We painted our back porch. We used the same color that it was but it sure is bright now. The paint had really chipped away so it didn't seem like such a bright color before. Cade laid down new plastic under some of the rock areas to keep the weeds out. It doesn't look like much, but its way nicer than the field of weeds we had going on. We even sectioned off an area for a garden next year.
I've been enjoying doing many projects I've found on pinterest. We put up these nice spice racks from Ikea to keep library books separate from our own books. And I made this lovely 4th of July wreath. It wasn't done in time for the holiday, but hey, better late than never, right?
Conner also helped me repaint some blinds.
For some reason Cade decided to ask our bishop for a recommendation of painters. He gave us the name of a less active member/investigator in the ward. It wasn't a recommendation so much as here is someone who paints and could use the work. He came and gave us an estimate, it was a good price and he seemed to really know what he was talking about so we went with him. He said he would start in two days, after finishing his current project. The night before we moved all of our furniture and took everything off the walls. When it was time for him to show up, we got a phone call instead saying he wasn't finished with his job and would start the next day. No big deal, but it would have been nice if he would have let us know that the night before since he obviously knew he wouldn't make it and we could have not moved everything yet. This happend about four more times. We then thought about getting a new painter but we were going to be leaving town and figured anyone else wouldn't be able to start until we got back anyway. So we gave him one more chance and said if he didn't show up on the particular day then we would get someone else.
He and his son showed up that day and did tons of work. Cade and I were really impressed with how much they accomplished in one day. The only problem was we hated the color in the family room. It looked like a baby blue and not at all gray. I also didn't like the way the hallway color looked with the kitchen color. So after some panicked discussions, we got up early the next morning and got more paint samples. We picked two colors, one called Gray Matters and one that was customized from a base of Summit Gray. We came home, the painter's son was there and we picked our new color. We were pretty confident we wanted the customized summit Gray. The painter's son left to buy the paint and we didn't see him again for many hours.
His father arrived mid morning saying he was sorry he was late, but that he was trying to buy his psych meds. He goes on and on about how important it is that he has them and then lets me know he had no money to buy them. He also says that he has bought some of our paint himself. I figured that was true so I paid him for the paint so he could go buy his meds because I don't need someone going crazy on my son and I while Cade is at work. So he left and said he would be right back. But when his son arrived hours later he informed me that his dad was too sick to come back that day. I'm thinking, whatever just please someone get some work done today.
So the son starts repainting the hallway the same color as the kitchen, I liked it much better and was very happy about that. Then he starts on the family room. The color looks much more gray and way better than the baby blue so I'm happy about that. Then I'm playing outside with Conner and he starts getting into the paint cans and I see the sample of Gray Matters is empty. So I look around more and the can the painter is using says "Custom gray matters". My stomach drops and I go talk to him about it. He says he knows I wanted the custom color and the store must have just put the wrong name on it because he had both samples with him. Then we look at the color combinations that are written on the cans and the Gray Matters and Custom Gray Matters are different. He no longer had the sample of the Custom Summitt Gray for some reason so we couldn't compare it to that. But we figured since the others weren't the same formula that it must be the right color, only they put on the wrong name. I'm feeling better about it. Cade comes home and its evening so the light in the room is dimmer and he says that it still looks blue, but a much better blueish color than we had. I agreed and figured that it was impossible to get a gray color with the poor lighting we have and that during the day it will look gray and at night it will look blueish. I can live with that.
Both painters show up the next day and are on a mission to finish. ALL day they talk to me no matter how busy I try to look or even when I go in my own room on the computer. And they aren't the best at working and talking. They go on and on about how they are going to do this extra stuff for us because we are such great people. We had a whole discussion about painting the front door as a bonus and I quickly sanded it down for them so it would be ready. They talk about fixing the cracks along the baseboards, even in our bathrooms where they aren't painting. I heard so many times how others painters wouldn't bother doing that for people but they are going to do it just for us. It never stopped. Then the son asked me to pay them so he could pay his electricity bill before it got shut off. I wasn't about to pay him before they finished so I just paid him part of it. I couldn't stand being home another minute with them and I was out of errands to run and my friends were busy so Conner and I just went and sat at Kmart to pass the time. I showed back up at the time they said they should be about finished. They weren't. The son showed back up with the check I had given him and said he got there after it closed so he didn't need it anymore. They were going as fast as they could to finish and finally got everything cleaned up and left just before seven.
