# Newbie needs some painting advice



## bji (Jul 16, 2007)

Hello. I am a completely novice painter looking for a little bit of help.

I have never painted a room before, but my wife and I decided to make some changes in the house that we just moved into. I decided to start small with a repaint of our spare bedroom/office. I got some color samples from a local hardware store and selected some colors, and then painted the room.

I had budgeted one Saturday for the repaint, but it ended up taking me all of Saturday and Sunday, and I didn't even finish the trim. But it was a learning process and now I feel that I could paint a room much more quickly and efficiently, and avoid some newbie mistakes that plagued my first repaint.

But I still have some problems that need to be solved and that's where I hope the collective wisdom of this forum can come in.

First things first: my wife doesn't like the color I chose very much. To be honest, I am not crazy about it either now that I see it on the wall. Except - I am not entirely sure that the color I got was the color I chose. I don't know how much I can expect the final color to look like the paint sample, but it really doesn't. I started with a salmon colored wall, I lightly sanded it (this was probably unnecessary), then put a white undercoat layer on (using a very thick undercoat paint; the wall was not 100% white after this undercoat layer but it was close). Then I put on two layers of my paint. This is expensive paint, Dulux brand and about $115/gallon (i.e. 4 liters) here in New Zealand. I expected it to end up looking very close to the color I had chosen. But it doesn't.

Here are two links to photos showing the paint sample and the paint on the wall:

http://www.ischo.com/roomphotos/color.jpg
http://www.ischo.com/roomphotos/color2.jpg

The color I chose was "Sandy Day", which is the upper-left paint sample in the photo. But I think that the wall looks much, much closer to the "Seed Pearl" color which is immediately to the right. I double-checked the paint can and it says "Sandy Day". The hardware store mixed the tint into the paint and I can't shake the feeling that they misread the tint components off of their color sheet. I'll bet that Seed Pearl is right after Sandy Day alphabetically and that they read Seed Parl when they meant to read Sandy Day. They wrote Sandy Day on the can but I don't think they put the right tint in. But - I'm no expert. I don't know how to judge how closely paint on the wall should match paint in the sample. Does anyone else have an opinion on whether or not it is likely/possible that they got the colors wrong? If so, what is my recourse? Do you think I can get a refund? I already used almost all the paint, expecting it to end up drying to a different color. I am not going to repaint the room because it's too much work but if they did get the color wrong, I want some compensation.

Next - I painted the ceiling a color called "Antique White USA". I really like how the ceiling turned out - it's a bright and lustrous white color. Here is a photo showing the ceiling and walls:

http://www.ischo.com/roomphotos/ceiling_corner.jpg

I don't know much at all about painting, so I don't even know what the best color or the trim in the room is. Here are some more pictures showing the room; I've taped things off in preparation for painting all of the trim the same white as the ceiling.

http://www.ischo.com/roomphotos/room.jpg
http://www.ischo.com/roomphotos/window_edge.jpg
http://www.ischo.com/roomphotos/door_floor.jpg
http://www.ischo.com/roomphotos/closet_corner_tall.jpg
http://www.ischo.com/roomphotos/closet_corner.jpg

My wife saw what I was doing and strongly disagreed. I had already painted the trim along the floor white (previously it matched the walls), but only one layer, so that this point I feel that I can easily go either way - with the wall color or the ceiling color - for the final coat(s). I thought that the whole room would look good with the white trim, including the inside of the door, the window frame, the closet frame, and the trim along the floor. But my wife thinks it will look "tacky" and "like a dollhouse". I really have no sense of interior design skill whatsoever, so I'm wondering if painting trim white is some kind of obvious faux pas that I just don't know about. Will it look tacky if I paint all of the trim white? I think it looks tacky to have the trim near the floor as the same color as the wall, but my wife thinks it is better that way.

Finally - is it bad interior design to have the ceiling of this one room not match the other ceilings in the house? The rest of the house has cream-colored ceilings. I wanted to try white ceilings in this room to see how it would look. Is this the kind of thing that people with much better design sense than me are going to look at and say, "how tacky - obviously he doesn't know what he's doing, you should never have one room ceiling mismatched with the rest of the house!".

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you, and best wishes,
Bryan


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## SecretSquirrel (Jun 22, 2007)

Bryan,

I'd normally skip over a post like yours and let the Pros hand out their sage advice but your words brought back a flood of memories. I'll never forget the day that I took the initiative to paint the stairwell, unbeknownst to the little woman. I decided to paint it white, I mean brilliant white. Well when the LOML (love of my life) got home that evening I got quite a tonque lashing. I should have painted it antique white she explained. In my mind, white is white. Anyway, rule #1... you better get the spouse's approval before the first drop of paint hits the wall. Why don't you and her take a few moments and go down to the paint store to look at some of the color charts to get an idea as to what color combination works well with your wall paint. Some of the paint stores (Sherwin Williams) have an interior design consultant that will assist if you can't come to a decision. As far as different ceiling colors from room to room... I don't think there are any rules other than considering what future home buyers might think of your color selection. But it's just paint and can be remedied if it's a problem.


