What I Did This Weekend...

Who know painting could be so dramatic?  It started a few weeks ago when we got our new television in our basement.  As I sat down there, I realized how much I disliked the colors we had chosen for the walls.

I contemplated painting all the walls the green/brown/taupe/tan/beige color, but remembered how much I loved this color I had seen in Pottery Barn.

It become the inspiration color for the basement.  Now I know this color is called Newburyport Blue from Benjamin Moore.  I also know that how paint looks in a picture in a catalog is completely different than how it looks in real life {true story, this color is actually ALOT darker, almost navy}.  So my goal was to find a color that looked like the picture.  I got my paint swatches and went through the whole rigmarole of holding it up to the wall at different times of day, on different walls, at different angles, etc.  I found the perfect color-Behr's English Channel.  As a matter of fact, it was so perfect I decided to just go for it and purchase two gallons.  

And I am sure you all can guess that it was indeed NOT the perfect color.  It was very very blue.  Like, say, the English Channel?  I'm not sure, I have never been there.  Anywho, I knew I couldn't paint any of my walls that color, so I marched right back to Home Depot and demanded they retint my paint.  Actually, I asked very nicely if they could make it look a little more like....Newburyport Blue.  The paint guru over at HD said indeed she could.  So she added a little raw umber to the paint and sent me on my way saying "go try this out and come back if it needs more" {I am pretty sure that's how it went anyway}.  So I went home and tried it on three walls, just to get the full effect.  It was ALOT better, but it was still very very blue. 

Do you see?  Primary blue is pretty much what that should be called.  So I went back the next day, only to find my paint guru was NOT working and a teenage boy had taken her place.  No worries, I figured, I know exactly what I want so this should be pretty simple.  

"Can I help you?"

"Um, yes, I need my paint re-tinted.  I already used some of this can, would you like me to even the two cans out for you so they will turn out the same?"

"No!  You CANNOT do that!  I can only re-tint the full gallon."

"Very well, I will just use the half gallon for my base coat."

The young worker proceeds to open my full can and gasps {seriously, he gasped}, "this can is WAY too full, I cannot fit another drop in here or it will overflow!!!"

"Oh ok, so.....should I pour some of it into this already used can?"  

I was completely serious when I suggested this and still do not quite understand what the big deal was.  But apparently was a huge deal, because out came another gasp and eyeballs the size of baseballs.  Once again, I was told that I CANNOT do this {seriously dude, it is my paint!}.  He then proceeded to tell me how by doing this I would get a completely different color of paint.  This may be true, but I figured it was better to try it then to buy all new paint, right?  So I offered up anther suggestion.

"How about we go ahead and try it and if it turns out awful, I will just call it my fault".  This is about the time when all of Home Depot fell dead silent and everyone turned to stare at me.  So I let the young worker come up with the next solution, which involved added tint to the emptier can and mixing it together myself when I got home.  This sounded like a perfectly legitimate option and I agreed.  Then another half an hour passed as we argued about how much white and raw umber to add.  Pretty sure they should have just listened from the start.  

So home I went, ready to test my new concoction.  It was a lot less blue and we ended up having plenty of paint, which is a good thing because 1:  I am probably banned from Home Depot for awhile, and B:  I could not replicate this paint color if I tried.  

So here is the final color, distorted by a point and shoot camera and a bad sun glare.  

Now off to finish with the decor part of the basement.  I will keep you all updated on the progress!