The Paint is on the Walls! - Breaking the Boomerang

One thing that I've realized about myself is that I'm terrified of color. Pinterest makes things look so easy to color coordinate, but in real life it's scary picking a paint. I started by narrowing down the colors I wanted. I wanted my rooms to feel bigger and amplify the natural light. Websites lie. Colors on the screen are much different than in real life. Even those paint chips are different than the real paint colors depending upon the light in the room.

I went to my local Sherwin Williams Paint Shop with my colors in mind. Luckily, my dear friend Melanie is a paint expert and store manager. She showed me what the colors looked like in relation to everything else. Melanie whipped out this book that must be four inches thick of just paint colors. It was incredibly overwhelming. Colors that I started with in my mind were much different. Early on I thought to myself it's just paint who cares, paint it all white. But Melanie really helped in narrowing down and adjusting the shades. She suggested we put the sample paints and come back throughout the day and night to ensure that we liked it. I was incredibly satisfied with my purchase.

Paint technology has really changed (I suspect). Now there's a machine that adds the tints to white paint and then it is mixed up. It's crazy to think that one millimeter more blue or green can change the entire paint can.

Boomerang Tip #1: Ask the experts! I was so much happier with my decision after being coached through the colors. There is also all sorts of primers (aka white) and even the base of the paint.

So luckily, my dad knew a guy who painted so the guy did that one afternoon whilst roommate and I were at work. We decided to paint the guest bedroom a light green, master bedroom a light blue, and the bathroom a light gray. Again, my hope was to use the natural light to make the spaces feel bigger. You can see some of my before and afters below.

Guest Room BEFORE - Purple with odd white stripe

Guest Room AFTER - Water Scape (Light Green)

Master Bed BEFORE - Teal & "Accent" Wall

Master Bed AFTER - Light Blue

Boomerang Tip #2: Don't paint the wall paper. You may think you're saving time and money, but terrible things will happen.

Master Bathroom BEFORE - Ugly Brown/Gold Wall Paper

Master Bathroom AFTER - Northstar (Gray)

Despite the internet's advice and Melanie's advice, I listened to the professional painter and we painted over the wall paper instead of taking it down. You can't see it in the photos, but the paint actually made the wall paper bubble in some spots. So if we can't live with it. We'll have to take down the paint + wall paper then reprime and repaint. Whomp Whomp. I officially earned my first "Told Ya So."

Regardless, I love the colors that we chose. I still have a few things I'd like to paint like the closets and some of the base boards, but overall I think this fresh coat of paint we needed to start making this place feel like home.

After all of the hair and fur, I splurged on a professional cleaner. Ms Rosangela cleaned the house from top to bottom with bleach. Roseangela came recommended to me, but if I didn't have a recommendation I would have totally found one of those Living Social/Groupons. She did an amazing job and the house smells so nice now. I don't think it will be a regular thing for us, but this nice deep cleaning was worth every penny.