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## bji (Jul 16, 2007)

Thank you for your response. Without any other input on this, I guess I'll just do what my wife wants - paint the trim near the floor the same color as the walls and not paint any of the other trim white.


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## Da Vinci (Jul 1, 2007)

OK, finally have a few minutes after long days...

<The color I chose was "Sandy Day", which is the upper-left paint sample in the photo. But I think that the wall looks much, much closer to the "Seed Pearl" color which is immediately to the right. I double-checked the paint can and it says "Sandy Day".>


I agree with you - they mixed it wrong. It's too late obviously, once you apply it. You have to take it back immediately to get it fixed at no charge...


<Finally - is it bad interior design to have the ceiling of this one room not match the other ceilings in the house? The rest of the house has cream-colored ceilings. I wanted to try white ceilings in this room to see how it would look. Is this the kind of thing that people with much better design sense than me are going to look at and say, "how tacky - obviously he doesn't know what he's doing, you should never have one room ceiling mismatched with the rest of the house!".>


The ceiling looks good. It's quite common our here to change the "feel of certain rooms in a home by changing both ceiling and wall colors. Regarding trim color being white including base- that's way more common than painting base same color as wall. BUt if your wife hates it, you have to work that one out between the 2 of you..

98% of time we paint all trim a cream/ off-white/ white including base. Usually, when only base is not trimmed out, it indicates a home owner not wanting to get paint on the floor or carpet....

Probably too late for comments now, but wanted to at least respond...

Bay Area Painting Company


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## bji (Jul 16, 2007)

Thank you! Your response was very helpful. It really irks me that they mixed the paint wrong, I am new to painting and this was my first painted room, and I just assumed that it would dry to the right color even though it looked like the wrong color going on. I am still going to go to the store and see what they have to say for themselves when I show them that they mixed it wrong.

As to the trim, I haven't done any more painting since my first post and so there is still time for white trim. I just have to convince my wife that it's normal and not unusual to have white trim all around the room.

As to the carpet, I am worried about getting paint from the trim on it as well. I used plastic PVC duct tape and taped as close as I could to the wall (the carpet runs right up to the trim), I guess I'll see how good my taping job was when I take the tape off. I have a feeling that I will have gotten a line of paint on the carpet too, it's just not possible to avoid it the way the carpet and wall meet. I have bought some Methylated Spirits (whatever those are) on the recommendation of the hardware store for cleaning the paint off the carpet.

Thanks again for your post, it is very much appreciated.


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## Da Vinci (Jul 1, 2007)

bji said:


> Thank you! Your response was very helpful. It really irks me that they mixed the paint wrong, I am new to painting and this was my first painted room, and I just assumed that it would dry to the right color even though it looked like the wrong color going on. I am still going to go to the store and see what they have to say for themselves when I show them that they mixed it wrong.
> 
> As to the trim, I haven't done any more painting since my first post and so there is still time for white trim. I just have to convince my wife that it's normal and not unusual to have white trim all around the room.
> 
> ...


No problem- Here's a little hint for your base- you can buy a paint shield at the local Home D or paint store. It's a stiff, thin piece of metal with a handle. SOme are only 9 inches, some are about 18 (we like the 18 because it's stiffer and works better for carpet).

Leave your tape in place as long as it's not attached to the trim. Slide the paint shield in between carpet and base as deep as it will go and then flatten it to the carpet. Paint that foot or so and slide the shield to the next foot. Keep doing this and in no time you'll. have a professionally painted base. Might help you out. Also, don't use mek on carpet, will probably remove color as well as paint. Use Goof Off but sparingly.

Still unsure about the trim? Check out some of our painting work on our portfolio by clicking here.

All base are painted trim color in the homes we do in the Bay Area (for the last 24 years).

Good Luck,
Bay Area Painting Company


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## Kimberlee Jaynes (Sep 13, 2008)

HI ,
The recourse that you have is to go back to the paint store and tell them what you think has happened. Ask them to make a "draw down" of the two colors...bring in what is left of the gal you have and they can put it on a cardboard sample board...these are called "draw downs" then have the paint store do a draw down of the color that you think they made by mistake. THEN compare the two.

Good wishes


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## ponch37300 (Nov 27, 2007)

I don't think the paint store is going to do much for him since this post is from over 17 months ago!


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## Kimberlee Jaynes (Sep 13, 2008)

Oops did not realize that! Whoever reads this post will know what to do in the future...at least he could see "if" he was correct in his assumption that it is the wrong color. And depending on the *relationship with his paint* store if he did get the wrong color ...they make it right.


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