Color Choices Shape What Buyers Notice First

Color is doing more work in the shed industry than most of us want to admit, and it’s usually the first thing a buyer notices on a dealer lot. We sit down with Jamie White and Ruthanne Hanlon from Pittsburgh Paints to unpack how color trends really move, why people are choosing more personal exteriors than ever, and how a “safe” neutral can still go sideways when undertones show up in full sun. If you’ve ever had a customer say, “That’s not the color I picked,” this is the conversation you’ve been missing.

We get practical about portable building color palettes: how often to update them, why removing dead colors can actually increase sales, and how flipping body, trim, and door colors can make a small set of paints feel like a much bigger offering. We also talk coordination problems unique to sheds, like building around limited pre-painted metal roof colors and using stains and urethanes to add contrast that makes a shed look more premium without changing the build.

You’ll also hear why black became a top seller, why biophilic blues and organic greens are winning right now, and how regional palettes can help a coastal lot look different from a mountain market. If you want your colors to feel intentional, boost buyer confidence, and lower your paint inventory costs at the same time, press play. Subscribe, share this with a shed builder friend, and leave a review with the color you think sells best.

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This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: Shed Pro

IFAB
Identigrow
Solar Blaster
Cardinal Manufacturing

Transcript

ShedPro Sponsor And Discount

Shannon 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the Shed Geek Podcast. Here's a message from our studio sponsor. Let's be real. Running a shed business today isn't just about building great sheds. The industry is changing fast. We're all feeling the squeeze, competing for fewer buyers, while expectations keep climbing. And yet, I hear from many of you that you are still juggling spreadsheets, clunky software, or disconnected systems. You're spending more time managing chaos than actually growing your business. That's why I want to talk to you about our studio sponsor, ShedPro. If you're not already using them, I really think you should check them out. ShedPro combines your 3D configurator, point of sale, RTO contracts, inventory, deliveries, and dealer tools all in one platform. They even integrate cleanly into our Shed Geek marketing solutions. From website lead to final delivery, you can quote, contract, collect payment, and schedule delivery in one clean workflow. No more double entries, no more back and forth chaos. Quoting is faster, orders are cleaner. And instead of chasing down paperwork, you're actually running your business. And if you mention Shed Geek, you'll get 25% off all setup fees. Check it out at shedpro.co/ shed geek. Thank you, ShedPro, for being our studio sponsor and honestly for building something that helps the industry. Okay, welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek Podcast here in Bitter cold Metropolis, Illinois, because you know we thought we had uh uh nice weather, and it turns out that the third or fourth winter came along right in the middle of our spring. But I'm excited about today's uh uh guest. But before we get rolling on the podcast, a few ways to stay plugged in with us is uh just to give us a call over here directly at 618-309-3648 if you have questions, comments, or uh suggestions for the show. We always welcome that. Uh contact us at info@ shedgeek.com or go check out our website at shedgeek.com. Uh please like and follow us on Facebook and YouTube. Uh, we'll do the same in return. And uh please check out any of the uh groups like the Shed Sales Professionals groups uh that we help to uh uh administrate and the call in line for those in the playing community who want to listen to the podcast. I know you might not be able to see today some of the displays we're putting on today, but we're happy to send over those videos if you have access to email and a way to see them. Uh, but the number is 330-997-3055 for all the playing community friends and hot item of the day, just a quick shout out here to WEH Supply. Uh, really, really happy to be partnered with uh Bill and uh Karlee and Keegan and the good folks over at WEH. So if you're looking for supplies in the shed industry, we'll be happy to connect you with them or go contact them yourself. Uh, they are great people and we are so super partnered to be partnered with them as well. Too. But welcome to the show today. Uh, if you guys want to, Jamie, I know you've been on, but if you don't care, just introduce yourself and tell the people a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Jamie White 3:21

So, Jamie White, I'm a business development manager with Pittsburgh Paints Company. I work nationally, focus on large accounts, but also on a lot of our segments, which includes the shed segment. So, I help drive that and work with growing the shed segment. Been with been in the paint industry since 1999. So either working in stores, selling out in the field, or even painted houses for a couple of years. So once I got into the first gallon of paint, I guess I've been stuck. But um happy to be here today and happy to be on with y'all again. And I think this topic today is going to be really fun, but also interesting to the to the shed world.

Shannon 4:03

Very excited about that. And Ruthanne?

Ruthanne Hanlon 4:05

Hey, yes, thank you so much for the invitation today. Uh, my name is Ruthanne Hanlon, and I am the National Color and Design Manager for Pittsburgh Paints. I'm based in Columbus, Ohio, but I go everywhere. My main focus is residential homes, sheds, uh, rosary paint, anything you know, linked to the spaces that we live in and those spaces that we want to create for ourselves. I didn't know we were going to say how long we've been with the company, but I I joined about the same time Jamie did. So, it's it it's been a little bit. Yeah.

Shannon 4:36

Been around and kudos to uh Ruthanne, from what I can see here wearing orange. And look, you know, well, we just love the orange color over here at uh at Shed Geek. And since that's a topic of conversation, good for you. Unfortunately, uh, at least me or Jamie, neither one of us wore any green today.

Ruthanne Hanlon 4:55

So we're well, there's you know, we have time. We can always edit if y'all want to change real quick. Uh it's not too late for that. But I I'm gonna I'm gonna throw down a challenge that on your next podcast, I hope you're both learning.

Why Color Choices Have Changed

Shannon 5:08

Yeah, very nice, very nice. Well, I'll tell you what, you could probably tell us a lot about the greens and the oranges, and we'll get into some of that conversation as we go. Um, but just sitting here thinking, you know, where to kick the uh uh the episode off, you know, just from the beginning is like I think I made the comment off air before we got started. I said, you know, I think most people in the shed industry are winging it whenever it comes to color. Uh what's interesting is I can see a lot of times the color of a shed from a distance and almost know whose sheds they are. And I never really like think about that from a B2B perspective. That like I don't know what the customer feels, but we've just been in it so long that that sometimes we see and we like uh certain colors, and then it's like, but how do I know what's the right color combination? Or what do I know, or is anybody tracking what sells the most? So maybe just starting with the importance of color or wherever you want to start. I'm just trying to tee us off here to figure out where to take the conversation.

