A Paint Story

Most of you know by now that I painted my kitchen last weekend. It’s been no secret among my family and friends that I’ve wanted a red kitchen for as long as I’ve been out on my own. And with Thanksgiving fast approaching, it was time to finally get it done.

I approached Randel with the idea about a week ago, and he agreed to help me Saturday evening after he got off work. This worked out great, as his parents had everything I’d need to complete this ambitious project but the paint.

 

I picked out six different shades of red (perhaps maroon is more accurate) and brought them home to make a decision. After agonizing over cranberries, red wines, and burgundies (hungry, anyone?), I finally chose Deep Garnet.

I brought home a gallon of the make-my-kitchen-feel-designer-y color and almost burst into tears when we opened it. Rather than the sophisticated color of a precious stone, what I saw was a garish Lisa Frank hot pink.

Now, I would have been all over it when I was a Backstreet-Boys-and-lip-gloss-obsessed thirteen-year-old. But as a twenty-five-year-old who schedules dentist appointments and pays her bills on time, this was mortifying.

Randel tried to console me, saying it would dry darker and that with one or two more coats, it would look just like what I envisioned. I wasn’t sure I believed him, but I hadn’t spent thirty bucks on paint just to store it in the garage unused.

So I trusted him to begin the first coat while I began making dinner.

When I finished dicing potatoes, sautéing sausage, and shredding cheese (now I know you’re hungry), I gathered the courage to peek around the corner and see how Project: Designer Dining Room was coming along.

Once again, I nearly cried.

All I saw were lines, uneven areas, and the loud Lisa Frank pink that would look great on my nails but not on my walls.

About this time, Chance came home. With a nervous expression on my face, I asked him, “So...what do you think?”

He was quiet a moment, studying the unfinished wall. “Well, I don’t mind white walls…” he offered.

He was joking, of course, but I took that to mean I was in way over my head and should have kept my dining room the same *Oregon Coast color the rest of the house is.
[*Note: Oregon Coast comes into play later in the story.]

This led to Randel and Chance talking about how much time I spend on Pinterest and threatening to deactivate my account.

I laughed it off, but there was no way they were getting ahold of my Pinterest account. I don’t know karate or jujitsu, but I can give a mean stank eye.

I eventually started helping Randel with the first coat (mainly so I would also have myself to blame if I hated the finished color).

Chance used to work in the paint department at Lowe’s, so when he told me I needed to let the first coat dry overnight, I grudgingly agreed to let it be.

*****

When I woke up Sunday morning, I was itching to fix the wrong that had been done with the awful pink paint.

I think Chance felt bad about how upset I was over the terrible the color, so he offered to help me finish it up.

After the second coat, it already looked much better. I actually started to believe my dining room could be saved.

While waiting for the second coat to dry enough to attempt a third coat, I peeled away part of the tape on the edge of the wall that connects to the living room and noticed I had made a bit of an oopsie and gotten Deep Garnet paint on my Oregon Coast living room wall.

(It’s important to note that at this point I didn’t actually know what color the wall was yet.)

I was all up in arms again, so Chance suggested I get a chip of paint from an inconspicuous location, take it to Lowe’s, and have them color match it.

Great idea…except I didn’t have the razor blade and utility knife all the experts I consulted on the Google said I needed.

Plan B: Go to Lowe’s, stock up on as many beige-ish paint samples as I could find, and bring them home to compare. Admittedly, not the best idea, but it was all I could think of. So that’s what I did.

Upon arriving back home with samples from Valspar, Glidden, and Olympia, I was elated to find that Barefoot Beach nearly matched.

Before I went back to Lowe’s to get a sample size of it, Chance and I applied the third coat. By the time we were done, I was in love with the color. It really was deep garnet! Who knew?

This is getting long, so to sum up the last few events: Went to Lowe’s and bought a sample of Barefoot Beach; used it to touch up living room walls; noticed it was much too light; panicked; had an “aha” moment and somehow remembered there were several gallons of paint in my garage (that had been there since I moved in); lugged four different gallons of paint inside; finally found the winner—you guessed it, Oregon Coast.

The paint was all at least two and a half years old (no, I’m not an expert on the liquefying properties of paint—that’s how long I’ve lived in my house), so it was no good to me in its current state.

So yesterday I took the can of Oregon Coast to Lowe’s and got a sample size. I touched up the walls (and ceiling, ’cause I made an oopsie there too), and now you can’t even tell a difference.

I love coming out of my room to let Deuce out every morning or coming in from the garage when I get home and seeing my new dining area. It really feels like a whole new room now. And I can’t wait to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner in my deep garnet dining room.

 

Before:

 

 

 

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After: