Is it possible to find a colour scheme that looks “marine” without the cliche-tropical look?
This commercial marine strata property, sitting on a street of commercial marine properties, needed to stand out and look stylish.
The goal of the repaint was to turn the drab premises with a dated colour scheme into an energetic and masculine property, which also looked refined and upmarket.
The client wanted the large commercial estate to stand out from the crowd in its Coomera neighbourhood, tucked between Dreamworld and the Hope lsland canals.
Including blue in the scheme was a must, to link the property to the marine industry of the area, but the client most definitely did not want a cheesy tropical look.
How to stand out and look chic, when surrounded by properties housing the same types of marine-based businesses, became the question.
By the time I arrived on site, the clients already had a wall of paint samples and were close to wit’s end, because painting was due to start the following week!
We were lucky to have a situation where there was a majority shareholder, so the colour change did not need to go to a vote.
We searched through paint swatches and discussed the samples already applied.
Digital Overlays
We explored the idea of a pop of colour, and orange was one suggestion. We also played with different ratios of lighter and darker shades.
Digital overlays were instrumental in fine-tuning the colour scheme – so many colour samples had been painted, it was invaluable to use the digital colour mock-ups to shortlist the colour options.
The Colour Scheme
Once we knew the direction we were heading, we could fine-tune the colours.
I directed the client to a beautiful, strong dark muted blue, which paid homage to the marine industry of the area and gave depth and gravity to the scheme.
To this, I added a chic mid-tone cool griege, for a contemporary twist in harmony with the blue.
These were partnered with a crisp light not-quite-white grey that wouldn’t be too glarey or washed out in the blazing Gold Coast sun.
The painter, Higgins Coatings, applied several sample paints for the clients to examine as we sought the perfect shades of the chosen colours.
The client representatives were active participants as we refind the colour scheme, and it was their clear brief that helped us achieve a fantastic result.
What’s more, now that the property looks amazing, the tenants are now also taking better care of the appearance of their units, the client said.
The result is strong and upmarket; a chic-marine look.
So satisfying!
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