I bought some paint last Sunday. After I got home – I painted a few test streaks on the wall where I am interested in having this color. It looked very light to me. But, hey – it was wet. I decide to walk off for a while and let it dry. Surely when it dries it would match the paint chip, right?
It dried – it still looked light – but I went on to paint some test colors in other rooms.
Monday morning I place the chip on the wall in the kitchen – the darker gold color I chose for that room is a perfect match to the chip. The color is nice too. It is a little darker than what had been in the kitchen. I like it. My husband likes it. I plan to finish the kitchen and sitting area in the darker gold this week. The "real name" of this color is Carolina Inn Crossroads Gold. The dining room test color (Carolina Inn Lobby Yellow) is an exact match as well and a nice color. I plan to use it on two accent walls in the li ving room as well as the dining room.
Upstairs the sewing room and "daybed room" (I call it that – technically it is our guest room. In the near future I plan to have the sewing room as a guest room – slash – sewing room – slash – library. Both of these rooms have a fresh coat of Paris Mint on them. The color matches exactly to the color chip. By the way, I love these new paint chips with the square cut out – it really makes matching or just checking the color and how it matches with other colors and fabric much easier! There are two other rooms upstairs that need a coat of Paris Mint. That will come soon. The hall bathroom is a wash of some kind of green that I did hastily one day. Soon this room will have a fresh coat of white on the walls. It may take a couple coats to cover that green mess I used to like.
So, upstairs is "going green" and the kitchen/dining room is awash in gold, both light and dark. The breakfast room (which was my morning room – now my daughter's school room) will go green. I chose Belle Grove Moss for this room. It was on the chip card with Paris Mint – a little darker – I like it. Also I like this Belle Grove Moss for the powder room. The powder room is now a crimson color that is nice – but I am ready for a change. These greens and golds (all except for Paris Mint are National Trust for Historic Preservation colors) come from a piece of fabric I purchased a few months ago. This fabric is my road map for the colors in the house – the new paint and still to find new furniture. I see, I see, (looking in my crystal ball here – or is it a Magic 8 Ball?) a trip to the furniture store in my future. The ball says, "Ask again later."
The chip for Belle Grove Moss does not match – the next day – it is dry – it is too light.
We are redoing the hallway bathroom upstairs; new vanity, new sink/top, tile, the works – so of course we have to head to Lowe's (how many times have I been to Lowe's in the last two weeks???). When we are getting ready to go, I grab the paint chip card and the gallon of not-really Belle Grove Moss. I stood in line at the return desk at Lowe's for a long time, long enough to see the girl behind the counter count, and scan about a million little copper pieces of pipe that this guy was returning – three times! My husband had traveled throughout the store, found what he needed, and was heading back in my direction. The look on his face was utter surprise that I was still in line and had, in fact, not moved an inc h since we came in the door. He volunteered to take my place in line while I went to the paint counter to have them make a new gallon of for-sure Belle Grove Moss. Finally, my husband was being assisted – I saw him move over to the side – so I walked up across the aisle and asked what was going on. He said, "I found out you can't return custom colors." And he laughed – I laughed – this was not the "custom color" I had been looking for – that was why it was being returned. The paint guy had to see it and check it out. The same paint guy who was busy making my new gallon. Once he got the paint and checked the gallon I was returning with the gallon that he had just mixed – yo u could see a major difference. The gallon I returned was too light. OK, so you – just as I did – wonder how that did happen. That paint mixer is pretty automated – you put in numbers, or letters, or something and the different colors squirt out to make the "custom color" you asked for. Well – I bought that gallon on a Sunday afternoon – a lot of people paint on the weekends. A lot of paint is sold on the weekend. I bought mine near the end of the weekend – the tints some times run out – and some times the person mixing may or may not pay attention to that. If he/she is not paying attention – you can get the most custom of all colors! I did get one of those one-of-a- kind colors. Lowe's marked the can $7. It became a bargain. So if you bought a can of not-really Belle Grove Moss at Lowe's, it is a nice green. It was just not the green I was looking for.
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