Ruthanne Hanlon 6:07

Well, you know, Jamie knows this is this is my favorite subject. So I have been my background as an interior designer, but I have been fully immersed in color specifically since 1999. So uh my focus is there, you know, not just on, you know, the basics of color theory and those emotional associations, but consumer moods and mindsets. And, you know, I think it's fascinating why we're attracted to certain colors at certain times in our lives. You know, it's all dependent on world events and you know the economy and you know, everything that's happening. But as long as I've been in the industry, it feels like there's been this monumental shift where, you know, before people used to, and you might have done this yourself, you know, you're considering a color, but your first thought is, how's it gonna look on the street? What are my neighbors gonna think? What are my friends gonna think? And now people are picking colors that that they love for them. And that's something we should have been doing all along. So, that being said, it's that personalization that really comes into play and is having a massive influence on us. Now, a lot of sheds and portable buildings, oftentimes we want them to match our home, or you know, at least coordinate it with it. And so, looking at that res repaint new home industry is a great place to start when you're putting together palettes for your shed collections because those are the colors that consumers are looking for. So, it makes sense to have them on our sheds as well in our in our backyard.

Shannon 7:26

Man, just the color theory conversation there that you start at different times in history. And you're right. I mean, like, you know, normally we wouldn't have done a purple house or you wouldn't have seen that. Uh um, but then all of a sudden, you know, where does my mind go to? Edward Scissor hands, where like everything is just bland, and there's like that one house that is just like brightly colored, but you know, kind of going against the grain in some way. And I guess that's kind of like colors go through trends, and we just don't think about that.

Ruthanne Hanlon 7:59

They absolutely do. And but again, based on what's happening in the world. So, you know, if you go back to like the Art Deco area with the era, you know, with the blacks and you know, the deep burgundies and the golds, it was about the 1920s, aren't that different than the 2020s? You know, they were coming out of the depression, we were coming out of the recession, you know, they were coming out of, you know, they had their pandemic, we had ours, the advancements of technology, a lot of rebellion. You know, think about, excuse me, you know, what women were doing at the time. They started wearing pants and cutting their hair short and that. And look what you know is happening now. It's a lot of, I think, people just, you know, being true to themselves and not worrying about conforming and fitting in. So there are a lot of similarities to the Art Deco area that we have now. But then, you know, look at the, I always think about this. If you look at the, you know, the 50s and 60s and 70s, think what color, you know, we had pink cars and turquoise appliances and big bold patterns in, you know, avocado gold and or avocado and you know, harvest gold. And then we went to the Beijing of the 80s, where there was no color unless you were really bold, you might have put bisque or almond on your appliances, you know, but most of the time it was just white. And then, of course, 2008 happened and everything turned gray overnight. And that was 100% linked to the economy and the recession. And that trend lasted much longer than anyone anticipated. And about five or six years ago, it started morphing to gray. And what's funny now is we are firmly back in the beige phase. So, we've gone, you know, in this 25-year circle. Um, but with that personalization, you know, beige might be, and it's not just beige, it's warmer neutrals, and that's a big counter to you know, those who are just tired of looking at gray that have been looking at it, you know, for almost 20 years. And plus the warmer neutrals, they tend to be more, you know, linked to nature. They're more compassionate, they're more soothing. And we all need some soothing in our lives right now, you know, with everything that's going on. But it is interesting. Right now, some of our most popular colors were the most popular colors when I started almost 30 years ago.

Shannon 10:06

This is this is very interesting. I'm already getting educated and I love like the way that your train of thought there is like meshing with like my experiences. Uh, well, there's so many different types of even gray nowadays that like it it's more seems more popular than ever. So we're in the you know, whenever people say we're you know, it's in the gray area, I'm like, well, that area seems to be expanding because gray is everywhere. I mean, and we we've kind of adapted to it too, you know, the gray floors, you know, gray walls. I mean, if you if you even come to see our office, you can probably see behind me the gray on the wall. It's just uh it's I don't know why it's become so common. And I don't think about why it's the new thing, it just is the new thing. Uh, but I certainly remember those colors, you know, 70s and 80s appliances. My goodness. Right, right.

Ruthanne Hanlon 10:56

We weren't afraid of color then. And then we be and I don't think it was so much we're afraid of color. I think we were afraid about what others think, you know, would think about it. And that's just not the case anymore. And you know, I see that popping up in in neighborhoods, you know, driving through, seeing some, you know, some really fun colors, and why not? You know, it's you know, life is short. And if you know love that color, put it on your shot, you know, enjoy it every time you look out the back window.

Jamie White 11:22

Can we please not go back to avocado toilets? Okay, well, here's the subject for you avocado showers, avocado toilets. I remember growing up, remember the rotary phones? Yeah, oh yeah, I can still see my best friend. His parents had the avocado rotary phone, and I'm pretty sure my house growing up, we had the yellow one. I don't want to go back. Can we not go back to avocado toilets though?

Ruthanne Hanlon 11:50

You had harvest gold, yes. Yes, yeah, but I do the fun part is avocado has been back, but it's called guacamole now. It's a very great. Yes, but instead of using it with harvest golds and the chocolate browns, we're using it with soft creams, maybe a deep charcoal or a deep navy. So, it's the same color, but we're using it in different applications, so it has a whole new look to it.

Jamie White 12:15

Yeah.

Shannon 12:15

So, Jamie, you're telling me that an avocado uh uh lofted barn, you know, maybe just not the I could pull it off on a shed.

Jamie White 12:24

Yeah, from the shed, just didn't go with the toilet. But I also think about it now: the orange shag carpet. Oh my goodness, you're going to shag carpet. You're going to shag with his grandparents. And a buddy lived with his grandparents and they had orange shag carpet. And I could see that coming back. That would look good in a shed, too. Throw some orange shag carpet in your shed, that would roll. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Shannon 12:49

If somebody doesn't do an orange shag carpet after this episode, I'm just highly disappointed. Shed industry. I'd love to see it. I'm thinking about like, you know, do shed manufacturers, what do they focus on? What do they consider whenever they even think about building inventory? You know, uh, are they just saying, well, it seems like this color sold the most, or are they saying this is what I like the most? Um, how do they know? Are they tracking any of this uh conversation? And then I'm assuming there's certain colors that are going to fit better with certain styles, and like, look, I'm far from a color expert. I might as well be colorblind, Jamie, because you know, I'm just like about the only bright color I like is orange, and you guys get it. It comes from the logo, but I'm definitely an orange and gray, you know, black, like earth tone is what I call it. That's probably not even the right description, Ruthanne. But when you think about building a shed or you think about what the customers are looking for, you know, what should shed builders honestly be going for? That's kind of that, you know, I'd love to take the conversation in that direction because there's just a lot of ladies out there that probably have some good thoughts on it. And then there's some guys like me and Jamie that are like, please tell us, please explain it to us in a simple way we understand.

