There needs to be a "Choosing Paint Colors for Dummies" book

After painting the boy's room last weekend with much success (it turned out really beautiful), we want to attack the living room next. This will be a much bigger task, as there is much more furniture to move, more detail work with a small brush, more doors to put tape around, etc.

But the hardest part has been choosing a color. I'm not ballsy enough to pick something fun and wild, so I'm trying to go with a fairly neutral (re: safe) color. But I even suck at that. Today I went to Ace Hardware and picked up some sample-size bottles of paint. I painted little patches of two of the colors: "Summer Wheat" and "Dried Hydrangea." I was going for something along the lines of "warm beige" but they both look more like "pukey, fleshy orange." Oh dear. I'm afraid to even open the other two samples; in fact, I think I'll return them to the hardware store and look for a different line of color all together.

Someday, when we live in a house we won't be trying to resell any time soon, I'll muster up the courage to paint myself a bright orange kitchen, a stunning periwinkle bedroom, or a a cozy robin's egg blue breakfast room (right, like I would ever live in a house with a whole room just to eat breakfast in). For now, though, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that whatever we pick out doesn't end up looking like we went temporarily insane in the paint aisle.

Comments

Try a color at Wal-Mart called "brown sugar", it's a yellowy-warm-beige. I painted my bathroom that color in Kentucky, and the bedroom right off the bathroom was painted "trench coat khaki" a greeny-beige. Plus it's Kilz brand, which has "guaranteed one-coat coverage" which equals less work for you and Stu!

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ann said…
and yet the question remains. what color is the baby's room?
ann said…
what's that paint brand that advertizes its online program, where you can match colors online? bear, or something? i always wonder, though, wouldn't it look different on the wall than it does on the monitor? anyway, it might be worth trying. i'm sure there really is a book on painting for dummies that has a section on choosing paint colors. once again, try the library!
Tooz said…
We had neighbors down the street (they've since moved away) who painted the OUTSIDE of their house with a paint color I KNOW they didn't choose--looked like it was on sale at a Big Lots in Poland. I can't remember exactly what color it was now, but I guarantee that paint color hurt the resale value of that house. It almost damaged the resale value of the entire neighborhood.
Suze said…
thanks for the suggestions, all. i'll let you know what happens. let's just hope my living room doesn't look like skin.

as for daniel's room, it's in a color called "silverton," which is a light, light silvery blue. we love it.

there's a house in madison the color of pepto-bismal
There's a house in Tooz's neighborhood (over close to the old Johnson Controls building) that is purple and fuschia! It's SOOOOOOOOOOO ugly!
ann said…
i don't remember the house down the street, but i remember mom and daddy said it was "chicken fat yellow." gross.

i love icy blue.
Lydia said…
I would say go for something with a very boring name. For example, if its a color with a food name, choose the blander tasting of foods, or something that is part of a food but not edible. Every room in our house right now, except for baby's, is a nice beige color called "eggshell" or something very similar. I hope you both will be able to survive the choosing. Geron and I are both still, but barely, in the land of the living after our trip to buy paint. And, if they have Pregnancy for Dummies, then they should definitely have painting for dummies.
Suze said…
there are colors out there with names like "chicken broth" and "paper bag"...not exactly at the top of the list!
ann said…
you know what i think should be a paint color? "dermis of raw sweet potato." not the outermost brown, dirty part, and not the bright orangey inner part, but that outer layer between the flesh and the skin, the whitish, peaches and cream, canteloupey part. i peeled sweet potatos the other night and i was just awed by the beauty of that color.

on a completely unrelated note, do vegetarians ever get constipated?
LOL! I don't think it's possible. The engineer that I work with whom I don't like at ALL is a vegetarian, and I doubt he ever gets constipated. He must poo about four or five times just when he's here! I have to hold my breath every time I walk by the men's room!

Suze, I think you should show Stu the pics on my blog today - especially the one of you in that cute little white outfit!
Pam said…
Wow -- this entry really inspired some dialogue!! I have no advice about painting. I'm just writing to say that I'm a vegetarian (have been for 17 years) and I don't get constipated very often, but I don't know what being a vegetarian has to do with it.
ann said…
because we spent about 15 dollars on fruit the other day, and the next day our bathroom smelled like apricots, and i've been going a lot lately...and there's a story i could tell about a vegetarian and me and 6 laxative pills that would turn your stomach, so i won't tell it. but anyway, just wondered... with all that fiber...
canadahauntsme said…
Considering most vegetarians' diets consist of a good portion of roughage (such a funny word to see spelled), constipation is a rare occurrance.

Unless, of course, you're like me and eat only baking soda and capers. Then you get the shits, like, every half hour.

Also, I have to say, Suze, your house gets a good bit of light. Especially in the living room. So you can be more daring with colors on the darker side.
Steph said…
I just painted the biggest wall in my house nacho cheese color. Ace Hardware calls it "Pawnee." The other colors we used, "Villa Tan" and "Natural Beige" turned out to be pretty much "Pink" and "More Pink." Fortunately the "Pawnee" keeps the pinks from making our house look like a giant nursery for a baby girl with color/gender-association-obsessed parents. I have to say, our paint choices required some serious huevos.
Suze said…
yeah, steph, your huevos are way bigger than mine. too bad little danny's only got one...

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