Paint Expedition from Perdition

Remember this room?

Yeah, well as you can see that was back in March! It has stayed that way up until today...

Take one motivated man...


One can of oops paint for $5...
Add in two trips to the home improvement store which rhymes with "blows"...

After spending $12 and TWO HOURS at said home improvement store, come home with the wrong paint color and mess up the beautiful paint job that was in process.

Go back to OTHER home improvement store, spend $24 and only TEN MINUTES for them to match the paint EXACTLY, bring home to frustrated hubby...

Who works tirelessly to get the room looking uniformly chocolatey...yummmy!













Daddy had a little help...

Yes, we started off with a $5 can of oops paint that was the PERFECT color for our music/media room. My husband started painting and then ran out because the previous light green color on the walls had to be covered twice with the brown.

Armed with the paint lid, as I naively assumed that there would be no issue with matching it, I set off for the home improvement store that had created the oops paint. Oh the bliss of sweet ignorance. Apparently, the lid contained the "ingredients" for a gallon and they couldn't figure out how to get it sized down to a quart. I was told that I needed to get a bigger piece of the paint. Preferably the stir stick dipped into the desired hue. So I not-so-cheerfully leave for my home.

Upon my arrival, I decided that wouldn't it be fun if we all did a Lowe's run? Let's drag the kids along, they love home improvement stores! Hubby decided that was a great idea so we set off optimistically.

The kind lady that was working the paint department before wasn't at the counter any more. There was also a line of three or four people ahead of me. Honey, why don't you take the boys to go look at tools or something? So off they went. And Miss Precious and I waited....and waited...and waited. Finally, after an eternity had passed, it is my turn. I hand her the stir stick and the paint lid. She confidently puts it in the color matching machine and voila! out pops the "perfect" match! Looks a little dark at first blush, but she is sure it will lighten up as it dries. Uses the hairdryer on the stir stick to compare the two colors. Yeah, not a match, let's try again because this is such a fun game! Second try yields the same result. Only this time let's throw in a little employee attitude which consisted of her throwing the stick down in exasperation and telling me that I should go the the paint chips and try and match it myself. We are professionals here!

So, a little even less cheerfully, but by no means rude, however not to happy with the customer service, I dutifully go over to the myriad of paint chips and attempt to pick my perfect match. Hmmm...this is going to be a little harder than I thought. Why couldn't the dumb machine just match the lid? Maybe this brown will work..."Sea Lion Brown"...it looks like I may have found the twin to my oops paint.

Strolling over to the paint desk, I find myself behind another two or three person line. After another eternity passed, "Have you been helped yet ma'am?" Why no, I just enjoy standing here watching everyone else get assisted! (Can you tell the blood pressure is rising just a tad by now? Oh and sweet sleeping baby has awakened too!) Yes, kind sir, I just need a QUART of this color. OK, so that's a gallon of the satin interior? NO, just a QUART is all I need.

Seriously, an hour and forty-five minutes later with three very irritable and hungry children in tow (I wasn't aware it would have been this long of an ordeal otherwise I would have brought snacks!), hubby and I escape back home.

He is eager to get finished with the room and starts in. Cries of dismay draw me to the room. It looks like someone had graffitied the wall and we had attempted to paint over it. The color was so much lighter of a shade than the original. I joked about having the graffiti look, but hubby was not amused.

Banished to the home improvement store again. Only this time I hit Home Depot. The most cheerful girl was working the paint area. She matched the paint and had me out the door in less than ten minutes. Only problem was that now I had to fork over $24 for a new gallon of paint to cover the erroneous hue.

Filled with ever-brimming hope and optimism, I hand the paint can to Mr. Querido. He sighs and goes back to the room paintbrush in hand. It is a PERFECT match.

So $41 of paint later, we have this beautiful chocolate cocoon...



Oh and my frugal Friday tip? Be sure if you get an oops paint, make certain you only need that one can to cover everything, otherwise you may end up spending $36 you didn't want to!