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Ruthanne Hanlon 15:22

You know, that that's a great question. I'll speak from my experience, but then would love Jamie to uh chime in because of course he's coming from a different perspective. But in my experience, what I see typically when we go meet with a new customer, you know, we'll ask where their colors are and they'll pull out a board that's been in the back for a long time, covered in dust. You know, the colors haven't been updated. There's not, I will say it is changing, but typically there's not a lot of thought that's put into their color collections. And it's well, these are our tops, and they they do track it, you know, to answer your question. We see a lot of them. We're able to pull usage reports. And that's always interesting because it's it's typically your neutrals that are your best sellers. And so when we come in and want to help them update those collections, it's not that we want to revamp the entire thing, but say your best-selling color is a gray, but it leans kind of blue and cold and a little bit more on the sterile side, we might replace that with a gray. That's a gray, but it's a little bit warmer. So, it's still going to be your most popular color, if you know that's what it was, but it's going to be a much better gray. You know, one thing that um I run into all the time, and this is you know, coast to coast, border to border, a lot of times when somebody likes if they want a beige or a cream, and you may have all dealt with this, if it has a little bit of a red or orange undertone, you don't see that in the chip, but that shad is going to look pinkish or you know, peachy, depending on that undertone. It's if you don't work with color every day, you don't know how color behaves. And why should you? Like, don't ask me about product or you know, production, because I don't do that and I couldn't answer those questions. But oftentimes, you know, like if we look at, you know, one of our paint swatches, and it's kind of an easy way, I guess you can't see it. Um, maybe you can. Um, if you look at the color on the very bottom, that usually tells you what the undertone is. So something like this, it might look beige, but when this goes up on a whole exterior, especially out in sunlight, it's going that peach is going to come out. So that's one thing we do a lot. Like we'll still keep your grays and your neutrals and your beige and your tans, but we might get them a little bit more neutral, you know, get rid of those undertones. And that way there's no customer surprises. You know, if they pick what they think is a beige and the shed gets delivered and it looks, you know, peachy or pinky, there's, and I'm sure a lot of people have dealt with that. They're like, that's not the color I picked, but it is, it's the correct color. It's just going to look different on a larger scale. So that's typically what we do is just help them update their collections and stick with those range of colors, but just make them more you know consumer-friendly colors. And and not just, we don't want to do trendy, we want colors that are gonna last. I mean, who wants to paint their shed every year? So we you know kind of hone in on those more classic colors.

Matching Paint With Metal Roofs

Shannon 18:11

Jamie, you know, I don't I don't know what your thoughts are on this, but I'm asking myself, like, you know, typically we see a lot of wood sheds out there, you know, but even for the metal sheds, like, do you guys where do you guys play into that role of uh, you know, the metal shed, the metal siding component, you know, as the coil stock comes out, versus all the different siding types that you have to consider as well, too. You know, even just when we just say wood, but like what type are we talking? You know, there's so many different types of coverings. Uh how does that affect what you guys do or you know, what for for the shed manufacturer?

Jamie White 18:51

You talking from a color standpoint?

Shannon 18:54

Are you talking about I I'm just curious if like, you know, does that does that really, you know, uh for you guys, how much does that matter and how much role do you play in like wood versus metal?

Jamie White 19:06

So we don't play in the metal that much because it's coming pre-painted, but the metal and the color of the metal does play a factor into their color palette because when they're building the shed, they're not painting the roof, and the roof is metal, and so they you know they kind of do have to drive their palette off of their options of metal color, um, which Ruthanne's good at working with that. You know, she works with a builder, you can get their metal colors, and we know that's a part of the shed, so we've got to incorporate that into the wall and the trim. So, and then the wood side comes into play as well, whether it's the porches and they want them to be stained, but they want that stain to match the paint colors or to uh contrast with the paint colors, or if you're talking about building your doors and shutters, you know, whether you're using LP or dura temp or whatever you're building your doors and shutters out of, if you want those to have a stained look, so then we've got the semi-transparent urethanes, and you can coordinate those with a painted building. So you can have the painted building, but the stained door, which really pops. So a lot of those come into play, but the metal is an important factor because with your metal suppliers, you're kind of limited to their palette, and so you kind of got to build off of that to make sure the roof matches. Um, going back to something you asked a second ago, though, when we got into the shed industry, we didn't initially come in with color in mind. We're sales guys, we came in with coatings in mind. But as we begin to meet with shed builders, some of those things became obvious that there's no one out here supporting color. And each shed builder just has their palette, which they picked a long time ago and it's probably working for them. But we would get a call and say, hey, so and so down the street has a blue shed. I want a blue shed. Can you go match that blue? And so, we would go match that blue, but that was kind of their version of creating a new color because they didn't know where to start. And so that was kind of how we pulled Ruthanne in was us realizing, hey, this is a hole in the shed world where they need support. How can we help? And we have a team like Ruthanne that that's all they do, they're specialists in it. We need to bring them over to the shed side and start using that resource to help expand the color palettes, improve them, all of that. So it has kind of been an interesting journey to pull the color team into the coding side of things or the sales side of things, and seeing that resource and how it can help them.

True Shed Max Program Overview

Shannon 21:49

And I think that's you know, part of what you talked about with that customer service and what we've learned through our exclusive uh partnership with you guys and learning more about what you do and color and just like how. How it affects so much of the shed sales and just different things. Part of this new true industrial program that you guys have, I think you guys probably shared some of that before, but touch on that for just a moment. Like what's sort of like the overarching thought? Because I do my best to explain it, but the professionals do better.

Jamie White 22:18

So yeah. So, you know, you we're Pittsburgh Paints. So obviously we're a paint company and we manufacture and sell coatings, obviously. But when we talk about our true shed max, it's not just a line of coatings. We've got the water-based paint, we've got the water-based urethane. It's actually a true shed max program. So for us, it's that ability or it's that desire to go from being a vendor to a partner. And we want to be we want to be a part of your business from building the shed to selling the shed and anything we can do to help. So, coatings are a piece, but we also provide a lot of resources and services that will improve your business or improve your efficiency. So from whether that be local stock and local service, our ability to stock products closer to you. So, we can cut down on your lead times, we can cut down on your inventory, which is massive. Um, there's no reason to stock a thousand gallons of paint because you had to buy in bulk or you didn't want to pay freight or you were worried about lead time. We're gonna stock it for you. So, we cut down your inventory dollars. We've got a local rep that'll work your account. So when you need something quick, they're bringing it out to you, or the store can deliver it, or if you've got need troubleshooting or support, you've got a local person there that you can see face to face that'll come work with you. And then from the color standpoint, which is obviously what we're talking today, we have experts. And as people listen to Ruthanne talk today, there's no doubt she's an expert in the world of color. You get to tap into that resource at no charge. It's part of the program. So you get to tap into that resource and help take color off your plate and make color, which is very overwhelming. You get to tap in and get someone who lives it, knows it, and keeps up with the trends, and that's a free resource that comes along. The better you are with color on your sheds, the better we can help you with inventory. If you need tech support on spraying sheds or whatever, all of those things make that make you more efficient in building sheds. So when we talk about the true shed max program, that's what it encompasses. It's not just selling you paint.

