What better way to start the New Year than having only one more room left in your house to paint? It is such a good feeling! For all you crazed paint freaks out there you know what I am talking about.
Here is a joke for you. What do you call an insane lady who paints the rooms in her house 24 different colors? Me. Ahaha!
Paint can change the look and feel of any room, so when you are like me, and you love that little word change, it can be a super lethal combination financially and physically. I mean, if you think about it, an average gallon of paint costs $25.00-$30.00, right? In a perfect world one gallon of paint would cover each room, but because the world isn't perfect sometimes, you would have to factor in multiple gallons of paint per room. Let's pretend the world is perfect for a moment though. Even if I took the low-end price tag of a gallon of paint, multiplying that by 24 still comes out to $600.00. What could you do with $600.00? A lot. Sadly, we have the most expensive walls-- that I know of-- in our neighborhood. I can't fathom too many paint-crazies on one street. So, how the hell did we end up with $600.00+ in paint? Well, here is my side of the story.
When we first started living in our home, the walls were painted all shades of brown-gold colors and muted taupe's. It felt pretty drab. Can you relate to this? Is there a color that makes you feel gloomy and down? Taupe and poop brown did it for me. Growing up, when I was asked what my favorite color was, my first answer was A. Rainbow than B. Yellow. My third? White... yes, it is a shade or pigment, not a color. I felt really compelled to paint the rooms in our house various colors of the rainbow thinking that this is what a house needs to feel like a home. Mind you, this was our first house together! It was the first time I could do whatever I wanted and didn't need permission to do it! I went color-crazy! I would paint the bathroom green. After a month I got over the green and tried blue, then back to another vibrant hue. I dreamed of Behr paint color, the paint colorist at the hardware store knew me by name, and I had enough leftover paint sticks to make a paint stick chandelier. You think I sound nuts now? Just wait. Our upstairs bathroom was painted a total of five colors in seven years. Our bedroom was painted five times, the guest bedroom was painted three times. The living room had three different wall colors- none coordinating- at one point. Coming from a person who thrives on change, I knew it was too much when I came home one day and couldn't find a place in the house I didn't want to pick apart. There was too much chaos and too many colors competing with one another. It was then that I knew I needed to make another change.
Up until a couple of years ago when I got that itch to paint another room, I typically headed to hardware stores for the masses. I would skim the color samples, without really knowing what I was looking for, and picked a color up thinking "eh, that looks okay." As nice as the employees are, I really feel like I wasn't getting the help I needed. There were color mixers, but there wasn't anyone who really knew color. After doing a little digging online about popular paint brands I came across Benjamin Moore. After reading countless reviews I summed it up to be the West Elm/CB2 of paints. The quality is high, the colors are stylish, yet it was affordable enough. Hirshfields in Rochester carried BM. I remember going in there as a kid when my dad had his own painting business. I really had no idea what I was in for. I just knew the vibe I wanted the space in my home to give off. I was really looking for something light and airy, clean and refreshing, modern and crisp, but warm. Is that too much to ask? Clearly looking frazzled, I had a paint goddess with the warmest smile approach me. I forgot what overwhelmed felt like. We discussed what I was looking for and no sooner did I finish my criteria when she handed me a color swatch. Manchester Tan.
Isn't it so multifaceted? So perfect? So refreshing yet homey? I barely made it through the door before the top of the paint can was ripped off and the paint was on the walls. The whole living room/kitchen space was painted in two days. Determination, mang! This paint dug something up in me. I no longer felt frustrated and incompetent when it came to decorating and designing. This paint made me feel something. Hope possibly? Maybe it was the fact that this paint color finally made our house a home. All because of one paint color. Thank you Hirshfields. Thank you Manchester Tan. Thank you Paint Goddess.
Oh, and if you want to hear Shane's side of the story: I am nuts and I like to spend money on paint we didn't need. I think both sides of the story are justified. Then again, I think he is happy and content with the paint color, and even more so the fact that our living area will never be painted again. (signed in blood, Jenna)
In all seriousness though, I've heard that you should live in your home for at least a year... or even two... before you start the re-decorating/re-designing process. If you don't wait, you will end up like us and have super expensive walls, an even unhappier household bank account, and high blood pressure. Make sure you actually follow through with the patch testing on the wall instead of just giving it a go. In the end there will be a lot less work for you. I guess that would be the moral of this blog story.
Here are some snap shots of me, the hubs, and our living room wall colors in our home from years past. You just have to look at the background really hard.
Current paint color: Manchester Tan by BM
This is a rather strange teal-blue color that made an appearance for a while. That is also my favorite brother in law. He is a meteorologist. Smart guy, smart ass.
I want to stab that scary brown paint color too! Right in the face!
The proof is in the pudding at how far we have come with our little splitty home, and how far we still can go. Hope is not lost in split levels! More past projects and future ones to come. Until then, happy sleeping in tomorrow and thanks for reading.
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