"John Cheever, paint mixer at Home Depot at 801 Trenton Road in McAllen, said these days people prefer more earth tones to paint the exteriors of their homes."

""Beige is pretty popular, Hunter green, stuff like that," Cheever said. "For the doors, a lot of people have been using red colors, more cherry bark, a really deep red. They’re trying to get away from pastel colors. People are using more colors to brighten up their surroundings.""

"Augustin Gonzalez, sales associate at Wal-Mart at 1200 E. Jackson Ave., McAllen, said toffee is a popular color for the exteriors of homes, as is Swiss almond."

"That’s when the weather is more likely to cooperate, Cheever said. When painting a house, you want temperatures to be at least 65 degrees, and the rain needs to stay away at least two days, preferably three. People also like to paint in the fall just before the holidays, Cheever said, to have everything ready."

""We get a lot of bright colors," he said. "A lot of people coming from Mexico use really bright colors, jungle orange, energy red.""

"The best brand carried at this Wal-Mart location is Kilz, which comes with a lifetime guarantee, and a one-coat guarantee. That "one-coat guarantee," however, may differ according to the conditions in which the painting is done. If the paint is applied to cement, stucco, or other porous textures, the job may require more than one coat. If you’re painting a wooden surface, put the primer on first and use just a regular acrylic, water-based paint."

""If you put the primer on and have everything clean when you paint it, and conditions for dry air are up, you should not run into any problems," he said."

"More expensive paints, he said, can be purchased at Home Depot. That’s where Cheever said Behr is the most popular brand."

""It’s been the highest rated going on four years," Cheever said. "It’s the best value for the best quality. You can buy a cheaper brand and do it twice. Buy Behr and do it once. The others don’t cover as well; the paint fades.""

"People often bring color samples from Home Depot and other stores to Gonzalez. If he doesn’t have the color, he can get on a computer and determine the formula necessary to get the right hue and mix it himself. "

"Mixing colors is what Gustavo Torres does best. The sales manager in the paint department at Matt’s Cash and Carry, located at 401 E. Expressway 83 in Pharr, said he has no pre-mixed paint. Everything is customized for the client, many of whom bring color examples from other stores. At Matt’s,
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