Ask any homeowner who decided to paint their own house- and you’ll probably get a few horror stories. Whether that’s buying paint in mass quantity, painting a tan color that turned into an orange or buying low quality paint and having to redo it, most do-it-yourselvers have made a mistake like this. True, Pinterest looks amazing- but that’s just because nobody broadcasts their failures on there. So don’t be intimidated by painting your own house. This is one of the best ways to inexpensively update a room. And it can be one of the easiest. Just know, if you have made a mistake like one of those mentioned above- you are not alone.
Throughout our years of home renovation, we’ve learned a lot about the unspoken rules of choosing the perfect paint color. Unfortunately, we’ve often learned the hard way. When we renovated our home in 2015, we learned a few things that ya’ll should know.
“just know this- You are not alone.”
Before starting our company we relied on the trending colors to define our decisions. If you remember, 2015 was the color for grey. We went with that color and sadly have had some regrets.
Pitfall #1– Choosing a “color of the year” that became a trend quickly and will go out of style just as quickly.
However, the fact that grey was a fad was not our only problem. We had no experience with the crazy world of grey paint. We walked into Lowes and chose the cutest grey swatch we could find. But when we painted it on the walls- it wasn’t grey anymore, it was blue. Suh frustrating! Especially since we were doing all the painting ourselves. In the end, we went online to a few blog posts and chose another grey from their recommendations.
Pitfall #2- Choosing paint from a paint swatch in a hardware store, instead of looking at it in our own home’s lighting and researching recommendations.
This whole escapade with the grey was not good for our budget. Instead of buying some paint and testing it, we bought a mass quantity for use in most of the rooms in our house. Please, guys- don’t do this.
Pitfall #3- Buying mass quantities of an untested and untried color.
Besides grey, we also used a beige color. Almost immediately, we knew the color wasn’t right. But, we went ahead and painted it anyway. It all just seemed like a hassle to return it, find a new color and buy that.
Pitfall #4- Proceeding to still use a paint color that you already think may be a mistake.
Please don’t feel bad for us though. We’ve learned mistakes, we’ve jotted them down as helpful experiences and we’ve even laughed at them. Still, avoid these pitfalls- and you will have a much happier experience painting your home.
Remember to get advice from friends you trust and read quality blogs. There are so many amazing resources out there, especially on Pinterest. Just don’t forget that a color looks different on the internet than it does in person.
Pitfall #5- Yes, one more pitfall- thinking that colors seen on the internet will look identical in real life.
But those pitfalls were all several years ago. What about some tips from The Chris & Claude Co- the trust, experienced designers who don’t make painting mistakes anymore? Truth is, we’ve transitioned to a more simplistic, Scandinavian style since 2015. That means that we buy white for literally all the walls. If you wanna simplify the whole process, just be like us. Paint everything with Benjamin Moore White Dove.
Don’t believe that white can be stunning? Check out the gallery of our recently renovated Walnut Street House. Go see it- and we know you’ll believe it.
Comment below if you have any other pitfalls our readers need to know about. And happy house painting!
With love, Claude
