Paint!

Last night, I told Loco and Lala over the phone that I had been painting yesterday and could've used their help.  Even they knew that that was a bad idea.

"I would've gotten paint all over my face!" said Loco.

"I would've made a paint angel!" said Lala.

Did I fare better on my own?  Read on.

The background

Last year, Josh and I moved into this apartment.  I agonized (but in a pleasant way) over paint samples and finally selected this subtle, modest, warm, lovely shade of pale yellow for the main kitchen/dining room.  I painted the first coat and wondered if the shade was perhaps a little too quiet.  We conferred and decided that a second coat would probably pump up the color.  Josh painted that coat.  He is colorblind and concluded that there was absolutely no difference between the original paint and this new choice.  I erred toward optimism and tried to argue that there was a slight difference.  One friend came over and asked when we were planning to paint.  Another friend described it as looking like the wall had been washed.  Rats!!

Therefore, I can't blame Josh one bit for being utterly and firmly done with painting.  Over the past couple of months, I started making tiny but enthusiastic mumbles about trying a new paint in that room. He would give me this warning don't even think about it look.  Being that he has taken the lead on many recent home renovation projects, I decided that this resistance was fair and decided to launch Painting Project 2.0 on a day when I was home from work and he wasn't.

Here we go!

The selection process

My favorite part of the preparation did involve Josh, though.  We were at the local hardware store, browsing through a great range of paint cards in the orange and yellow family, and I gravitated immediately toward this beautiful color called Lemoncello and decided that this was The One.  Josh took one look and reminded me that, of every paint sample available, I had just selected the one and only exact same shade we bought last year.  Oops.  Do I ever learn!?

So I picked two cards: the Lemoncello family, to see if I might like the next shade darker - and one that was a little more orangey.  I brought them home and taped them on the wall.  Over the next week, I decided that the next shade of Lemoncello, Banana Cream, was both homelier than Lemoncello with a less appealing name to boot.  Meanwhile, on the other card, Daisy Heart's star was rising.  I was ready to take a little bit of a risk, driven by a resolve to avoid another Lemoncello fiasco.  Go bold or go home, right?

On left: Lemoncello, Banana Cream.  On right: Daisy Heart, looking a little more orange in this photo.

One night, Josh came home and found a gallon of Daisy Heart sitting under the samples, like a present under the tree.  Game on!

The painting

I started very early in the morning yesterday.  Here's a look at two "Before" pictures:

Reader, I so wish that I would've kept the Miles and Laurel browser open so that I could've tracked my observations as they developed.  I'll recreate the general vibe:

7:06 a.m. I love settling in for a day of painting. This is going to be so satisfying and fun!

8:39 a.m. The ceiling is really high.  Hmm, I will do the easy parts first. I'm sure that's a good strategy.

8:47 a.m. Ooh, this is definitely brighter!  Too bright? Only time will tell. We're not going back to Lemoncello, that's for sure.

9:15 a.m. Gotta finish just a little more before I leave to run with Molly!  Spirits are still high.

11:16 a.m., returning home: Ahh! I love this color.

12:09 p.m.  Painting is so much less fun after a hard run.

1:54 p.m.  I hate painting.

2:23 p.m.  How am I ever going to reach that corner?

2:29 p.m.  My arms are going to fall off.

2:32 p.m.  I wonder what would happen if I taped a paint brush to a pole?

2:40 p.m.  DONE!!!!!

Final result: It's definitely punchier than I expected, but I love having color in this room now.  I love that it changes color with the sunlight over the course of the day.  I think my favorite light on it is around 11 a.m.  The color looks totally different at night - much more yellow - but all day long it's brighter and warmer, which is just what I was after.  I like it against the dark iron of the staircase and our black dining room table and chairs.

But now I'm with Josh.  We're done painting for a very long time!