Painting is not that much fun, although not a terrible task. Kind of messy, you kind of end up with paint all over yourself.. Sure, you also ruin your manicure even when you wear gloves.. but the hardest part of all, is picking colors.
I played around on Sherwin-Williams.com for a couple of days and decided on a bunch of color options for the sunroom/living room/dining room. I learned all about complementary colors and accent colors, and flow, hues, warmth, bla bla bla.
Nothing can prepare you for the actual trip to get paint samples. Oh sure, it's great that you can get a little can of paint for just under $3 to try on your wall before you commit. Wouldn't it be great if you could try before you buy so many OTHER things in life. BUT, when you stand in front of the 3 billion little squares of color spanning the wall in front of you at the paint counter, it is easy to quickly become overwhelmed. Martha Stewart? Laura Ashley? Historical colors? I don't know! What do these little brochures think I should do?
After much anxiety, we agreed to buy 5 samples. 3 for the sunroom, which I planned to be an accent color, 1 for the living room, and 1 for the dining room. Always a fan of warm colors (probably because I am a brunette), I decide on 3 shades of pink and 2 gold colors. Yes, I am a woman and I decide I want a pink room. Yes, Jason is a man, and thus, does not argue with me.
My dear friend Renee stops over for a visit and we jump right in to throw some pinks on the wall. Bright, brighter, brightest. Brightest wins. Let's not wait for it to dry. Let's just use all the sample paint of the brightest (old rose) even though the sun is setting and everything looks better during the magic hour. We are on a painter's high! CLICK TO READ MORE
Night comes, I say "wow.. that's really PINK." Morning comes, I fear that this pink will be referred to as pepto pink behind my back. Panic hits. I prime over everything we have done and go for round 2 at the paint counter.
Ok, I think, maybe a lighter pink will complement our estate sale finds. Minutes pass, I decide on 2. Then I remember that my parents have green walls and I do love pink and green so I throw in a historic preservation green called Homestead Resort Green for fun.
Guess what. We have a green sunroom. From this experience, I have learned a few things. First, my parents have influenced me more than I realize and thus, the saying the apple doesn't fall far is very true. Second, my first instincts are not always right and I tend to have my curveball decisions be the right decisions in the end. Third, paint samples are both a blessing and a curse. No matter what, for perfect results, you will have to prime over whatever you did with your sample. But if you ever just need a tiny bit of paint, they are a great value.