OT Opinions Concerning Painting

Putting on my paint store owner hat here...

Believe me, you are not alone. Even color professionals have a hard time going from a little one square inch color chip in the store (that often has four other colors on it) to a full wall. Add to that the fact that surrounding colors and lighting both have a huge effect on how we see color, and you can see why it's hard to choose color.

At my store we're big believers in sampling paint before doing the wall. Our store has a "rental" program (you leave a deposit, take home the quart, use a tenth of it, get your deposit back when you return it), others have testers, or you can even buy a quart to try. Paint it onto a big piece of foam core board or art board (2' x 3' pieces work great), and live with it for a couple of days. Look at it in different parts of the room, and at different times of day as the light changes.

Yeah, yeah, I know. You're all excited about painting, you're sure you've chosen the right color, you have a limited time window to get the painting done. I see this all the time, too. And quite a number of those people are back the next weekend, wailing that they don't like the paint color they chose. So they didn't save any time, and spent a lot more money in the process.

FWIW, we see reactions like your DH's all the time, too. It seems like 80% of men don't see a lot of difference between colors, so they don't understand why one beige (or blue or whatever) is different from another. I think part of it is social, and part is physical (most of our female employees can see very subtle color differences when matching paints or stains that only one of our male employees can see.)

Did that answer all your questions?

I always hate the color I put on the wall. But I have learned to pick a color from the middle of the chip instead of the darkest. And never to use the name of the color to make a decision. I painted our living room once and for a change was happy with the color. My DH walked in and said," yuck that's the same ugly color as my PickUP". And sure enough it was. Next time like Kathy suggests I will be trying samples.

In message , Vikki In WA State writes

In our last house I decorated my daughter's room in very bright pink and very bright yellow. It looked fantastic but the names of the paints were "sweetcorn" and "watermelon" which sounds like a horrible combination.

I remind our customers that some poor person in a cubicle had their boss come in and say "I need 1400 color names by this afternoon." You'd be coming up with some pretty dumb ones, too, after the first couple of hundred.

I'll bet "sweetcorn" and "watermelon" were named right before lunch. So were the colors of my sewing room -- Peanut Shell and Crisp Croissant. :)

YOu wear all your hats well Kathy and we appreciate all of them.

I painted the living area of the old house in a Valspar from Lowes. Ok, I learned crappy paint a dumb idea. The color was terrific though so when we moved I took that paint to Dunn Edwards and the guy matched it. He didn't get the color right but I got the most wonderful color. It picks up different tones from the light as the day changes and every different look is wonderful. I don't get it right often but boy did I win that time.

I have been banned from ever buying yellow again. I did a bathroom with a skylight and boy did the place glow! DD said it reminded her of the old bathroom at G'pa's house. I picked out that yellow paint when I lived there. No more yellow around. Skylights openings are even tougher than regular wall colors. I ended up leaving the opening and ceiling yellow and the walls ended up pumpkin. I love it but it is sort of odd, and still glows!

Taria, almost wish I lived in Sac town so I could buy paint from Kathy, almost....

Kathy Applebaum wrote:

I have to second this observation about some men's inability to distinguish subtle color differences. When I worked as a lab tech, I tried to help some of the EMT's pass a test in anatomy & physiology class. This test had to do with identifiying blood cells under the microscope. The cells I was helping them to recognize should have been easy because the stain made them appear bright orange. Two of the three men I tutored told me those cells looked lavender to them. Neither of them were identified as having color-blindness. Made me realize there were degrees of being able to see color.

As for changing my mind after having painted a wall, I've just recently rummaged up enough courage to paint a wall another color besides white. I stewed over my choice of color for 6 months, worrying it wouldn't be right. Then I had to take in consideration the shock I knew it would be to have a wall another color besides white. Fortunately, after the shock wore off, I loved it. So the only thing I can offer is that if you don't like the color, maybe wait a day or two and see how you feel. It may be the color truly isn't what you wanted or maybe you're just not used to it yet.