I thought I wasn't going to see them again but there was some confusion about the final payment. We had to pay them more since we changed the color and they had to repaint half of what they had already done. That was totally our fault so I didn't mind that, but I misunderstood what I owed them and when I paid him he didn't say anything to me. That was lucky for us because it turned out that they never did any of the extra stuff that they had talked to me about all day, including painting the door that I sanded just for them and there were many problems that needed fixing like a second coat of paint in one area and they missed painting a couple of doors, and the paint line that separates the kitchen from the family room was totally messed up. So when the painter called Cade to talk about the payment Cade told him he needed to come back and fix these things. He acted like he was always coming back to fix it, but there's no way that was true.
He came back, fixed what I told him to and did the extra things he had always said he was going to. I paid him some more and it was finally over. Or so I thought. There were still a few minor touch ups I wanted to fix. I'm a perfectionist about this stuff and I wanted perfection. We took a break from thinking about painting for a couple of weeks. Then when I went to do the touchups I noticed there was no paint can for the family room. They had left me 3 empty paint cans, plus the others that they didn't use since we changed the color, and some partly used cans. But none of them were the family room color. Annoying. So I went and bought ANOTHER quart of paint and started touching up. And guess what, dun dun dun... Its the wrong color!!!!! I felt so sick to my stomach, I couldn't believe it. The two colors were pretty similar obviously, but the one I started touching up with was noticeably grayer. For the past few weeks I had been trying to convince myself that the room wasn't that blue, that it way mostly gray and that I couldn't get any grayer if I tried, because I had tried practically ever decent gray color at Sherwinn Williams. But now I know it does get grayer, and the custom paint color I had asked for is that color. We are mystified about how the color on our walls was created. How did they make a custom paint color that isn't what we customized? They obviously used the Gray Matters as their base, but how they decided to customize it is beyond us. We couldn't even stand being in our house at this point. We left and went for a drive in the mountains and drove nice and slow because we didn't want to get back to our house.
I went back and forth about what to do for days. Some people told me to just leave it, that it looked nice how it was. One friend said that she painted her family room a color she didn't love a few months ago and now despises the color and will be repainting herself. Another friend said she thought it really would look better if it was just a little grayer because it did have a lot of blue to it. That was pretty much the tipping point for me. I would be repainting the walls that I had just paid someone else to paint. Some people have said that I should get the painters back to paint it or at least pay for the paint. We decided not to do that for a number of reasons. First of all, I never want to see these guys again. Second of all, we agreed that the color they were painting with was ok so they don't really have an obligation to come back and fix it because I gave them the ok on it (so stupid of me). Plus these guys obviously have no money and couldn't afford to buy anymore paint anyway (and pretty soon we won't have anymore money either because I'm buying millions of paint samples and cans). And they don't work for a company that would try to make customers happy or anything, they just do odd jobs on their own.
So one day I'm all psyched up to buy more paint after work in order to paint over the weekend. I pick Conner up from the babysitter, who is a good friend, and tell her my plan. She asks if I've bought the paint yet and I say that I'm on my way and she says "I really think you should hold off, paint a huge part of your wall, and look at it for a few more days". I take this to mean that she doesn't like the color I'm planning on getting and maybe I need to reconsider. So I did. I decided I should get smart about what I was doing (should have done that months ago I realize) and I start actually learning about colors instead of just buying millions of samples. So I learn about the different undertones of gray, how lighting can affect it, blah blah blah. The kitchen has a green undertone and I found a color that is said to have a blue/green undertone and figure that will be perfect. I get that and another sample and Cade and I completely disagreed on them. But after many discussions and days staring at the many splotches on the wall we decide to go with the blue/green gray, aka Fieldstone by Benjamin Moore.
It took a couple more weeks to actually get the paint, for reasons I won't go into. One Friday night I spent a few hours taping, I paint all day Saturday, rest on Sunday of course, and then do touch ups the next couple of days after work. The touch ups took much longer than anticipated because I ended up needing to fix more things from the painters again. I didn't mention that they don't like to use tape, they just make "straight" lines free handed. Well my lines with tape were much straighter than theirs and then the old color was showing through on the ceiling where they painted a little to high. Plus by this point I've realized that the white they used on the ceiling along the edge isn't the same as what was already there and in the light there is a distinct yellowish tone to the edges. So I'm also going along with a whiter white to get rid of the ugly yellowy edges. Like I said, I'm a perfectionist. But now, almost 9 months later, the family room is painted!!!!!!!! And I love this color, not at all a depressing gray and looks great with the decor and when I look at it I think "gray" not blue.
