Paint

So the possibility of going to the hardware store and buying paint to finally paint the bedroom happened again last night. Of course, then the morning comes and that idea goes out the window.

When we moved into our house a little over 12 years ago, we painted all the walls white because they had obviously been exposed to a chainsmoker, as tar literally oozed and crept down the walls. Gross? Yes. Did we wash off the tar stains before painting? That’d be a big no. I’m not sure what we were thinking other than maybe the fact that I was 20 and my partner was 21, so the prospect of a thought process more than likely didn’t occur.

Now, after multiple rooms have been painted, and some need another color because while Burnt Mandarin looks good on the paint chip, an entire room of orange can be a little much for some people. I love it, but my partner hates it. So this room needs another color, the bathroom is in desperate need of a new paint job, preferably after we scrape off all the paint chipping away from the ceiling, which is really the only place it needs paint, the half bath should probably get painted before we install the slate tile floors (yes, this still has not progressed any further than my original post on the matter), and our bedroom, which is in need of a coat or two of Kilz. The kitchen and laundry room can wait until we redo the floors in there.

As I am writing this, I notice some paint chips from Lowe’s sitting next to me, and it got me thinking. We haven’t decided on a color. We can’t agree on practically anything except a color scheme of green, burgundy and gold, which I made a bedspread with those colors years ago, and am really wishing I would have made it a little less, uh, interesting. I really like the two different fabrics, one of which is solid stripes of gold, green and burgundy that is on either side of the spread, and the other is a baroque floral print with the same colors that makes up the part that lays on top of the bed, but part of me wishes I would have done one or the other. And the solid jacquard burgundy taking the position of the floral print on the reverse side didn’t look so good actually on the bed as it did in my head. I’m sure the lighting plays a factor into that, as well as those stark white walls, against which, everything looks a little off. Perhaps a duvet should be next on my “to sew” list. I’m not a stickler for exact matching paint to fabrics in a room, but a color that is close or in the same family is high on my priority. My partner just wants the room to feel warm… and wants to install mirrored closet doors. At this point, having lived without closet doors for three years now, I’m beginning to agree.

When I painted the craft room, I had picked out a fabric to make a huge bed spread for the futon that would look more like a sofa while in that position, and from that, decided I wanted a golden tan color for the walls to pick up and complement the print, as well as the new black-brown cabinet and side table and stainless steel desk I had just picked up from IKEA. This room probably would still be a drab mess if my partner’s sister wasn’t going to be staying with us for a week that year. And really, that was just an excuse to spend a bunch of money to give the craft room a makeover. In reality, it only cost about $300 for the wall cabinet, side table, desk, file cabinet, fabric and batting to make the comforter, as well as a desk and floor lamp and new light fixture to replace the old ceiling fan, and of course, paint for the walls and trim. And all of that really makes me want to paint the bedroom.

Perhaps after I make some homemade biscuits and gravy, we’ll head over to the hardware store… maybe even Restoration Hardware on 23rd in Portland… and check out paint. Then again, if we do get paint, it’ll probably just be Valspar from Lowe’s or evil Behr from Home Depot. I say evil because it seriously should not take two coats of tinted primer and five top coats to paint a room that still looks like it could use a couple more coats. Then again, this is that Burnt Mandarin color in the office my partner so wants to paint over before the color of insanity drives him to that point.