Paint > Wallpaper

I'm participating in a Starter Stories series by Compass. We all know I've got plenty of stories to share about this home-buying business! Compass is a real estate company that focuses on making renting, buying, and selling a home (in the New York and D.C. area) as easy as pie.

The big question: What did our house need after a good 'ol fashioned wallpaper removal? A fresh coat of paint. See what I a mean? We needed to liven up the place!

While we spent entirely too much of our lives taking down wallpaper, we knew (from the start) we would leave the interior painting to the experts. Now, even though you leave it to the experts... they still expect you to make all the decisions. These decisions are not made for the weak or indecisive. It takes a person with brute strength and quick judgement.  That's why I have Scott. However, I volunteered to go to the paint store and pick out samples. 

This, my friends, was a very complicated day in my life. Let's start from the beginning:

There I was just minding my own business at the paint store. I casually walked in expecting to pick up a yellow here, blue there, toss in a gray for good measure, and then skip off on my merry way. 

As I'm walking around the store, I briefly stopped and checked out the books of wallpaper (because I hear it's back in style...) and then laughed as I threw the book down on the ground and reminded myself, "NEVER AGAIN."

 

^ Also reminded me of one of my favorite SNL Digital Shorts. 

With my casual attitude in tow, I strolled over to the paint chips and stared in amazement at the rainbow before my eyes. I started to sweat a little bit thinking of the paint possibilities. I pulled a few chips of colors I thought I wanted. I requested a few paint samples and sprinted to my car in the pouring rain. Fact: it was actually pouring down rain that day, I felt like it was reflective of my mood after leaving the paint store for the first time.

I took the jugs of paint back to the house and painted a few blocks on the wall. I took a step back and thought, "Ew. What was I thinking?" I asked Scott what he thought and he didn't say much... but his expression said it all. 

It was back to the paint store I went. 

This time, I did some research. We went with a few suggested colors from our contractor and I turned to Pinterest. Anyone who was following me on Pinterest could tell what my focus was that afternoon. Paint colors, Fixer Upper, and more paint. 

I was growing fond of the color "Sea Salt" (possibly influenced by JoAnna) and became so anxious to throw it on the wall. I rushed back to Sherwin Williams and bought samples of Dover White (for our trim), Front Porch (for our upstairs walls), Sea Salt (master bedroom), and Quietude (for our spare room). By this point, I felt pretty confident in my color selection. I even boasted to the Assistant Manager of the store that I had found a great article online informing me that Sea Salt was the new "chameleon" paint color. She looked at my blankly and said, "All colors are chameleon honey." Then she flipped on a switch and cast light on the paint chips. It was like a million chameleons right before my eyes. I didn't say much after that.

Finally, we made decisions and crossed our fingers the colors would look as great as they did in our heads (and on the little tiny parts of the walls we painted). 

Despite all of the back-and-forth with paint colors, it's been quite the treat to pop in the house each evening and watch the house change and become our home.