I finally painted my home office this weekend, which I’d been planning to do for several weeks. I wiped myself out and then didn’t sleep well and today I’m tired and my legs are totally sore.
And after the painting and the sweating and the cleaning up… my office looks worse than it did before.
I don’t know what went wrong. I spent weeks looking at color chips, taping them to the walls of the room, buying some samples and painting them onto pieces of white posterboard. I finally bought paint yesterday morning in a blue hue that wasn’t exactly the same as any of the samples I’d tested, but it was similar, and it was one that had been taped to my wall for a couple of weeks.
Took it home, began painting, and when I finished the first coat, it looked terrible. The blue was way too bright.
I went back to the paint store, bought another gallon one shade darker, and used that for the second coat. It didn’t really help. It’s still too bright. It looks godawful. The original room color was blah, but now it’s garish. I preferred the blah. I expended all this effort and just wound up making the room worse.
Guess who’s going to be repainting his home office next weekend? I think I’m giving up on blue entirely and choosing a shade of soothing brown instead, like milky coffee colored or something.
I’m so annoyed.
Being the veteran of many home improvement projects (an unwilling conscript, but a veteran nonetheless) I salute you and sympathize with your annoyance. Perhaps a happy hour sometime might relieve some of the sting?
I feel your pain – In fact I felt it so bad, I actually created a product to make the painting process easier (www.mysmallwall.com). The problem with posterboard, card board etc.. is that they are porous surfaces, so they not only absorb moisture(which is why it warps) but some of the color as well -so you don’t get a real representation of color on your wall. SMALL WALL is non porous so the color sets on top of the sample board instead of soaking in to it. Hope you can try a SMALL WALL before your nexts wknds paint project.!
I hope I am not too bold here with my comment.
I want to make a suggestion for you…instead of brown….try a warmer…cozy…..but not ‘hot’ color…..Honey Butter….made by Pittsburg Paints…..so it is easily found. I think you will find a warmer color, other than brown, to be more soothing and comforting in your office. Of all the rooms that we painted, and most have pronounced colors, the Honey Butter is commented on as relaxing. It also blends when one looks from one room into another and makes for a smooth visual transition. If you have a window with sunlight in the office you are painting there will be a warmth and charm that I am sure you will love when the sun hits the walls.
http://www.materials-world.com/paint-colors/pittsburgh_paints/pittsburgh-paint-04.htm
James and I know all too well the woes of painting. We completed over a three months period in the summer of 2007…often of 15 hour days…all the rooms in a Victorian prior to moving in. Blue tape, brushes, blue tape, rollers, blue tape, not enough paint, blue tape,,,did I mention blue tape? At one point we calculated how much we used in 2007 and while I thankfully have forgotten it now, at the time it made for great conversation.
But in the end, as you will find, the work is worth it.
I’ll echo the “not brown” for a home office. I had an office once that looked like a cup of coffee with a decent amount of creme and it sucked the energy out of me every day. Something brighter that gives you energy is the way to go.
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Here’s a tip on painting. Always go one shade lighter than the one you think you want on a paint chip. An entire room of light being absorbed at the same frequencies always looks more intense than a bit of color on a paint chip.