Truth: Master Bedroom Paint Disaster

My very first diy project for our little bungalow was a paint job for the master bedroom.  Sounds easy enough right?  Hahahaha  Nope.  It all started when the color we picked for the entire house during the building process turned out to be the wrong color.  We were asked to pick the color for the entire house from a 1 inch by 1 inch sample board.  So of COURSE it looked different in mass scale on the wall.  I picked a color called "barely grey" which seemed perfect but turned out to be more like "peachy cream".  When I told the builders it looked different on the wall, they pretty much said tough nuggets.  This is the truth section, right?  Well, I cried.  Peachy cream is not what I was envisioning for our first home.

Another bit of truth.  We have decided to pay cash for our renovations and anything else concerning the house.  Which means we have to be selective on what we spend our money on.  Having the entire house repainted professionally seemed like a genius idea, but it was just out of budget because we also had to buy a new refrigerator and dryer that week.  So instead, I decided to take the painting one room at a time and do it myself.  Starting with the master bedroom.

I will never paint a room again without samples on the wall because of how awful it turned out in the whole house, so that's the first thing I did.  After four samples, I decided on Silver Drop from Behr.  Pretty. :)

Before painting the entire room, I realized I would have to prime the sample wall area, because some of the other samples were a bit dark.  So I primed just that area.  Then I washed off the primer in my bathroom sink.  Then I realized it was oil based primer.  Then I cried again.  If you are not familiar with oil based paint and primer, just know that it is illegal to put it down the drain, it does not mix with water or soap, and if you paint over it with latex paint, it will bubble or crack.  Hence the dramatic tears.  So how did a veteran painter make such a rookie mistake?  I trusted the blasted guy at Home Depot that mixed the Silver Drop paint for me.  While it was mixing, he went to get me a primer and I didn't look at the label.  Sigh.

So after drying the tears, I went to Lowes (Home Depot was on the bad list that day) and asked for the opinion of the man working there.  He shook his head and looked at me like I was a silly little girl.  Which I was.  Then he told me I'd have to sand the area down and then prime the entire wall with a latex primer.  He also suggested Goo Gone for my primed bathroom sink.  Worked like a CHARM!  Goo Gone is my hero.  After sanding, priming the wall and painting two coats of the glorious Silver Drop color, I realized something.  My ceiling was also peachy cream instead of white.  Augh!!!!!!  Back to Lowes.  Painting a ten foot ceiling is not easy for a 5 foot girl.  It took me two days and a bottle of Tylenol for the crick in my neck, but I managed.  Aaaaand, it's done!

Dramatic?  Yes.  C'mon, it's me.  Of course it's going to be dramatic.  Worth it?  Yes!!!!

PS The builder came by the other day to do a few maintenance things for the house and he told me he couldn't tell the difference between the old color and the new one.  Which is why next time, I'll renovate. :)