An evening with Para and Sarah (Richardson)

On Wednesday night I had the pleasure of attending the launch of Sarah Richardson's new line with Para Paints.

The TV host and designer - who says it was always a question of when, not if, she'd have a paint line - says she and her team had a hand in choosing all 75 hues in the new Sarah Richardson Designer Palette.

Richardson says she's always been a huge believer in the transformative power of paint, starting when her mother used to make over a room in an evening or weekend. And, she jokes, during university when she was painting her bathroom instead of studying, it turned out to be "career advancement" instead of "procrastinating."

Richardson used Para Paints for her farmhouse makeover, shown in season 3 of Sarah's House (currently airing Tuesdays, 9 p.m., HGTV). She jokes from there her relationship with Para moved quickly - culminating in the collection's launch just a year later.

Richardson says that it's a really big deal for her to put her name on something, so she was careful to test the product and ensure her painting crews liked it before going forward. 

As for the paint line itself, used in the above photos, it's a mix of springy hues and bright bolds as well as muted tones and neutrals, with a purple-gray hue called "velvet" ranking high on my list of new favourites!

The new line, along with other Para Paints collections, will be carried at Lowe's.