Unsalted paint chips

(originally written August 9, 2011)

We had a turn of events during our closing that ended up with us having about $1400 more in our pockets than originally planned. While we had discussed buying a new couch next year (we have money in an IRA account that we set aside for it) we decided since we had the extra cash we should go for it now so we wouldn’t have to move the old one and deal with the hassle.

Of course, the couch I wanted was based on the fabric I bought for the curtains and my wall color choice went with the fabric as well. I haven’t gotten to making the curtains yet (or purchasing new curtain rods), but painting suddenly became a priority with the introduction of the new couch.

I prefer painting in rooms where all of the furniture is moved out – or at least easily moved to the middle of the room with plenty of room around the walls. I like my space – and I’m certainly not a painting ninja. I also didn’t want to try and paint with a brand new sectional couch in the living room. That, my friends, is NOT easy.

Luckily I knew the color I wanted for the room and all I had to do was match the color swatch and we were on our way.

The walls starting out were an olive green – not an easy color to paint over. I only had (essentially) 2 evenings to finish painting the room, which isn’t a whole lot of time when you really think about it, so the less painting I needed to do the better.

It's like living in a cave!

Primer was definitely needed. Those walls are WAY too dark to consider not using it. But the question was, do I go the separate primer/paint route or try one of the 2-in-one varieties?

A cave with enormous... mirrors?

After hemming and hawing (and comparing prices) I figured even though it would cost considerably less to do a coat of Kilz and two coats of the cheap-o Walmart paint, I still wasn’t keen on doing three coats of paint. Not to mention that we don’t have an overhead light in the living room yet so painting by lamp light after it gets too dark is pretty much out of the question (I’ve done it before – not fun and bad results). I asked the paint manager if two good coats of the Glidden 2-in-1 would cover the dark green and she was very confident that it would.

Still being skeptical (and not wanting to spend a ton of money on paint that I can’t return if I don’t like it) I bought one gallon of paint (to do one coat) and go from there.

I will say, I’m shocked. The paint covered the olive green really well. I chose the Color Place color Clear Blue Bottle and they color matched the swatch for me for the Glidden paint. I decided to go a little lighter than I originally planned since the room is still pretty dark. Luckily there is a lighter shade of blue in the fabric as well so it still goes just fine. Other than the thought of only having to do two coats of paint, I also chose Glidden because, let’s face it, we just bought a house. I wanted a good quality paint that can stand the test of time. I’ve gotten really good results with Color Place, don’t get me wrong, but I thought maybe since I have a big-girl house I should use big-girl paint.

I decided to go with an eggshell sheen instead of flat that really looks nice in the room. Once we get the curtain rods and curtains up and the pillow cases made it will really bring the room together. To say that I’m excited is the understatement of the century.

Painting for me, has always been really relaxing and I enjoy the transformation of watching a room go from one color to the next. I’m not really sure why that is, but ever since I was little I was always fascinated with painting rooms. Garry says it’s an obsession and shakes his head as I don my “paint pants” which are splattered with a variety of paint colors (mostly blues and greens since that is where I gravitate) and get to work. I agree with him to some extent – I do have an inordinate amount of love for painting.

Photos after the paint dries tonight! Tomorrow the couch arrives between 3 and 5. It’s taking every fiber of my being to not break out the sewing machine right away and make those pillow cases and curtains!