The Interior Painting Project Part 3

Choosing the paint color

My younger son and I went to Lowe's hardware store to chose paint for the living room walls.  I knew what I wanted: paint that was dark enough to contrast with the fireplace mantel and that had a yellow hue to blend with the laminate flooring.  I knew what I didn't want: the same drab shade of mustard yellow currently on the living room walls.

I fidgeted for an hour in front of the racks of paint samples deliberating on the color choice.  I oscillated between various shades of yellow, brown, and tan.  My younger son stood patiently by and offered no opinions of his own.  Finally, I forced myself to pick a color and asked the paint clerk to make me a 6 oz. test sample.

When we got home, my son dipped his finger in the test sample and smeared it on the wall where the old thermostat once resided.

I couldn't have picked any color at Lowe's that more closely matched the current mustard yellow color on my walls.  A chromatic blunder!

This blunder came as no surprise to my son, who described my process of paint selection as "The Stockholm Syndrome" of interior design.   I lean toward whatever is familiar, no matter how aesthetically poor it is.