Choosing a paint color – Why must it be so frustrating!?

So, I have recently painted our living/dining room.

Now, I could just show you what it looks like and say, “look! I painted our walls a new color!” And you may think, “Wow! that girl just picks a color and goes for it!”

Ha Ha Ha!

But that is SO not the case. 

Sure, painting the walls is the easy part… 

but choosing the color – now that is where my frustrations lye.

I put so much time and energy into choosing a paint color.

Here, let me show you my process;

I hope you have your coffee in hand, because this is a long one.

Now lets start at the beginning……The very beginning!

This is what the living room looked like when we bought the house a couple of years ago.

Lots of Tan!

 I chose a few color samples to pick from and shared them in a post here.  

Many of you agreed that Valspar-Sidewalk was the best choice.

And it looked beautiful on the walls.

Well, not too long ago, I decided that I wanted to paint all of the trim a bright white.  

As you can see from the below picture it was actually a light cream color before.

It was a lot of work, but I was so happy with the results.

Although, painting the trim white totally changed the look of the paint color on the walls. 

They went from a soft gray-blue to a bland cement color. 

I thought about painting them Benjamin Moore – Gray lake. Which is such a pretty color, but then I decided I wanted a color that would make the molding stand out more.

After staring at a million paint chips, I decided to stay with a blue-gray color and found some from True Value that I really liked . 

 Then I could use a darker gray as an accent color, perhaps on a piece of furniture, or my front door….yes! the one I just painted bright blue.

So I went to Lowes and had them mix up some samples.

I came home and immediately started painting squares Everywhere!

Then that evening I was watching the movie, Blended, and Drew Barrymore had brightly colored walls in her cute little house. I was inspired!

The next morning I started going through all of my sample chips looking for brighter colors,

which I then added to the mix.

My husband will give me his advice if I ask, but otherwise doesn’t give too much 

thought about paint; which is actually really helpful.

He suggested that I stay away from the bright greens.

His top pick was the True Value color, Old fashioned.

So I painted a bigger section in that color.

I was also leaning heavy on another True Value color, Powder Gray. So I painted a section of the wall in that color as well. 

I know they look pretty similar.

I chose to go with my husbands opinion, and plus, the ‘Old Fashioned’ had the same blue tones that are in a bunch of my pillows and other decor.

 I tend to lean in that color direction when buying new things for our home.

SO, I went back to Lowes and picked up a gallon of the ‘Old Fashioned’.

 But as you can see, the color was off!

Why was the sample a true match, but the gallon size was not??

Why?

So I had a decision to make:  

1. Go back to Lowes and have them re-mix it, but would they even be able to match it?  

2. Go to True Value and have them mix it- since it is a True Value color after all.

Or 3. Go with Valspar, ‘Seashore Fog’, the color we used in our master bathroom, which is actually pretty close to ‘Old Fashioned’. However, I would still have to buy more of that paint.

Aaauugh!!!! 

 Do you have this much trouble with choosing a paint color 

or is it just me?

In the end, I decided to just go with the color I was given.

Which was probably the best choice of all! I even like it next to the blue door.

It has just a touch of the Drew Barrymore brightness that inspired me.

And there you have it, this is the way I choose a paint color!

Next up… painting the ceiling!

I will share more once I get the room all put back together.

What are your thoughts?

Do you think I am making a good choice?

Either way, knowing me, I will probably re-paint it in a year or so…..

and start the whole paint color process over again

🙂

Thank you for stopping by,

Emily