The paints and coatings category is forecasted to drive growth in the solvent market, says Grand View Research, Inc. It says the global solvent market is expected to reach US$31.63 billion by 2020, driven by increasing demand for industrial solvents from pharmaceuticals and the paints and coatings industry. Alcohol-based solvents are both the largest product segment and the fastest growing products with an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.5 per cent from 2014 to 2020. Hydrocarbons are the next fastest growing products and are expected to exceed a market worth of US$8 billion by 2020.

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Paints and coatings were the largest application segment for solvents and accounted for over 60 per cent of total market volume in 2013. They have an estimated CAGR of 3.6 per cent through 2020.

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Forecasted pricing for paints and coatings is estimated to increase by 3.5 per cent by 2020 due to ongoing regulatory changes. Those changes will also reduce competition as foreign manufacturers that do not meet the regulatory standards will be excluded from the U.S. market, says IBISWorld. In addition, after dismal post recessionary performance, paint stores in the U.S. are poised for growth propelled by steadily improving demand from downstream markets including homebuilders and contractors engaged in renovation activity.

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Home Improvement Spending On The Rise

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Canada is expected to see a multi-year period of home improvements and renovations outperforming the overall economy (Altus Group) and painting tops the list of home improvement projects people want to tackle at 23.3 per cent (2016 Home Improvement Survey by HouseDoctors).

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Kitchens and bathrooms continue to be the favourite rooms to paint. Merillat Cabinetry reports it continues to see a positive trend towards painted cabinetry. 

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“Currently, ‘cotton white’ finish is one of our best-selling paints and dominates all markets in the U.S.," says Lori Salem, manager of design services. “White paint is a trend that is remaining strong into 2016 so far, and we don't see it slowing down any time soon.”

Salem says another trend she sees gaining popularity is two-toned kitchens. Customers are blending warm and welcoming neutrals with clean, bright finishes in the kitchen, which leads to a powerful setting in the most used room in the house. White, grey, and black dominate the favourite colours for the bathroom, with variations of purple as the most popular accent colour for the room.  

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Security is the theme of popular décor with blues and gold dominating the colour palette, says Glen Peloso of ‘Glen & Jamie,’ celebrity interior designers. He says people are tired of bad news and tragedy and want to be safe and secure at home. Blue is representative of security because it is associated with rich, royal, and regal feelings. After all, blue chip stocks are the reliable ones, he says. Gold is also associated with wealth and success which offers security in the mind of consumers.

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Canadians Choose Top Colour

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 ‘French Charming’ has been named the colour of the year for 2016 by Beauti-Tone, a division of Home Hardware Stores Limited. The company asked Canadians to choose from the brands four top trend colours:

French Charming ‒ a cool blue hue reminiscent of a well-worn pair of jeans

Hot- Cha- Cha collate – a hybrid neutral with grey, brown, and red in the mix

Avocado Dip – a yellow-influenced green

Japonica – an emerging chalky neutral dusted with rose

 

Canadians deemed the comfy, fresh denim-esk colour as their favourite. The colour comes from style expert Simon Chang’s Beauti-Tone Simon Chang Model Home Trend Colour Collection.

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The Wooster Brush Company (which is celebrating its 165th anniversary this year) has developed some new accessories for the paint market.

Each year, Wooster designs new products for professional and DIY painters. Since 2011, the company has added more than 200 SKUs to its catalogue. A few recent examples include the Lock Jaw tool holder, Jumbo-Koter Pipe Painter, and the Sherlock Bucket-Tray paint container, which all simplify project challenges. Changes in the coatings market have also led to improvement and originality in its paint applicators. Super/Fab FTP and Pro/Doo-Z FTP rollers (made with HydroFlow technology), along with the full line of Chinex FTP paintbrushes, were introduced to produce the best results with today's paints.

 

360 Products has also developed a couple of new products to help eliminate mess and wasted time for painters. They introduced the Paint Station, an all-in-one paint tray and accessory holder that latches to any ladder, creating an at-your-fingertips workstation, and the Can Holster, a holster for paint cans that snaps on to any one-gallon sized paint can to prevent paint from drying in the rim and buckets edge. It also serves as a brush holder and can be used to strip away excess paint from the brush.

 

Ask An Expert Service: Consumers Want Updated Kitchen

 

The most common painting question Canadian consumers ask is how to update their kitchen, says CIL Paint.

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Roughly 25 per cent of consumers using the company’s ‘Ask An Expert’ service in 2015 sought guidance on kitchen painting, from wall colour recommendations to how to paint kitchen cabinets, says Alison Goldman, brand manager.

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The second-most popular decor-related paint question – asked by about 18 per cent of consumers – focused on how to use paint to make small spaces appear larger. Other top queries included what colour to paint a home for resale (12 per cent), and what colour combinations work best on a home’s exterior (10 per cent), from entranceways and garage doors to siding and decks.

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Goldman said that CIL Paint received a total of about 25,000 consumer queries in 2015, on topics ranging from colour and product to application and technical information.

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“In reviewing consumer questions from the last year, what stood out most is that, in spite of the growth of home-renovation TV shows and access to online decor information, many people still don’t know where to start when it comes to choosing paint colour,” says Goldman. “In fact, we recognized that increased access to multiple resources is actually making it more difficult for some people to make a decision so we developed a service to help them by offering personalized advice from design experts.”

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Accessed free-of-charge at www.cil.ca/ask-an-expert, the service is designed to take the stress out of painting and provide consumers with personalized answers to individual design dilemmas. Questions are filtered to the appropriate CIL paint expert, depending on the topic, and are answered within one to two business days. The team of CIL paint experts includes decor and colour specialists, product and technical professionals, and experienced painters.

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In addition to submitting questions online, users can upload photos of rooms that need a lift. “Many people think of paint colour in isolation, but it’s important for our experts to see the entire room in order to make recommendations,” says Goldman. “For example, our decor specialist may suggest moving around some furniture in addition to a new colour scheme to pull the room together.”

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Likening the service to “having a personal decorator at your fingertips,” Goldman said that many users find it hard to believe that it’s free.

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As for the answer to last year’s top painting questions, CIL paint offers this advice:

 

Kitchens: With limited wall space, kitchens are the perfect place to test brighter paint colours. Good choices are warm tones, such as earthy oranges, sunny yellows, and nature-infused greens. Revive tired cabinets with specially-formulated paint, such as CIL REALIFE Furniture and Cabinets – just remove the doors first and paint them as they lay flat on a table or floor to deliver a smooth finish.

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Small spaces: Painting a horizontal stripe around a small room makes it look deeper and wider. If the room is narrow or short, paint thin vertical stripes in two tone-on-tone shades to achieve a similar effect. Cool colours, such as soft blue, cream, purple, and green will make even the smallest area feel open and airy.

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Home resale: Contrary to popular belief, colours with personality have been shown to be more effective at closing a deal. In fact, soothing shades of light green, brown, and yellow paint may even help a home sell faster than builder’s white or beige.

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Exterior: Brighten up your house by adding a punch colour to the front door. When choosing a colour, take into account the colour of your roof, brick, siding, and landscaping. Then, choose a lighter complementary or neutral tone for your window frames, trim, eavestroughs, and siding. For your garage door, select a tone similar to the brick or siding colour to help it blend.