Thursday, December 13, 2012

Surprise!

I've been painting again.

Greg and I always joke that whenever he goes away on business he comes back to find that I've painted a room. I try and wait until he's gone so he doesn't have to deal with paint fumes. Also, I like to sing while I paint and Eternal Flame is still such a good song you guys, but Greg doesn't need to hear that.

Hang on to your hats, this is dramatic (we're looking at the spot above the door).

Before:


After:


I KNOW. I know! It's crazy. The old color was the off-white from Metro Paint, which smells terrible and is made from recycled paint, so the colors were totally different from batch to batch. The new color is White Chocolate by Benjamin Moore, a color that looks exactly like white chocolate. Why would I bother? For starters, there was a spot over the door where I started to paint three years ago, then realized it needed to be patched, so I painted around it, then spackled it, then never painted. And I guess I got rid of the paint can at some point? So I was never going to find a match for that spot.


Then we installed baseboard in the kitchen, which I still can't show you pictures of because Tinkernation has neglected to publish my final post. I am contractually obligated to keep it under wraps until they do. But I had to patch the wall, which means the kitchen really needed to be repainted.

I bought a quart of White Chocolate and put up a swatch above the door, since Greg was away for the night. Then I was having so much fun I decided to paint a little further. Then I realized I was just painting the kitchen that night. I almost had enough paint to finish, too. Instead I had to pop over to Benjamin Moore the next day after work and hustle to get it finished before Greg got home.

It didn't work. He walked in and I was behind the stove with a roller and I weakly yelled, "Surprise!" and he was like, "I see the roller and the paint can but everything looks the same," and I had to explain the minute difference between the two colors.


All of the paint fumes with none of the dramatic impact! You're welcome, baby.

The good news is I really love the color and we have no visible patches. And it turns out I still know all the words to Eternal Flame and Walk Like an Egyptian.

9 comments:

  1. You crack me up...although, it's kind of like how Norm & I paid to have a new marmoleum kitchen floor put in this spring...and afterwards, we realized it looked pretty much exactly like the old one if you didn't know better...just MUCH cleaner!

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  2. Cleaner matters! I keep telling myself that when I try to make dramatic changes I end up with an entryway that burns my eyeballs. :)

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  3. Much better. I think.... And I also love painting when my husband is out of town. I also love your ogee archway.

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  4. I love the reaction, "Suprise!" and that Greg notices nothing, ahhahahahaa :)

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  5. Crazy how things no one else will ever notice stand out like a zit on a sore thumb to some of us. It must be progress if you are down to these kinds of details in your quest for perfection.

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  6. It's really just distracting me from the fact that I still have no toe kick under the dishwasher, a project that would *maybe* take two hours. :)

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  7. Thanks, I love the arches too. They were one the main reasons I fell in love with the house.

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  8. Total guy reaction, right? What am I looking at? Did you get your hair cut?

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  9. Try out Rodda paint's Horizon line of paint. Low VOC and great coverage. I swear by it. Usually get excellent coverage in one coat

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