Wednesday, January 02, 2008

 

Neccesity's Offspring

We've all heard the old adage: Necessity is the father of invention. That's certainly true. But what everybody knows, but is reluctant to talk about is Necessity's bastard son: Getting Crap Done.

I received a wonderful call last Friday....a new prospective client. He wanted to come meet me at my home office. Some of you may remember from way back when that I had previously remodeled my office...kinda:

Unfortunately, after the 4th coat of paint nearly two years ago(yes, I used a tinted primer) I discovered I didn't really like the brown that much and I neglected the trimwork. So, to cut a long story short, I realized that I needed to do something before the new client swung by.

IMPORTANT TANGENT: Paint companies are funny. They always mention how their paint requires fewer coats, lasts longer, smells nice, cures global warming, etc. And I always believed that stuff was a bit of a crock of crap. The Behr paint at Home Depot seems to work just fine and I've always been happy with the results. It also happens to be considerably less expensive than places like Dunn Edwards. I was right! Kinda. I was right that quality paint is quality paint and $40 gallon paint doesn't possess magic qualities that somehow allow painting dark colors with one coat.

However, I was also wrong. Oh so very wrong about other things. I'm just going to come right out and say it: Behr colors suck. I've gotten maybe one color ever that I've really liked. I always thought it was something wrong with me....that I was just crappy at picking paint colors. But then I stumbled across a color guide for Dunn Edwards. They picked their favorite 18 blues and put them in their color guide. I cheated and had Home Depot "color match" Dunn Edwards "Snow Lodge." I'm shocked. It's like sky blue or robin's egg but better. I'm definitely impressed.

Anyhow, back to our scheduled programming.... I've actually learned a lot about painting (most of it wrong, I'm sure). Given the age of my house, prepping can make all the difference between a so-so paintjob and a pretty good one. I've taken up the practice of sanding the walls before painting. While this isn't the same as new drywall and texture coating, it goes a long way to improve the appearance and it's only 1/100th the work and expense.
You can see the evidence of the previous owners' crummy patch jobs. Here's the new color -- bear in mind the camera flash completely skews the hue:
I'll be sure to post more pics when I'm done. I'm thinking of attempting a custom desk of some sort. Any ideas?

Comments:
I agree that Behr colors are just not quite right. I have to disagree though, that cheap paint doesn't coat nearly as well as Sherwin Williams. I think the walls need less prep for SW than Behr too. We think it's definitely worth the cost. It took four coats to get our bedroom yellow with Behr and that's on top of the tinted primer! It's just so convenient being at Home Depot and all.

Here's to getting crap done in the new year!!
 
By the way, is that your return air above the door? Ours only had supply low on the exterior walls and return air in the hallway. We just added return air above each bedroom door where yours is and up high in the living room because it just wasn't working. I just wondered if that was original or what. That was one of our biggest issues.
 
You are so right about the Behr colors, they are muddy and blah, blah, blah. The one redeeming quality of Behr is their high zinc oxide (?) content the true barometer of paints ability to 'cover'. I always go to Lowes for their colors. They have great colors in their designer series also. I used to take them back to Home Depot for matching but have found the Valspar line to be as good as the Behr.
 
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