Paint Job

When we moved into our home 20+ years ago, the exterior paint color was operating-room green with brown trim. It was not attractive. Since we were heavily involved in child-bearing and dealing with a colicky baby (aka Rachelle), repainting the house was not at the top of our priority list.

A couple years and another baby later, the time was right for the repainting project. The 3 girls and I went to Utah for a month, and Lance stayed behind to paint. As I remember, we decided on a lovely, trendy blue-gray color, and I left the final decision in Lance's capable hands as I headed off to Utah. I figured that since Lance was an artist, surely he could pick an attractive paint color. Wrong!!!

According to Lance himself, he tweaked the color "just a little bit" because the gray-blue looked just a little too dull for his liking. After spending lots of money on paint and spending several hours painting, he stepped back to survey his work. Lo and behold, the blue-gray color was not blue-gray, but sky blue, and I mean "sky" blue. The kind of sky blue that you see in the sky on a lovely summer day. Sky blue looks natural in the sky, but it doesn't belong on a house. Lance called me to report on the less-than-desirable results. He offered to buy more paint and try again. I figured that the house couldn't look "that" bad and I didn't want to spend any more money, so I said something like, "It'll be fine, honey. We'll just live with it and choose a different color the next time we paint."

Fast forward a few years, and it was time to paint again. This time I wanted "taupe." I looked at lots and lots of houses and selected a color I thought was "just right." If my memory is accurate, the kids and I again left for another trip so Lance could paint unencumbered with family duties. With the appropriate paint color card in hand, Lance trekked to the paint store to purchase the taupe paint. Again, Lance looked at the paint card and thought the taupe color needed to be a little lighter, so he choose a shade above the one I had circled. This time, the house turned out to be what we not-so-affectionately called "embarrassed taupe." Taupe-tinted pink, actually. I teased my poor painter-husband mercilessly. I teased him for years and vowed to never let him go to the paint store without me again.

This year Lance and the boys finished building the patio roof and railing, and it had to be painted. I was very clear in my choice of "white." Just plain white. So white it was. After it was all painted, of course the house looked crummy, so we decided to paint the entire house. I made it VERY clear that this time I was REALLY going to choose the paint color and go to the store with Lance to make sure he got exactly what I wanted. I scoured the paint card displays in several stores and came home armed with a dozen or so cards with which to choose my perfect paint color from. I even solicited input from my children, but that didn't do much good because they all wanted something different. I went with what I wanted--a color called "Cheyenne Rock." It was a darker grayish-brown. I liked it. I circled the color name several times with a pen.

As luck would have it, Lance chose a Saturday to paint when I had plans to be gone all day. We planned to buy the paint Friday evening, but were completely unable to make it to the store. I knew Lance would have to buy the paint himself Saturday morning when I was gone, and he would have to paint when I was gone. He promised me that he wouldn't tweak the color and would choose exactly what I had requested. I arrived home late in the afternoon and nearly choked when I saw the side of the house that was newly-painted. It was almost exactly the same color as the old paint, just a shade darker. I thought for sure Lance had picked the wrong color AGAIN!!! With a triumphant smirk on his face and then a loud laugh, Lance said that he had chosen EXACTLY what I had circled. He said, "I feel vindicated!" This time I had no one to blame but myself. The color now is milk-chocolate-with-a-touch-of-grape-juice. Lance had only finished about 1/3 of the house, but with $200 of paint purchased and a whole day spent painting, I didn't have the heart or even the desire to redo it.

Lance finished the entire house (except the white trim) the following Saturday. When I stepped back to look at the house, I realized that it looked better than I initially thought. While it's not exactly what I envisioned, it's close enough. I can live with it. What other inexpensive choice do I have?

The next time we have to repaint, we'll let someone else choose the color and buy the paint!