Shannon 24:38

I love it. And Ruthanne, that's you know, I definitely wanted to follow up with that question. Like what the support looks like on the ground, right? Like once you come into, you know, obviously you're an expert in this, but like that filters down. Like you train, you know, folks and they're able to get that experience. What does the store process look like? Uh, what what should the manufacturer expect, I guess, maybe whenever they go in? And what's the best approach they should take? I sometimes I find that less is more, just asking the simple question, like, hey, as a shed manufacturer, if I go to my local Pittsburgh Paints, like, where should I start? You know, on this color journey and like learning more. Oh no.

AD-IDENTIGROW 25:23

Sam, what's going on? Are you okay?

Shannon 25:26

Yes, I'm fine, Lisa. I was just trying to get a screwdriver and all this other stuff fell down. I'm ready to go buy a shed so we can have some space in this garage again.

Speaker 1 25:34

I agree. I keep looking at the shed Mr. Jenkins bought. Let's ask him where I got his.

Shannon 25:42

Howdy, neighbor. We're wondering, how do you like your shed? I love it. It's exactly what I needed, and I couldn't have asked for a better service. And where did you get it? I can't remember, but let me check. Something this nice will probably have the builder's name on it somewhere. No, I'm sorry. I can't find a name anywhere. Well, we finally got a shed. Yes. I just hope we're happy. The thing is a lot more shoddy than I expected, and I'm sure I told him I wanted a window, but they didn't have it in the paperwork, so I couldn't argue. Boy, is this a lousy shed. We haven't even had it two years, have we? Barely. It was just a bad deal all the way around. Mr. Jenkins told me the other day that he likes his shed so much he wants to get a second one, but he still can't remember where he got it. Your product is your best advertising. At Identigrow, we provide nameplates that ensure your quality products are never forgotten. Identify your products and grow your business. For more information, visit identicrow.com. Or give them a call at 540-283-9193.

Ruthanne Hanlon 26:58

Well, and that that's a great question. I would say start with Jamie, because he's our shed guru. There's no questions he can't answer. But he can also put you in touch with the right people. So, typically when I get brought in, you know, the first thing I want to do is, you know, I want to see your current colors and you know how old are they? If they haven't been updated in at least in the past five or six years, you're probably due for an update. I see some that have been you know 15, 20 years since they've been updated. And then, you know, then we work with each individual customer. You know, if you only want to offer six colors, we're gonna make sure you have six really great colors. If you want a wider range. So, the idea, and I hear this all the time is they might have 12 colors, but they said we haven't sold these in years. Well, then let's get those out of there and you know, let's replace them. Again, there's they're taking up real estate, whether you have the product sitting there or you know, you know, your it's on your collateral or your sales tools. So, I always want that palette to be, you're always gonna have some colors that are gonna sell better than others, you know, and that's true in any industry. But I want it where all of those colors are gonna sell versus some that are just gonna be sitting there. And and that might be based on, you know, mentioned earlier, you know, the architectural style, maybe the intent of the sheds, some of those that are more um, you know, studio tiny houses versus utility sheds, you know, might have different applications to it. We're seeing so many, you know, in certain areas where they're allowing these, you know, auxiliary units and it's sheds, you know, or you know, the tiny buildings that they can, you know, be in their backyard, they can be short-term rentals, maybe inline, you know, visitors or whatnot. Those typically have a different aesthetic to them than a garden shed that you might have, you know, your garden tools in. So it's playing with that. And it's been fun recently, uh, you know, again, I've been around for a long time. We've had uh several requests lately for more regional palettes. It's been a long time since that's come up because you know, we're so transient, we're all seeing the same things on social media at the same time. So it's not as strong pockets of color and design as it used to be. But I think with this appreciation of localism and community, we have been getting requests for some more regional collections. And those might be linked to the coast or the mountains, or they want an urban vibe, or you know, so we can do them based on, you know, aesthetics or on location, but it's all about designing these collections where every color has a place and is usable and it's gonna resonate with your buyers and your targets, and they're gonna look really great sitting, you know, on your dealer lots.

Visualizer Demo And Barn Red Reality

Shannon 29:28

Definitely think about like those coastal colors as we travel, you know, or or I never really thought about mountain colors. I just always figured those would be neutrals, you know, in in most cases. A lot of darker ones, a lot of darker, yeah. Like uh uh and like look, I'm terrible whenever it comes to like color matching. So, uh I know that you guys have one of the resources that you guys have is the uh is the color visualizer that you that you put out there for uh you know for the industry. And I actually have it here because you guys sent me the link. If you guys are okay with it, I'll I'm I'll pull my screen up and like you know, you have some you have some options that's on here for people to see, and we'll just see just exactly how bad I am at this, which I'm gonna tell you is uh pretty bad. Uh I'm sure. So, can you guys see my screen? So, this is maybe you guys can walk me through this, but like uh I I've gotten on this before and I just went to like the browse all Pittsburgh colors.

Ruthanne Hanlon 30:29

Um search by color family, or if you know your colors, there is that search option below it.

Jamie White 30:39

And so if you go, hey, if you go back a couple of links. Let's go back one more. Yeah. So if you start here, that's the key. You want to pick a shed, and we loaded up just some basic shed styles, and I guess a couple of things on this. We built this just as a place for you to play around with color. We understand most builders have their own shed visualizers and colors loaded up, and we get that, but this was just an easy way for them to play around and test out colors. So you pick which style of sheds you want to play with first, and then you'll go and start picking your your palette.

Shannon 31:18

Let's go, let's go with just like a you know, uh, there we go.

Jamie White 31:24

There you go. And then now you can pick you can pick your different colors.

Shannon 31:28

So, let's look at now. I am a I definitely like these neutrals. So, on that, I guess in my head are these the yeah, here's the grays. So, like this is this is my jam Ruthanne. Like this is where I'm at, get me in gray, because I've been like, man, I never even thought about how it's like relating to like you know, the things around us, from politics to everything that exists. It's funny how all that plays in, but you know, pretty simple. I mean, I like you know, something like this. Uh I think if I were to go with like a neutral probably something like this. So, let's do let's paint it up. Let's see how bad I do. Um start with this gray.

