Colour My World #2

Rollers and brushes, and paint, oh my! There is so much to be done. My husband donned a cap and sprayed his way around the downstairs a couple of weeks ago. Since then, we have been making our way through the laundry room, powder room, pantry, kitchen and dining room. Spraying is great. It saves time, but uses up a lot of paint. And it makes for interesting designs on the face and hair.

Rolling is more my cup of tea. I've rolled and brushed my way through a few houses now, and this is where I feel more comfortable. So we compromised; he did the primer and the ceilings, and I am doing the rolling and the edging.

Of course, it is always more pleasant when other people join in. I have hosted a few painting parties already, with more to come, I am sure. This of course, depends on whom I can bamboozle into believing that a painting party is SO much fun!!!!!!!

Let me just say, that I absolutely love the colors I have chosen. "Safe Harbour" which is a sea-foam green/blue (depending on the light), and "Stone Temple" for the dining room, which is going to have a bright and sunny disposition, and "Heirloom Green", which is a colour which has been part of my 'go-to' pallette for many years.

My husband tells me that I have an eye for colour. I just let him think that. Mostly, our history has been him choosing the colors. He will say " What do you think of this colour?" and I try to read his mind. If I see in his eyes that it is his current favourite, I will say "I love it." This perpetuates the myth which he believes, that I was the one who chose the colour. And I don't disagree. This is because secretly, it makes me feel a little bit like a decorator on one of those shows, that my designer husband loves the colour that 'I chose'.

This time, the colours came from this table cloth. The test will be if I still love the colours a few years from now.

There have been times when I have chosen a colour and hated it, but we are a 'one-off' type household, and if the wrong colour is chosen, we are hooped, and have to live with it. One of these times was when I picked what I thought was a grey for our bedroom. WRONG. It came out more blue than grey, and it haunted me for the whole six years we lived in the house. Another was the colour I chose for the boys' bedroom - I chose blue and hated it too. It was much to BRIGHT.

Some of my misteaks have been in trying to circumvent the time factor. As in "Oh, I'll just paint a little bit of this scratch on the wall, with the colour I have. I'm sure it's the same colour." This is not a good thing to try when it is close to a major holiday. 'Cuz, there I was one Christmas season with drop cloths out instead of tree skirts, because I was just going to 'quickly touch up that wall'.

I have yet to decide if I like painting. Mostly, I think I like the effect of it. There is no easier way to make a new statement in the house, than to change up the paint. And given that it only takes a few hours of committment for a room to have a makeover, that 's not such a bad option now, is it?