The popcorn is gone!
Chip and Joanna would be so proud of me. The popcorn is gone! Well . . . it is almost gone. It’s gone from MOST of the ceilings on the main floor of our house. We just have our entryway, hearth room, and laundry room left to scrape on the main level. Then we also have the ceilings of four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and the hallway upstairs. And the entire basement. Sheesh. We suck. Maybe Chip and Joanna wouldn’t be that impressed after all. But they have a crew to do the work for them, and it’s a miracle when my husband and I can find two or three uninterrupted hours to work on household projects.
Michelangelo we are not
Since we had to empty the rooms before we scraped the popcorn off the ceiling, it only made sense that we should paint the walls before moving the furniture back into the space. It proved necessary to repaint the walls after we realized what messy ceiling painters we were. Painting the ceiling is not fun, and it is difficult to keep the white ceiling paint from inadvertently landing on the upper portion of the walls.
My favorite hobby/obsession
I’m not going to lie. I was super excited at the idea of changing the wall colors of the main floor to the house. I love picking out new paint colors. I love visiting the paint store. I love paint chips. I love looking for paint color ideas online. I love watching the paint store clerks adding color to the base paint to create the perfect mixture. (It’s such a mystery to me how dark drips of color can be added to white paint to create “bright white.”)
I spent hours looking at color ideas, visited Pinterest (of course) and paint store websites. I would fall asleep with the computer in my lap at night as I looked for color ideas, and I would snap awake each morning revisiting my Pins from the night before. I would distractedly answer my husband as he would try to carry on conversations not involving paint color.
Picking paint colors is hard
I know that this sounds ridiculous. I know there are people in the world with REAL problems, and they would love to be able to spend time thinking of something as frivolous as the color of their walls. I know I should be thankful for having walls at all, and I am thankful.
My obsession was justified during a casual conversation I had with my neighbor. I mentioned off-handedly that I was picking out new paint colors. She said, “how stressful! 
It’s almost as hard as picking out the name for your baby!” I knew what she meant. Even though paint color is not permanent, it is permanent. You’re always happy with the color at first because new paint makes everything look clean and fresh, but after a month or two, you know if you really love the color or not. And by then, the paintings are back on the walls, and the furniture is back in the room, and you don’t want to go through the hassle of painting again even if you don’t love the color.
Since I have gone through the process of picking paint colors quite a few times through the years, I thought I would share with you my thought process for picking out the right colors. I am not a decorator. Far from it. I don’t watch HGTV. I don’t rearrange furniture constantly. I don’t craft or decorate for any other holiday except for Christmas.
These paint-picking tips are not based on expert opinions. They aren’t the suggestions of the paint-store employees (who I have often noticed know NOTHING about color). These are just my musings.
How to pick out paint colors
1) Find a brand you like and stick with it
I am only brand loyal with a few things in my home. I always buy the same dishwashing detergent and dog food. Every other purchase made in my house is based on the whim of the moment, except for paint. My husband and I have been buying a particular type of paint for years. I am not being paid to endorse their products. In fact, I won’t even mention it by name except that it may rhyme with Herman Billiams.
I know what I’m getting when I buy this brand of paint. I know the paint won’t drip. I know how long I can leave a wet, used paintbrush sitting, and then pick it up again to continue the job. I know that if I need to buy touch-up paint, all I need to do is visit my local store, and they will have a record of all the paint I have ever purchased for every project in the house. There are probably better and cheaper paints elsewhere, and every time I think I’ll try another brand, my car somehow finds its way to my favorite store.
2) Evaluate your current furniture, window coverings, and flooring
In our house, we change paint colors more often than we purchase new furniture. This is especially true for this paint project. Since we are putting in hardwood floors within the next few months, we certainly aren’t spending money on new furniture right now as well. Although I love drastic color changes, I knew that anything too drastic wasn’t going to be an option at this time.
3) Determine the mood of the room
The last time we painted the living room, I was attracted to rich, dark colors that you would find in old studies. My husband likes maps, and I love old books. The dark green we picked seemed to match the mood of the room. This time, I wanted to find a color that was a little more modern and trendy. I also wanted to lighten up the room a bit, since the lighting in our living room isn’t great.
4) Go with the experts
I knew a man once who was colorblind. He was always dressed perfectly, and since I knew he was single, I always marveled that he could pick out his clothes to such perfection. When I asked him about it, he said he always bought the clothes that were on the mannequin at a store. He figured he couldn’t go wrong with what the experts had already picked out, and he was right.
I always think about this conversation when I pick out paint colors for my home. Since I am planning to paint the entire first floor of my home, and we have a rather open floor plan, I know the colors need to work well together. Search for whole house paint color palettes for your favorite brand of paint online. See what the colors the expert put together, and you can’t go wrong.
So now, we sit in a house still in disarray. Our ceilings are all in different stages of completion, and all the furniture is shoved in one dust-covered pile. As much as I would like to have access to our kitchen table, I remain thankful for our home, my patient family, and the staff at the paint store down the street.