Ruthanne Hanlon 32:22

Looks great already.

Shannon 32:24

Yeah, I think I see I'm a I'm a pretty simple guy. Uh and I I even think that you go with like the white roof. I don't know. How'd I do? Like this is something I would order. This looks like my shed out back.

Ruthanne Hanlon 32:39

You know, if you ask ten people, they might say not on my house, but that doesn't matter. It's you know what's gonna work best at your property. But that's that is a very good-looking shed. Nice job.

Shannon 32:49

I like the I like the white and gray. Uh now if I went with uh oh gosh, if I went with color, let's see if I can get back to the and I think it does depend on the shed too, right? You know, yeah, like it does for me anyway. Uh well, it looks like it's not gonna load. So there we go. Here we go. Now, now if I get into see, like on these, these traditional like lofted barns, and in my eyes, this is usually a red. I mean, you just see that notorious red barn on the farms, and like, I don't know, something like that, you know, almost like a and then and I'm simple. I go back to like a white again. So, for me, those are gonna be you know, just simple I gotta click on it, I guess. There like I'm just doing something like that for a traditional for this style. Because I mean to me, this style mimics you know the bigger barns, the larger red barns that you've seen notoriously on like homesteads and fifth generation farms. I wish Cord was on here with me. You know, he's a fifth generation farmer, you know. Like this is probably you know the kind of like colors that I feel like you're gonna see on that barn. Am I missing that or is that most common? I mean, this thing could be purple.

Ruthanne Hanlon 34:13

No, you are spot on. Almost every yeah, almost every palette we develop has a barn red in it. But you bring up an interest interesting point. So Tea berry blossom is actually it's a pretty bright, almost deep magenta. But again, how would you know that? You know, one, you're picking them digitally, so you always want to check the actual swatch before making decisions. And that's something you can get from our website we can send to you. But this is, you know, we've been having this conversation a lot recently. And the reality is in the industry is that great paint colors do not make great paint chips, and great paint chips don't make great paint colors. And and the reason is color intensifies on a larger scale. So that tea berry blossom on that little swatch, it looks like a red, but it is actually has that magenta base to it. So, when that goes up on a barn, it's not gonna look like typical barn red. It's gonna look more, you know, like almost like like a playhouse color, which is great if that's what you're going for. So, like if you go to the search engine, some of our, you know, probably our most popular um barn red is called falling water red. And on the swatch, it looks almost like a brownish orange, but when it gets painted, it's barn red. And that's probably our number one. Jamie, I don't know if you have numbers on that, but it's pretty much in every collection.

Jamie White 35:35

Yeah. And so I guess a couple of thoughts too. Like if you pick, take that shed. So that's got more of a contemporary style to it. So your red shed with white trim, that's a classic look. Every shed builder should have a red shed, white trim style in their palette. That's a classic look that'll always sell. Where the challenge I think comes for builders is what if your what if your shed lot is it, you've got dealers that are near a coast, a coastal area, or you've got them in a mountain, you know, like we were saying, a mountain area or whatever. How do you pick a color palette that goes with that? Because the rolling hills of Kentucky or the Central Ohio, rolling hills of central Ohio, you can't go wrong with a red shed with white trim. But when I think of a coastal area, I don't think red shed white trim, right? That's got the barn above. So, how do you pick a palette for that? Or what you're doing here, take a contemporary looking style shed. If you paint that red with white trim, that doesn't speak barn. That shed is contemporary in style. So, what are the colors that will pull that out? Um, that's where it becomes challenging, and that's where someone like Ruthanne can help you. Hey, I'm building this style of shed. I want a contemporary style, I've got a customer base I'm going after. Great. What colors will pull that out? What colors will speak to that? And I think that's where this color starts to become challenging. And if you're like you and I, well, then we're just gonna paint everything gray and white, and we'll be real, we'll get real creative and we'll throw beige on there. We don't know any better, but if you let someone like Ruthanne start playing with it, that same shed, the value of it changes when you start changing the colors.

Shannon 37:43

And we know this just from the shed didn't change. Yes, you know, we saw sheds that just moved in the same style, but different colors like drastically changed, you know, the way sheds moved off the lot. So, we did pay a certain amount of attention to it, but never had the expertise of Ruthanne. I had to do something fun here before I got out of the visualizer and like at least make uh one shed geek color here, you know, some orange and some black and some and some uh gray or white or thin ice, I guess, is the color. But yeah, I don't know that that's gonna sell, and that's probably gonna sit on a lot for a while.

Personalization Sports And Regional Palettes

Ruthanne Hanlon 38:17

Maybe if that yellow was just on the shutters, but it's a little bubble. You know, that plays in maybe that's the colors of somebody's favorite, you know, sports team and it you know represents that. I you know I mentioned earlier I live in Columbus, Ohio, so there's a lot of scarlet and gray sheds in this area, um, you know, to represent that. So yeah, maybe that that plays into it. Um but and and that's where the personalization comes in.

Shannon 38:42

How does it play in not just with like sports colors and the regional side, but even like uh, I don't know, I think one time we ordered a you know, like an orange and black, you know, to match like that, you know, notorious Harley color because we thought, you know, somebody's gonna want to, you know, shed for their bike, you know, or you get a green and a white, that traditional John Deere or green and yellow, you know, and like obviously you can't make it so that it's like matching identical, or you don't want to get past any copyright issues or anything like that. But we try to like complement what we thought might fit. And I don't know that we did a really good job. You know that orange and black set for like a year before it moved.

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Ruthanne Hanlon 41:17

Yeah, yeah. And it wasn't the black, as probably the orange, no offense. I know you like your orange, and we're doing a little bit of orange today for Ireland. Um, but like black is as long as I've been in the industry, that is by far the biggest shift I've ever seen. Like the amount of new homes going up that are black. I hear this from Shed customers all the time that black's one of their top sellers. If I suggested to somebody 10 years ago that they paint their house black, they would have thought I was out of my mind. And and now it's there's actually some communities that I work with are like, we have to take black out of our offerings because every house in the neighborhood is black. And it's, you know, but but it's but I think it goes back to we're picking what we like now. You know, we're not worried about what others think because again, you know, 10 years ago, if you know you painted your house black in your neighborhood, I'm sure you know there would have been an uproar, and now it's it's normal. And same thing on shed. So that black and orange shed, if maybe if it was the trim and the shutters were white and just the door was Harley orange, now it's gonna fit in, you know, and you know, it was probably the wife saying, No, you can't have a Harley shed. So that might have been why it didn't sound a great idea, but you know, that could have been because it even if we're not worried about what others think, it is nice to have it, it doesn't have to match our houses, but have it complemented.

