Testing Paint Colors

When you pick paint colors, how do you do it?

What I used to do: Go to the paint store, preferably right before closing since I decide at 9:30pm that I have to paint a wall TONIGHT.  Go through a few tiny paint chips.  Buy a gallon of one color.  Try it out on the wall when I get home and since I've already spent $25 on a gallon, I use it whether I like the color or not.

These days, the paint stores have made it easier on us.  First of all, the paint chips are often quite large to give consumers a better idea of what the color looks like.  Better yet, though, they have made small paint samples inexpensive and easy to acquire.  A 7-8 oz jar (around $3) is enough to put several large squares all over the wall so you can test the color. You want to make sure it doesn't clash with the Picasso, right?  So instead of jumping in both feet first, you can buy a few jars and try on that apple green or sky blue.

Near the front door.

I recommend trying the colors out in multiple locations.

Next to the lamp.  And also on the back wall near dark furniture.

 You'll want to see how it looks with natural light as well as with lamps and overhead fixtures on.

On a wall in the dining room.

Why bother?  Well, I'm so glad we tested out the Warm Gold in both rooms because in the living room, it is lemony and almost florescent.  In the dining room, photographed in the last picture, it is much warmer, almost like mustard.  

I also held up some art pieces I own to make sure the colors go together well.  One painting didn't look so good with the gold, so it will have to be in the living room instead.  

The Warm Gold will definitely go in the dining room now, and the Cayman Bay was a hit for the living room.  While the blue is moodier than I had expected, I wanted something dramatic, and this shade fits the bill.  So now we're in the process of covering up holes and taping the windows for primer.

P.S. If you'd like to see the paint chips and examples, see this post.

Mom's a little bit crazy, y'all.

Remember the living room?

Well, I've been busy. Doing what, you ask?  I'll give you one guess.

No, these aren't giant saltine crackers.

They are the ceiling tiles from the living room.

We pulled out the cheap molding, too.  By We, I mean Ryan.  

Why bother taking down a perfectly ugly but functional ceiling?  Well, I found it was hurting my heart every morning to look at it.  I've been talking about my hatred of those tiles for a year now.  I want to paint the room, but I'll be damned if we were going to put a lot of work into a room with those abominations. The molding alone was very frighteningly outdated.  I prefer crumbling plaster to the cellulose yucky stuff that was up there.

There is some damage to the ceiling, but it's very slight. We haven't decided what to do--something has to go up in the corners because there used to be bigger crown molding there at one point, and there are gaps the molding covered between the walls and ceiling.  Taking down the wood might be very challenging. We'll just have to see.  Today, my heart is lightened.  Tomorrow, when I wake up to this mess, it'll be a whole other story...

P.S. Let me thank Ryan for not freaking out when he got home to a huge hole in the ceiling.  We worked side by side, but he made it go faster.

P.P.S Please wear eye/mouth protection if you're ever cursed with ceiling tiles and wish to remove them.  It's dusty.

A Place to Call My Own

...or, Ryan's somewhat-disturbing lack of a man cave.

When on the hunt for a new home in our newly-beloved Kansas City, I had but one criterion: it must have a space that would be mine exclusively. A place where women and children only enter when invited. A place where I can do anything I please, from drinking and staring at the wall semi-comatose, to watching a movie, to futzing with something mechanical in nature.

A man cave, as such a space is commonly called.

A man's own space can be many things, depending upon what he likes to waste time doing. Here's what I require in a man cave:

• A desk with a large-screened desktop computer. This doubles as entertainment center when a movie is on the agenda.
• A comfortable piece of furniture in which I can sit and read. And read. And read. A big couch, probably, in case of nap attack.
• A sizable work bench on which I can fix a computer or rebuild a head.
• A stocked beverage center.

There are other nice-to-haves, naturally, but that's the basics. I don't require things like pretty finishes, a commode, or even carpeting.

Difficulty: our home has no ready-made man cave, and converting any existing space into a man cave may take some work. Let's have a look at my potential options.

The garage. Right now, it's full of all the crap that we swear we're going to find a place for soon, really soon -- we swear, okay? Despite being full of crap, it has potential for future use as a man cave. The problem will come if we ever ... I dunno ... want to put a car in there. Also, no ventilation whatsover, apart from that huge door. Hot outside? Hot in the garage. Cold outside? Cold in the garage. Let's move on.

The basement. Yes, it's also got a lot of stuff we swear we're going to find a place for, but that's not its largest demerit. That'd be the washer and dryer, which see plenty of use in our abode. They're awkwardly placed on opposite sides of the room (who does that?), where the connections for each are located. Sure, we could pay a professional hammer-swinger too much money to move one or the other, but it could also be made to work as-is.

You see, I've already got my exercise equipment down there. All it lacks is a desk and a couch. I'm sure I could find a suitable place. I don't mind the sound of the washer, dryer, or furnace, and if I really needed a closed-off space -- I'd get some 2x4s and some sheetrock and make a closed-off space.

Because what's more manly than a man cave that is raw, unrefined, and barely-useable? An unfinished-but-furnished basement is the kind of thing that beards, chest hair, fist bumps, busted knuckles, and kegerators are made of. If I want decor, maybe I'll take a stab at painting the beams white so it isn't so gloomy, or perhaps the corner could be adorned with a nice engine block table.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

My name is Ryan, and I declare that this shall be my man-cave.