A brush with color

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Architecture, color, Design, Home, Homeowner, Houses, Memories, Paint, style

I’ve discovered my dream job: Naming shades of paint.

Sherwin-Williams offers 1,500 different colors of paint and the Cleveland-based company relies on just one woman to name them all. Jackie Jordan, director of color marketing, draws inspiration from foods, books, song lyrics – pretty much everything.

Jordan has been with the company for 27 years and has come up with more than 10,000 paint names. “Blue Sky,” Cherry Tomato” and “Stolen Kiss” are a few of the easy ones. “Wall Street” refers to a dark gray shade, while “Indulgent” is actually lavender. The intention is for homeowners to develop an attachment to their chosen color.
“It’s an emotional thing,” Jordan says. “People like to have an association with a particular color.”

Most colors have a life span of 10 to 12 years, but the names stick to their respective hues forever. However, they can’t have too many letters or they won’t fit on the a paint card. Names with three or more words are rare, making up only 3 percent of colors.

The longest? “Colonial Revival Green Stone.” (I’d definitely keep ‘em short and sweet.)

Where do I apply?

A sweet comeback

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cupcakes, Family, food, Hostess, Memories

Once upon a time, my mother packed Hostess cupcakes in my lunchbox. I loved the spongy cake, the creamy filling and the thicker icing than other snack cakes.

And I’ve missed them since the liquidation of Hostess Brands following Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year. It didn’t surprise me when the shuttering of the company triggered a rush on snack cakes, with stores selling out of the goodies within hours.

Hostess sold off its brands in chunks to different buyers: Its major bread brands – including Wonder – were sold to Flowers Foods (which makes Tastykakes.) McKee Foods (which makes Little Debbie snack cakes) bought Drakes Cake (creator of Devil Dogs and Yodels.) Metropoulos & Co. teamed with Apollo Global Management bought Twinkies and other Hostess cakes for $410 million.

The good news is they’ll be back on supermarket shelves on July 15 and Hostess is expecting a blockbuster return for its Twinkies, Cupcakes and Donettes. The company says the cakes will taste the same, but the boxes will bear the tag line “The Sweetest Comeback In The History of Ever.”

Now, if I can just find my lunchbox….