating a calmer and more relaxing environment.

5.      Annual White House Painting

Not many people know that the White House receives annual painting because the original lime-based whitewash doesn’t quite do the trick. The stone surface would fade too quickly if not for its yearly paint job. It takes 570 gallons of paint to cover the White House each year!

6.      Environmentally-Friendly Paint Is Good for Your Health

Eco-friendly paint isn’t just good for the environment, but it does wonders for you and your family’s health. When you use organic, non-VOC paints, you are creating a healthier air quality for your home and lessen your chance of exposure to harmful chemicals. As such, when you shop ECOS Paints, you can rest assured our environmentally friendly paint will create a healthy home atmosphere—your lungs will thank you!

7.      More Green Shades

There tend to be more shades of green than any other commercially available paint color in the world, and there are a few reasons for this. A fascinating fact is that the human eye is able to distinguish more variations of green than any other color. So, if you were planning on painting anything green, you will have a lot of options to choose from.

8.      Expensive Pigments

Some colors are more complex to create than others, which means that some pigments are more expensive than others. For example, artists widely believe Lapis Lazuli to be the most expensive pigment in the world since it requires grinding up semi-precious stones. It is pricier than its weight in gold!

9.      70°—the Perfect Temperature

Just like there is a nearly perfect paint color temperature, there is also a perfect room temperature for painting. If you paint when it is too cold in the room, you risk the chance of incomplete drying—this is more of a freeze. Further, if you paint when it’s too hot and humid, you risk the room taking ages to dry. Therefore, artists often regard 70 degrees as the perfect temperature for painting.

10.  Yellow Paint Caution

When it comes to painting with a joyful yellow, you have to be careful. Yellow paints dry almost a shade darker than they appear in the can, so try to plan accordingly; choose a lighter yellow to achieve your optimal shade.