Dear Paint Samples…Where were you when I needed you most?

Well, we did it…we bought a house last April…and in record time. Location was always more important than cosmetic details when we were looking at houses, and we settled on a 1911 bungalow in our, well, my…dream neighborhood. It might be a little more suburban than Brendan would like, but to me it’s perfect. We toured the house twice and i’m not going to lie, I cried after the first tour. The house was a complete mess…almost as if the sellers didn’t want to sell it at all. Well, it almost worked. It took a few hours for me to see past the clutter to reveal the gorgeous mill work, lead glass windows and the granite counter tops that I couldn’t see at first. I was however, less than thrilled that I was coming from a luxury apartment with a lovely set of high efficiency washers and dryers…to an unfinished basement with laundry appliances from well before I was even born…actually, before my parents were even married. If you know me at all, this was ALMOST a deal breaker. 🙂

Brendan reassured me that a little paint, a new washer and dryer and a day of cleaning would make me see the house in a new light. Alright…fine. Let’s sign the purchase agreement. I never realized how much I actually wanted the little house until 24 agonizing ours later, I was flooded with tears of happiness that we were finally homeowners.

And now the work begins. Before we moved in, I insisted that we repaint all of the walls…doing this once furniture is in is much more difficult, and we are more likely to say, “we’ll do it later.” My wonderful parents volunteered to spend 2 weeks with me, cleaning, painting and reassuring me that this was a good decision Because Brendan owns his own company, he needed to spend those two weeks in the office…not painting and cleaning. I have a wonderful mother with an eye for color, who helped me pick paint colors to complement our gorgeous natural woodwork. I had already made the mistake of picking out a paint color myself and buying 7 gallons of it…only to find that once it went up it was horrible…not even livable. It was what I like to call, “Bandaid.” It was certainly NOT the Powder Puff color I had picked out. Thanks Benjamin Moore. I took one look at the dried swatch on the wall and cried. It was pink. Bandaid pink. Thankfully my mother came to the rescue and helped me find the correct shade of beige. Bar Harbor Beige it is.

First week as a homeowner…and I’ve already made a $300 mistake. We’re off to a great start! Lesson learned? Spend the money on those little containers of paint samples before purchasing several gallons…trust me, those little paint chips will only get you so far. I would have much rather have spent $8 on two samples…than $300 on paint that will now sit in my basement. Forever.

But two weeks, several wonderful lunches with my parents on the front porch of our new house and multiple trips to the paint store later…the house was painted, and it looked amazing. Let’s move in! I honestly believe that if you do any sort of work before moving into a new house, it’s just to paint the walls…best decision ever. And Benjamin Moore paint? Wonderful.

Project #2? The Laundry Room…