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
