The good news is that after our crazy weekend (which you can read more about here), I was able to spend all afternoon and evening working on the studio. And I felt great the whole time! The bad news is that all of the work I did yesterday was completely wasted because the paint color was all wrong, and for some reason, I didn’t even think to double check until late last night. ? I’m definitely off my game right now.
I had quite a time trying to decide on what paint color I wanted to use in the back entry of the studio, which has been painted this very bold Kelly green for a few years now.
That’s an old picture, and since then, I’ve sanded and painted the floor. (More on the floor sanding and painting process here.) But I considered many different colors for these walls. You can see some of those options here, including pinks and corals and purples and teals and yellows. I cast a very wide net at the beginning.
But after all of that, I came back to green. Green is life. Green is nature’s neutral. I just needed to find a less in-your-face green for the walls. I finally decided to take the wallpaper that I had created for the studio half bathroom walls (you can read more about my custom wallpaper here) and have this green color matched for the back entry walls.
And I put together this image to show what all of the elements would look like together. I think it’s perfect! Those of you who are regulars around here have seen this several times already.
So yesterday, I opened up my color matched paint, gave it a good stir, and then started the cutting in around all of the doors, the cased opening, and in the corners. It was a bit challenging because it’s a small area with a large light fixture hanging in the middle, and I had to maneuver my big 10-foot ladder around to get the top areas. But I managed. I got the first coat on, stood back, and thought, “What the heck is this color?!“
There’s absolutely nothing fresh and lively about that color. It looks like pea soup. Now if I had been on my game, I would have stopped at that point (or way before) and double checked the color to make sure it matched the wallpaper. But for some reason, it didn’t even dawn on me to do that. I chalked it up to this just being the first brushed on coat, and the original color under it throwing the color off.
So I started the second coat, and it wasn’t getting better, but for some reason I convinced myself that it’s just because I’m seeing the new color against the old color, and I just need to trust the process, finish the second coat on the cutting in, and the roll the main parts of the walls, and that will make the color magically look beautiful.
So last night, after hours of working on this (because I’m still working very slowly and being extra careful on that tall ladder so I don’t injure myself again), I finally decided that there’s no way this is the right paint color. It just can’t be. I would never choose pea soup green for my walls, and trusting the process wasn’t working. So I finally got a roll of the wallpaper, found the right green, and checked the color.
NOT.EVEN.CLOSE. These colors aren’t even in the same ballpark. The only similarity is that they could both be called “green”. But that’s where the similarity ends. How in the world did their color match system read that pretty, fresh, lively green, and produce such a dead, dull, pea soup green?
This is a first for me. In all of my years of DIYing and decorating, and with all of the custom colors I’ve had mixed over the year, I’ve never had a color match for paint go so horribly wrong.
So today, I’ll be starting this whole process over again. And this time, I’ll be double checking to be sure they give me the right color before I start the work, and certainly before I make fifty trips up and down that tall ladder.
But you know what? I’m not really all that bothered by it. It’s as much my mistake as it is the person at Home Depot who did the color matching and mixing. I’m the one who made the very rookie mistake of not double checking the color before getting started. So when I saw that last night, all I could do is laugh and roll my eyes at my ridiculous oversight.
But most of all, I’m just so thankful that I was able to work all afternoon and all evening with no pain, and that I get to do it all over again today with no pain. I’ll take repainting walls and being able to climb a ladder with no pain any day over suffering pain and being stuck in bed. So I’m just thankful that I can do it all over again today.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
