For the past couple of weeks we've been painting our entire first floor... and when I say entire - I mean entire! Trim, walls, and ceilings. To fully understand the extent of our painting experience I'm going to back track two weeks.
Once upon a time...
*chuckling*
Seriously though - When we first thought about painting my husband and I went to Lowes to pick out paint colors. I knew I wanted a tan color for the living and dining rooms and I was thinking that having one wall of the dining room as an accent color would be nice. So we (basically me) picked out a tan swatch for the walls and a camel swatch for the accent wall. We also picked out a deep chocolate for the trim and a country white for the ceilings. We brought the swatches home to see them in our lighting and as much as we could tell by the 2"x 4" piece of colored paper... we liked them.
Really, the 2" x 4" strip is a lie and totally not good enough. If you are ever thinking of painting it's totally worth getting the samples. Having said that - back to my story -
So we go back to Lowes, purchase 8 cans of paint. 8 cans!
2 qty : tan
2 qty: trim
3 qty: white
1 qty: camel
My father-in-law came over to help me get started. We painted the living room tan. As we were painting I was looking at the walls and they looked very golden colored to me. After the paint dried it wasn't any better either, but I kept telling myself that I would eventually like the paint and that I shouldn't worry. We had been painting all day long and the two cans of tan were running out so I called my husband to stop by Lowes on his way home and get two more cans for the dining room.
( unpainted trim)
Why I did this??? I don't know! The more I looked at the finished living room the more I hated the ugly tan color - which in our lighting actually looked gold. Truly people - gold. Our doorways are arched and our walls are plastered. A combination that made the inside of the house look like a pueblo rather than an 80 year old brick bungalow! In a word = UGLY!
(Stained glass window in the living room... not western in the least bit)
So, the question as to why I had Der get more paint and basically waste $40??? I was trying to force myself into liking the paint because I didn't want to admit that I had make a huge mistake. If you know me, you know that nothing bothers me more than waisted money. I thought that $40 would over power the ugly pueblo-ness of the room. It didn't.
That night I confessed to both Der and my father-in-law that I hated the color from the depths of my being (strong words I know... but totally how I felt.) Der, being a wonderful husband told me that he would take the next day off from work, we would go back to Lowes and get samples, bring them home, test the color, and repaint the pueblo :) My love for him that day multiplied ten fold!
Now we have wheat walls in the living room & dining room, a teal blue accent wall, and a happy ME. Honestly the whole paint situation and the thought of the money spent kept me up the first night until 1am! Since that night we have painted our hall way, kitchen, and bedroom. All rooms went according to plan - no random golden walls :)
(me painting the kitchen )
(Der taping off our cabinets)
The only thing left we have to paint is our main floor bathroom and L'bug's room - both of which will be a country white. We should be completely done with the main level within the next week... or at least by the end of February! I hope :)
What am I going to do with the two random cans of gold? Come spring I'm going to go antique shopping for outdoor furniture... who knows I might have a post in April with golden colored patio chairs!