Michelle in NV

I once painted a living room a pale tan called "Quilter's Thread" honestly that was the color name!!! In another place I had the walls painted a soft soft peach, that changed color with the sun's movement, very pretty.

My DMIL refuses to see our house as anything but white, completely, on the outside. Now, this is a 103 yr old Colonial, with lots of detail and gingerbread on it. But, no one sees it because it is all one color. She told us when she is gone we can paint it "chartreuse for all I'll care".

In our room is paneled almost completely in knotty pine. I am campaigning for a soft tan or gold for the upper part.

Ginger in CA who has been known to gather paint sample cards for use in color decisions for quilts!

M Rimmer wrote:

Have you thought about sponge painting over the color? You can dab a light or dark color with a sponge on top of the old color. It is beautiful and can really change the ick factor into great!

I've had a couple scares with paint too. My living room still had it's original 1972 dark brown masonite panelling. About 5 years ago I decided to have it professionally painted. The paint chip was sort of peachy/tan/taupe color, but when the painter finished one wall I was almost in tears, it was pink. I decided to live with it, so he continued painting. Once I took down the mauve accessories from the old decor, it wasn't so pink and when I put up the new terracotta drapes the paint reverted to it's original peachy/tan/taupe color and now I love it. It changes color every couple of hours depending on the amount of light in the room.

Another time I tentatively picked out a paint chip for the bedroom, then I unexpectedly had to have surgery. DH decided to surprise me, he picked up the paint and did the whole room while I was in the hospital. I came home to a bordello pink bedroom and had to live with it for many years. I toned it down with the leftover mauve drapes from the living room. Now my bedroom is light sage green with a border of very realistic looking leaves, squirrels, birds, bunnies, mice, and a few other little forest creatures I can't remember right now.

Painting is always an adventure.

Denise

Howdy!

It's Just Paint.

Ragmop/Sandy

To add on to the comments of Ms. so smart Kathy, also make sure you view your sample in different lights, morning, afternoon and evening. niasha

Wait now. I've gotten confused about the question. Are we concerned about choosing a paint color or are we trying to decide whether to bop her husband in the nose with a rolled up newspaper for his hurtful remark? How well I remember the time I decided to 'do' our blue bathroom in green. Everything in there was the standard ho hum blue. I painted it in a very gentle green and added wonderful happy green linens and plants. DH walked past the door, looked in and commented "Did you intend to do that?". Now, just how in the @#! could I have possibly done it accidentally? Oh my. I guess the lesson learned is 'nearly nobody dies from choosing the wrong color'. Notice, I said 'nearly'. Polly

No, paint choice the decision. ANy good woman already knows when to bop a DH in the nose.

We had a "zest green" bathroom when I was a kid (like the soap) We all grew up mostly ok.

My aunt once said "he's just a man" about something some guy did. Made my dad furious but the phrase often comes to my mind. SOmetimes men are just like that, just a man. They are different animals than us Polly. Mostly that is a good thing ; )

Taria, tired and a tad frazzled from that silly game Cheryl posted

Polly Esther wrote:

Zest green? Zest? Oh mercy. Tell me you're kidding. LOL. Polly

In message , Polly Esther writes

Maybe the problem is that with most jobs, the more effort you put in (if you're competent), the nicer the result will be. But in decorating, no matter how much effort and however competent you are, if it's a nasty colour the result will be nasty. Some DHs have a habit of focusing on the result: "Ewwww, that looks foul dude!", and some DWs have a tendency to focus on the effort: "It took me the whole day!"

I had a dear great aunt who used to redecorate amazingly often. My dear great uncle never knew what colour house he would be coming home to. If she didn't like it, or if he didn't, she'd just do it over the next day. I suppose she must have really enjoyed the process of decorating, or maybe she just got a huge kick out of the magical way you can completely transform a room.

I have a customer with a bathroom that is tiled floor to ceiling in Pepto-Bismol pink tile. (It was like that when they bought the house.) They use it as the guest bath to make sure no one stays more than a week. *grin*