Painting Pains

Who knew picking paint colours could be so nerve wracking?

On Saturday morning, we drove to Home Depot to pick up Behr's one coat paint. Our plan was to tackle the bedroom on Saturday, and the Living/Dining Room on Sunday.

I wanted to paint the bedroom green and had a pretty good idea what to pick up. However, there were so many shades of green that I quickly got overwhelmed. Even when we stood in line to get the paint mixed, I changed my mind 3 times. Picked a green but then went a little creamier. Then slightly lighter. And finally, slightly greener. The only thing I could match the colour with was a photograph I had taken at a model home once, so it wasn't very accurate. I HIGHLY suggest picking colours from paint brochures next time (the ones where they show various paint colours in a decorated room, with suggested accent and baseboard colours). You'll know EXACTLY the right shade.

In the meantime, the Boy was having a grand old time picking up a variety of things at Home Depot. He was on a shopping spree! Step Ladders! Stud Finders! Portable Work Lights! He was quite giddy.

We got home and started to paint. And after trimming (cutting?) one wall, I realized that the paint dried MUCH darker than the sample. Heart attack!!

I know we could technically paint over it, but that's over $80 of wasted paint!
I think the reason I panicked was because I had the room completely figured out. The green paint would allow me to use dark brown as the secondary colour and cream as one of the accent colours. Because it was so dark, there was no way brown would work. Did that mean I now needed white furniture?

The problem was the paint looked perfect in the can and when wet. When dry... ugh.
Gary was very patient with me. He liked the colour and really didn't care if we went lighter, darker, greener, creamier, etc. But you know me - I've search the entire city for a specific shade of purple polish once. And that just lasts 5 days on my fingers!

However, we ended up painting the ENTIRE room. Whatever - I'll figure out how to make it work. I don't want to repaint or spend another $80 if I don't have to.

The next morning, I admit, it looked MUCH BETTER in the light (we were painting until 11pm last night). Phew! It's still not the colour I wanted, but I can work with it.

Who knew paint colour could cause so much stress?