I Swear It Looked Different on the Paint Chip
Picking paint colors is an art form which I used to think was easy. I mean just walk up to the display, find a pretty color and buy it. A funny post over on All Things G&D made me think about how many awful paint decisions I have made in the 5 short years we have been picking paint colors. I have been convinced that a certain color was the perfect color but on the wall......well you will see the ugliness. I am embarrassed to show these pictures but I have learned so much from these bad paint choices....and honestly they are funny now. You know now that I am no longer repainting these rooms on a yearly basis.
OK I will start with the room that we only repainted once- the guest room at our old house.
Disclaimer: When Derek and I moved in we were very poor grad students and home decor was a luxury so we did what we could with hand me downs. This was our first place after dorm rooms/college apartments so our furniture was not the best.
Back to the room, when we moved in the walls were pasted with hockey cards. Sadly I did not think ahead enough to snap a picture of this. After scraping them off the walls we picked a color. My aunt kindly gave us my cousin's old bedroom furniture which was very girly so we had to work with that in this room. Derek did not want a girly color though, so we decided on a light green. You know something light, bright and neutral.
Enter what we termed "Mint-Chocolate Chip"
It was actually a lot minty-ier than this picture shows. Not a bad color for a nursery, but considering our most frequent guest was Derek's college aged brother, not a good choice.
So the repaint-
This time it actually was neutral.
The master bedroom was repainted three times.....in three years. We lived with each of the bad colors a year before I hated it enough to clear the room and repaint. Or should I say convince Derek enough so that he would help me. Our first inspiration was to go for a beachy feel....something bright and summery. Derek will admit that this was his choice-
These pictures were taken at night and during the day it glowed. It was very bright.
So we decided to do something more neutral/cooler. My parents bought us new furniture for graduation so we though it was a good time to repaint. Sadly, I even misinterpreted an inspiration Pottery Barn catalog picture to arrive at this color. It needed to be a lot more gray in order to resemble the inspiration. I realized this when we were finished of course. I don't think Pottery Barn would claim this color.
With repaint #2 it looked like a little boys room. The room was small and had low ceilings to begin with so this made it worse. But could I really ask my loving husband to repaint again? Well a year later and an exact replica of an inspiration pic, we went back to yellow....this time less neon.
So far no rooms in our current house have needed to be repainted (not that I am making any promises about the future......I already have my eye on the dining room ceiling). Here is what I have learned from painting redos.
-Buy paint samples and put them on the wall. Yes, they cost a little extra but I really think they are the main reason I am still happy overall with our current paint choices. Make sure you put samples in areas that get different amounts of light.....i.e. by windows, next to furniture, etc. Then sleep on it. If you don't love any of the colors you put up, go buy some more.
-Find inspiration pictures. These can be from magazines, websites, other houses etc.
-After you finish painting and you hate it (after it is dry of course) or even if you don't love it.....repaint it then. The worst part of painting is moving furniture, putting up drop clothes etc. So since that is already done, save yourself a day and repaint it now. It will cost more money but you will be actually be saving yourself time and money in the long run.
-If you are choosing paint colors for a lot of rooms, invest a couple of bucks in a paint deck. Like I discussed Here.
-Even if you don't buy paint samples for the wall, sleep on it. Making quick decisions at the paint store has repaint written all over it.
But this is just what I learned what works the best for me.....I am sure there are people that the paint chip works for. I obviously need a little more help!
OK I will start with the room that we only repainted once- the guest room at our old house.
Disclaimer: When Derek and I moved in we were very poor grad students and home decor was a luxury so we did what we could with hand me downs. This was our first place after dorm rooms/college apartments so our furniture was not the best.
Back to the room, when we moved in the walls were pasted with hockey cards. Sadly I did not think ahead enough to snap a picture of this. After scraping them off the walls we picked a color. My aunt kindly gave us my cousin's old bedroom furniture which was very girly so we had to work with that in this room. Derek did not want a girly color though, so we decided on a light green. You know something light, bright and neutral.
Enter what we termed "Mint-Chocolate Chip"
It was actually a lot minty-ier than this picture shows. Not a bad color for a nursery, but considering our most frequent guest was Derek's college aged brother, not a good choice.So the repaint-
This time it actually was neutral.The master bedroom was repainted three times.....in three years. We lived with each of the bad colors a year before I hated it enough to clear the room and repaint. Or should I say convince Derek enough so that he would help me. Our first inspiration was to go for a beachy feel....something bright and summery. Derek will admit that this was his choice-
These pictures were taken at night and during the day it glowed. It was very bright.So we decided to do something more neutral/cooler. My parents bought us new furniture for graduation so we though it was a good time to repaint. Sadly, I even misinterpreted an inspiration Pottery Barn catalog picture to arrive at this color. It needed to be a lot more gray in order to resemble the inspiration. I realized this when we were finished of course. I don't think Pottery Barn would claim this color.
With repaint #2 it looked like a little boys room. The room was small and had low ceilings to begin with so this made it worse. But could I really ask my loving husband to repaint again? Well a year later and an exact replica of an inspiration pic, we went back to yellow....this time less neon.So far no rooms in our current house have needed to be repainted (not that I am making any promises about the future......I already have my eye on the dining room ceiling). Here is what I have learned from painting redos.-Buy paint samples and put them on the wall. Yes, they cost a little extra but I really think they are the main reason I am still happy overall with our current paint choices. Make sure you put samples in areas that get different amounts of light.....i.e. by windows, next to furniture, etc. Then sleep on it. If you don't love any of the colors you put up, go buy some more.
-Find inspiration pictures. These can be from magazines, websites, other houses etc.
-After you finish painting and you hate it (after it is dry of course) or even if you don't love it.....repaint it then. The worst part of painting is moving furniture, putting up drop clothes etc. So since that is already done, save yourself a day and repaint it now. It will cost more money but you will be actually be saving yourself time and money in the long run.
-If you are choosing paint colors for a lot of rooms, invest a couple of bucks in a paint deck. Like I discussed Here.
-Even if you don't buy paint samples for the wall, sleep on it. Making quick decisions at the paint store has repaint written all over it.
But this is just what I learned what works the best for me.....I am sure there are people that the paint chip works for. I obviously need a little more help!