Products that aren’t available where you are sometimes have an exotic allure. A certain pull that comes from hearing buzz and whispers, but never being able to try it yourself. Like when you’re a kid in elementary school and everyone else has the newest Cabbage Patch Kid, but you’re stuck saving up your allowance for months, there’s a real potency to that itch you just can’t scratch.
For years, we’ve heard whisperings about Para paints. A Canadian brand that’s based ‘Out East,’ and is a byword for heritage and quality. Interior designers we met at conferences or online swore up and down by their quality and dense pigmentation, but it was only a few years ago that they made it to the prairies. When we saw a large display of them at our local Lowes, we were drawn in by their attractive display, featuring a range of colours curated by Sarah Richardson (a Canadian design star, host of programs like Design Inc.), and something called the Heritage Collection.
With names like Quaker Meeting house, Fort Rouge, or Papineau, the Heritage Collection conjures up nostalgic visions of prairie and seaside towns. The range of coulours is gorgeous, deeply saturated tints that aren’t pastel, or raucously plastic, but with a natural finish and a late autumn hue.
We couldn’t wait to take them for a spin off our rollers and onto our walls.
We generally select low/no voc paints, and Para does make a specifically earthkind range in the form of their Essence line. But given that the room we wanted to tackle was the kitchen in my mother in law’s house, we chose the most durable paints we could pick. For the walls, their Elite Ceramic Eggshell finish (in Sun and Silk, a warm buttercream yellow), and for the cabinets, their Ultra Cabinet and Furniture (in Quaker Meeting house, a delicate old-fashioned taupe). Both worked wonderfully. Something you should keep in mind when painting a kitchen is that conventional paint generally takes a full 30 days to cure to it’s full hardness, while low VOC paints take even longer. With a big family using the kitchen in this home, it was a constant battle to remind people to take it easy for the first month, but now that the paint has dried, we’re extremely happy with the scratch resistant and scrubbably surface that has been achieved. Sometimes when you wait and wait for something you can’t have, when you finally get it, it’s had so much to live up to that you’re left disappointed. With Para paints, this wasn’t the case at all. We’re happy converts and looking forward to trying more of their products.
Need inspiration? Check out Para Paints’ “Find a Colour” feature for some ideas.
Even on these harder wearing finishes the paints easily meet Environment Canada standards.
The Ultra Cabinet and Furniture which dries to a melamine finish is 123 g/L, while the Elite Ceramic comes in at 129g/L. Coverage was absolutely fantastic, leaving us with heaps extra.
Something that we’ve learned only over the years, is that paints really are not created equal. After we’ve brought home pale yellows only to have them dry virulently orange, or had paints turn into cling film after a couple of months, here is the real delight from these paints: coverage and the colour stability. From the time we applied them, to the time they dried, their was very little hue varience, and we were left with exactly the colour advertised on the swatch. More importantly, with a properly primed subsurface, there was very little show-through.
We’re more than pleased with the results—which is a good thing, when your’re doing a job for your significant other’s folks!
A note about VOCs: VOC stands for volatile organic compound. Unfortunately, not organic like organic vegetables, but organic in the chemical sense, as in compounds made up of hydrocarbons (molecules like gas or alcohol), that react with the oxygen in the air to evaporate at low temperatures. These compounds make paints dry faster, but also dry out the air, carry other molecules into the air you are breathing, and are generally sourced from petroleum products.
Modern paints hold relatively few VOCs, and there’s nothing wrong with using them, but as designers we really encourage our clients to select low/zero VOC paints where possible. Zero VOC paints have the following drawbacks as a general rule: they take longer to dry, this is their biggest limiting factor, and is the reason we went with conventional paints in this instance; they are much more sensitive to surface preparation, so you must prime well when using them, and make sure they are an appropriate match to what’s underneath; and finally, they tend to show marks on the original surface much more clearly—those tack holes you don’t normally bother filling, or dings and nicks in the surface of the wall. The payoff: painting without migraines, getting high, or having a lingeringly smelly home.
Para Paints is currently a subsidiary of General Paints. We were provided with product samples for the purpose of this review, but no other compensation was given. Our opinions are honest, and entirely our own. Photos from Para, except paint can ‘Quaker Meeting House’, taken by me.
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Victoria says
All of the colors look so nice! I really like the way the room looks with two different colors separated by white in the middle.
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tazimd says
Yes, there are so many great colours!
Amy says
This is a great review. I doubt they sell this in the states, but after our last painting experience I am definitely a believer that not all paints are created equal. When we painted our bedroom we ran out of paint and I had to go get another can. I took some of the original paint to we could make sure the color matched. After the walls in our bedroom dried we could see the paint matched, but the FINISH did not! We ended up with a nice line down one wall of our bedroom where the paint finish went from a glossy to a slightly more matte. Thankfully it wasn't noticeable unless you knew what you were looking for.
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tazimd says
Thanks Amy. No, this is actually a Canadian brand, but maybe one day they'll be available in the states!? I know how it is to not have colours or finishes match—it has happened to me before! This time, we got more paint than we needed just to be safe.
diane says
I love that they have a more ecofriendly line! But, yes, kitchens need durability. I will have to check this brand out when we do our next repainting (hopefully soon!)
Beeb Ashcroft says
Very pretty colors! I have a lot of painting to do this year!
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AshleyLynnFHD says
I used Para Paint (SR's Vintage) in our bathroom and I'm head over heels in love with it. I really, really liked how well it went on.
tazimd says
That's great to hear Ashley!