Shannon 42:39

Yeah, you certainly don't want a purple shed with a green house, I'm guessing, you know.

Ruthanne Hanlon 42:44

So you gotta unless it's a playhouse shed, you know, but then it makes sense because it's for kids.

Shannon 42:49

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, then that's yeah, and you talked about something earlier, and like maybe this is something uh you don't want to talk about, but you you you know, I don't know until I ask. Um, you know, we talked about what colors bring you in, bring you out. I've always been told notoriously, like you remember uh, you know, the the the 80s McDonald's fun colors, everything was bright. Now you go in and it's kind of like, you know, I don't want to say gloom and doom, but now I think about how that gray looks that I tend to like so much, but it's you know, that coffee shop, bring people in for the Wi-Fi, you know, professional sitting, you know, the that in and then the greens are the what was it, the reds and the yellows, the red was inviting, the yellow was leave. You know, I've heard people talk about that.

Ruthanne Hanlon 43:30

Fast food is typically red and yellow. And and the reason is those are the colors that I see first. So that's a signage as you're driving down the road. They want your eyes to see that signage. But you bring up a great point with what has happened with a lot of these fast food places. They won from white and orange and yellow. And now, yeah, they're deep charcoals. They have the natural anything organic and natural is trending very strongly in both residential and commercial. But part of the reason they did that, um, well, a couple of reasons. One, their customers grew up, you know, their customers aren't playing with. Ronald McDonald in the Playlands anymore. They like, you know, hanging out at the coffee cafe and having internet and these more artisanal drinks. And that's exactly what McDonald's did with their cafes. They have these more coffee shop vibe aesthetics where they want you to stay and maybe order another drink. Most restaurants, if they're darker, they're more intimate. They want you to stay, you know, get another bottle of wine, have some desserts. The inexpensive ones are typically light and bright because they want you in and out. They don't want you hanging out. They want the next group of people coming in because it's volume, volume versus, you know, at the higher price point. But that that was an amazing shift to see McDonald's, you know, and not just McDonald's, but some of those other fast food ones go from their typical white, red, and yellow and branch out to those, you know, deeper. But but you know, you you said, you know, you're seeing so how does it make you feel, you know, when you're in those locations that have these the color speaks to you, it's the dark grays that you like. You just you feel comfortable there, and you don't want to, you know, spend some more time and they hope you spend some more money.

Shannon 45:00

I do, but I even saw something on Facebook the other day that said, Where's all our color gone? You know, they were showing cars in the 70s with all the bright colors, and you know, everything today is is neutral, you know. Like, I guess what does a color even say? I mean, you know, uh, maybe I'm gonna get myself in trouble here, so I hope I don't bring you with me. But uh, you know, even like our plain community friends, you know, there's a lot of earth tones, there's a lot of grays, there's a lot of whites, you know, and I always say we tend to uh sell the way we the way we shop. So, we think that, you know, that's what other people want. But, you know, uh I see a lot of sheds out there that really are some gnarly colors that I'm like, you know, not for me, right? Like I wouldn't want that. But do you feel like that's making a comeback? Should it? Will it? Uh what's the best thing that a shed manufacturer should know about color and like designing, you know, their sheds right now today?

Fewer Colors Better Marketing Lower Inventory

Ruthanne Hanlon 45:56

Yeah, color's definitely making a comeback, but it's it's not those overly saturated bright pops of color. Blues and greens are incredibly popular in both New Home and the shed industry, but it's those organic greens and those natural blues. So not the really bright blues like you see in our background. It's more the you know, the slate blues or the smoky blues. So, it's color, anything linked to nature, biophilia is the biggest influencer on trends right now. It's biophilia, it's wellness, you know, sustainability. So anything connected to the planet, and this really spiked in 2020. If you remember at the time, you couldn't get a kayak or a bike or an RV and like our local parks, they had to bring in auxiliary parking and people to direct traffic because the parks were flooded with people on the trails. And part of it was there's nothing else open, there's nothing else to do. But the bigger reason was whether we made the connection or not. It was nature. Like we're innately wired to connect with nature. You know, that's why they say, you know, go get some fresh air. That's nature, or how the sun on your face or the wind in your hair, or, you know, you you walk in the woods and that crunch of the leaves, you know, underneath your feet and the light streaming through the canopy. Like your body actually physically changes. Your blood pressure goes down, your brain synapses change, like you just it takes you someplace. So we really saw that spike and that appreciation for nature, not just appreciation, but that connection to it. And so that carries, and those are always safe colors. You know, like say you like a blue, it could be a soft mineral blue, it could be a deeper ocean blue, you know, anything connected to nature is going to work amazing on a shed or, you know, even on a residential home. So it's color coming back, but again, it's those colors of nature. So lots of blues and greens. Yellow has been creeping back, but it's a softer yellow, you know, almost like the gold that we had 25, 30 years ago, because all trends are cyclical. And we don't like to push color based on trends. We like to promote it and utilize it based on matching how consumers are feeling and what they're looking for. That way we're meeting the demand. And if you're offering a palette that's going to resonate with consumers, you're gonna you know sell a lot a lot more sheds because of it.

Shannon 48:13

Jamie, if you're in the field, what is like the what is the questions that you get most, you know, if you're doing like a you know, an example of different color options or just how the sprayers work or just a just a million different things and how the color should be uh uh uh you know adhere to it and like how it should be processed. Like what are the questions you get from shed manufacturers the most?

Jamie White 48:38

I'd say if we're if we're talking around the world of color, I'm probably gonna throw this back away. You're not thinking, I don't get asked it enough. We don't get asked, in my opinion, I don't think we get asked about color enough because I don't think we even know to ask. And so in the shed world, when you think color, like if you go to just a random shed builder's website, there'll be a link that says click here for colors, and it's just a bland 10, 12 squares of color, that's it. There's no extra marketing, there's no selling of the color, and um that's not a criticism, we don't know to. So, when we go out and we meet with a shed builder, color generally doesn't come up unless we bring it up because they don't even know to ask. And that's where when you sit down with someone like Ruthanne, and I've seen her do this, take a, you know, we worked with a builder that had 20 colors. And we may have talked about this before, but Ruthanne took that 20 and knocked it down to 10. And we think, well, how does that help? She knocked it down to 10, but then she started putting those 10 together in combinations, and that 10 felt like they had 30. Because you start painting the body one color, the trim a second color, and the doors a third color, and then you have the roof that blends with it. But it's the same three colors, but just flipping them around and making them accents and stuff changed it. The other big financial piece is that guy was keeping stock of 20 different colors. So, he had to have, he didn't know what was going to get ordered. So, he had to have 20 to 50 gallons of every color. So now he's up to like a thousand gallons of paint. When we cut it down to 10, he still kept his 20 to 50, but we just cut his inventory dollars on a thousand gallons down to three or four hundred gallons. And it's not just that. Depending on your spray equipment setup, some guys have the equipment where they're keeping colors in their sprayer at all times. Well, now they're keeping colors that they only use once every two or three weeks, and it's just sitting in their equipment, which is not good for your spray equipment. All of these things came back to color, and we never connected those dots. Or, like we were talking a minute ago, everybody builds a 12 by 16 standard looking shed. And most, you know, they get painted, whatever. But a lot of times you could take a 12 by 16 shed painted beige with white trim. Pretty standard. You could take, and I don't, I'm making up a number here. I don't know what it sells for. Let's just say it's a $5,000 shed. Fine. You could take that same 12 by 16, same cost to build it. But if you get someone who knows color to put the right wall, the right trim, and the right door color, it's the same 12 by 16 shed, but you sit it next to that beige with white, it looks more valuable. It didn't cost any more to build it, but it looks more valuable if it's a white shed with the chestnut stain urethane door. That just pops and seems more valuable than the beige shed with white trim. So, when we go back to what do we get asked, it's what we don't get asked that I think resonates. We don't get asked about color because they don't even know to ask. And that's kind of the message is we want them to see hey, this is a resource and a value sitting there that you need to take advantage of. Color sells, and we're here to help you sell it by color. But most of us, me included, never think that.

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Shannon 53:33

I think about how popular it is even in the reds. I mean, when you think in the sports car uh, you know, world where you know the insurance is higher on a red Corvette, or you know, it's just more desirable because it comes with some kind of like emotion, to your point, Ruthanne, early on.

Ruthanne Hanlon 53:51

You just nailed it. Yeah. No color has a whether we make the connection or not, it has a very powerful impact on us. I just had to buy a car for the first time in a long time. I knew exactly what color I wanted. The salesman was trying to talk to me in a different one. I thought, and I said, Are you ever gonna talk to people into buying something they don't want? Like, I now I'm a color person, but like I knew what I wanted, but it's and you've probably seen this, you go to order something online, and the you know, the price on the ad is $19. But then when you click on it, here's all the other colors, but it's more expensive and it's the same exact thing, you know, to Jamie's point. And if you really want that in your color, you're gonna pay more for it. I have a friend that went to a financial planning seminar and they spend time talking about how the industries get use color to get you to buy something you don't need or to pay more for it. And so, you know, why wouldn't we do that with sheds? Not that we want to use color, you know, just to, you know, have a price increase, but to use color to have something that's really going to resonate with those buyers. Um, I want, you know, my goal is always when they're driving by one of our dealer lots, I want them to stop the car and turn around because they just saw a shed on that lot. They might not even think they need a shed, but it caught their eye and it circles back. And we've heard that in some cases, you know, especially when black started, you know, becoming more popular. You know, we had customers saying that they had people falling in their lots, you know, asked about that particular, you know, black shed because it was just so striking. And so, you know, it we gotta use, you know, it use the powers in a good way, you know, but use the power that that that color has to not just, you know, to have you know a better lineup, but to, you know, increase that that customer base.

Shannon 55:31

There's always some kind of emotional attachment to it, one way or the other. Um, um, and now I'm thinking about my own decisions, you know, or I think about here's one that'll get me in trouble because I'm in a I'm in a getting in trouble mood kind of day today. Uh uh, you know, I was thinking somebody was telling me recently we have a lot of plain community folks and things like that. And they were talking about uh cars and purchasing cars and how they were typically like would purchase a black car because like there was a used to be an upgrade on the colors. Uh you know, and so like why pay for this upgraded color when you can get a standard, and now colors have become so like common that you almost have to pay to get a bland vehicle. Uh you know, you have to pay extra as opposed to, you know, and so now you've almost come full circle to where you know you didn't want to pay for the extra, but then to stay bland, there there's an extra cost for that. Uh, I don't think we've hit that in the shed world yet, Jamie. So, you know, thank goodness. Uh people just seem to want what they want. And uh, you know, I think our plain community friends and others are happy to get them the color that they want. I mean, that's my been my experience.

Ruthanne Hanlon 56:42

Yeah.

Jamie White 56:43

Yeah.

Ruthanne Hanlon 56:44

And we're happy to provide that for them.

Jamie White 56:46

And I think something else too, we have to remember like we're thinking or talking right now about the shed builder and trying to help them with the world of color. But it it's not just them, it's their buyer, right? Buyers are you and me, we're shed buyers. We don't know what color we want, or we need help with color as well. And so I think the other thing when you tap into like this resource with Ruthanne, when you as a shed builder can help instill confidence with your buyer when it comes to color, and here's what I mean: if you're able to say that, hey, our color palette was curated by Pittsburgh Paint's color team, that builds confidence in those colors. It's not, it's not Jamie and Shannon picked out your colors. No one's confident in our recommendation of color. But when you can, when you as a shed builder can advertise that, hey, these aren't just some random colors, these are colors that were curated by specialists, these are colors that were curated by a group of people that live in that world. So when your buyer comes in and they're not really sure, you can help them build confidence that, hey, this is not just a beige. This is a beige that won't look pink in your backyard. Or, hey, my house is this color, but I don't want it to match that. I want it to contrast, but this is one that will. So I think that's the other piece of it. It's helping bring confidence not only to the builder, but to their buyer, that these are colors that they can be comfortable with, safe with, and also be expressed, can express themselves with, you know, and I think that's the other thing on sheds. Yes, there are situations where a neighborhood says, Hey, you can build a shed, it's got to match your house, it can only be these three colors. I get that. That's not what we're talking. But I think a lot of people are buying sheds and it becomes a its own piece of furniture, its own piece of art in the backyard. They don't want it to match, they want it to stand out, they want it to stand alone, but they're not sure where to go. So the buyer is just as overwhelmed with color as the builder, and we can help both sides of that by helping curate a palette that they can both be comfortable and confident in and not get overwhelmed with.

Ruthanne Hanlon 59:05

That's a great point because we show up, we have 2,000 colors. Pick one, you know, like you know, you know, work with it all the time. But I, you know, you said a few times about that emotional reaction to color, and that's that can't be underestimated. And I think that's why these collections are resonating so much now. Because if you just had you love going to the ocean and how it feels walking on the beach, we can bring those colors back for you. You know, if you love going to your grandparents' cabin in the mountains, we can bring those colors back for you. So it's that emotional connection to them.

Shannon 59:36

If you think you know colors, you do until you get in front of a color swatch and you see all that's there. And then all of a sudden it can be overwhelming to be like, what do I pick? What do I choose? Uh, I remember seeing a was it a Facebook post or some social media post or something that said, you know, uh uh husbands who are here to pick colors must have a written permission slip by their wife. You know, and I think like that because I see that I see 2,000 colors and I'm like, that one, you know, simple. You know what I mean? Like because if you get me to try to do the color combo and like matching palettes and where things start, I'm gonna get lost real quick. I'm gonna need a professional to help. It's amazing how fast an hour goes by, guys, whenever you're just chatting. But uh just give me some final thoughts on like what you would want the industry to know, what they should take away from the episode today on focus, a focus on color on their sheds.

Ruthanne Hanlon 1:00:32

I would say the biggest thing is just you know, think about when was the last time you updated your colors, and then maybe think about if you have some that have never sold, it's probably a good time to look at updating your palette. And again, we're happy to help you with that.

Jamie White 1:00:47

Yeah, I would it's kind of what I said a minute ago, but I guess the question I would ask the industry are you marketing your colors? Are they just on your website? Because there's a difference. If you're marketing your colors, it costs you nothing extra. You're trying to sell sheds, market anything you can, but colors the first thing that person's gonna see when they pull into your life. They're not gonna see your construction, they're not gonna see the quality, they're gonna see color. So are you marketing in? And if you're not, reach out because we can help you do more than just, hey, here's my colors. We can help you market them by putting them into regionals. Let's create you a regional color palette that goes that will speak to the buyers in your world where you live. We can help you add pictures that will help push that color in that palette. We can help you market it at no cost. It's just sitting there waiting for you to tap in and bring some more life to it. Plus, back to the inventory thing, because cash flow and inventory dollars matter. We can help reduce your inventory dollars, improve your cash flow simply by reviewing your color palette and making it more efficient and filling it up with things that actually sell. So ask.

Shannon 1:02:06

Well, I'll tell you, that's why I love the true Shed Max program. That's why I love partnering with you guys. You guys have, you know, you're willing to go the distance uh for the customer. You're I love the program completely, uh, all the interaction that we've had. Uh I'm learning so much about uh paints and coverings and colors, and uh yeah, I just I enjoy it. I love what you guys are doing and what you've done, the communication. Uh, we want to put you in touch with as many shed manufacturers as we can. Like, you don't know sometimes until you ask, right? And like sometimes you just got to get somebody out there, do the demo, call the people. I'll tell you what, from a marketing perspective, we're taking note whenever I start thinking about uh meta ads and Google ads and just different things like that, the carousel ads that you're putting out there. What colors do you want to present? I mean, it's you know, I think about lighting, I think about all these different things that matter. Uh, and I'm hoping to become a subject matter expert on it, but I have a long way to go, and you guys have done great to at least get me going in the right direction. And I know you'll do the same for our listeners. Uh, for those who do want to get in contact, uh, just go and click on the newsletter, guys. If you don't get the newsletter, it's really simple. Uh, just go to our website and request to be on it, or just message me, info@ shedgeek.com, or my wife, Deanna, D-E-A-N-N A @Shedgeek.com. We'll get you added to it. You can go click on the link for today's show uh to take you to a lead forum where you can uh get in contact with someone. We're always happy over here at Shed Geek to put you in contact with the folks at Pittsburgh Paints and uh other partners that uh we have in the industry as well. Too we're happy to be a resource for you guys on that. Um, one question before we go, and you guys can stay on here after we get out of here. We'll uh do some uh some goodbyes before we go. But uh what's your favorite color, Ruthanne? I that like why would I not ask that to a color expert?

Ruthanne Hanlon 1:04:07

So, I get asked this all the time, and it's so hard to answer. It really depends. Like, is it for my house? Is it for my horse? Is it for a car? Like what um, but my answer is usually black. I just love the depth of it and the edginess and the classicness of it, and the it lets every other color shine that you put in front of it. So, I'm just I'm a huge it was a big struggle for me to not wear black today. Um, but you know, it is St. Patty's, so uh I had to do that.

Shannon 1:04:38

But yeah, that would have been lets every other color shine. I think that alone could just be a statement in itself. I love it because it lets every other color shine. Jamie, do you have a favorite color, my friend?

Ruthanne Hanlon 1:04:51

You're not allowed to say great.

Jamie White 1:04:55

I I'm a little shocked. I wouldn't expect a root end to pick black, but uh mine is black, but I don't have any fancy saying like it lets every color shine. I had no, I never thought of that. Mine was mine was black just because it lets me hide. You don't notice it and so you're talking specifically. So, so yeah, no, anything black. I'm while I'm talking to y'all, I'm sitting in my garage leaned against my black car. So uh, and I was thinking this when we're talking earlier. I live across the street from my brother. I have three vehicles, me, my wife, my son. They're all black. I look across the street, my brother has three vehicles, they're all white. I don't know what that says. But um, black is my favorite color, and I have no fancy saying to go with that.

Shannon 1:05:41

So, there's some psycho there's some psychology in there on that, all black and all white. I think let's see, our vehicles I have an SUV that's black. My truck kind of transition. It looks uh black, but when you get up close, it's actually really dark blue. And then we have a car that's blue too. It's really dark, really dark blue. um and I just yeah I like those I would say my favorite color in general would be gray I mean uh at this at this point you know I uh but you know the uh the emotional side that I'm tied to on the orange Ruthanne has been a lot because of the branding and the brand colors and so then it's naturally lent itself so I'm thinking about my own experiences because I would have never picked orange naturally but it's become sort of a staple in our in our color palette for our for our logo and just different things. So, I spent a lot of time looking at that. And I'll tell you what we could almost do another episode because I'm almost curious at how this ties into the marketing side and the 3D visualizers and how digital displays different than you know actually on the product. There's just so much conversation here that I think can be had. So, who knows maybe we'll do an episode two uh coming up or something where we can just continue to I love the educational part of it. I mean I really do I think that's what really matters most. So, I'm gonna let the people go. I'm gonna uh sign off for today but love what you're doing over at Pittsburgh Paints super proud to be on this interview with you today and partnering with you guys and just love what you do and the whole attitude of everybody over there so far. So, thank you guys for that. Thank you. Thank you.

OUTRO 1:07:15

Thanks again Shed Pro for being the Shed Geek's studio sponsor. If you need any more information about Shed Pro or about Shed Geek just reach out. You can reach us by email at info@shed geek.com or just go to our website www.shedgeek.com and submit a form with your information and we'll be in contact right away. Thank you again for listening as always to today's episode of the Shed Geek Podcast. Thank you and have a blessed day.