If one lives in a home for decades, what is the average number of paint colors layered on the interior walls? I often wonder if there is a breaking point for the wall? Will it start to fall apart if say, 10-20 or more layers are coated on it?
I don’t know the average number of coats, and I haven’t seen a wall fall yet, but I’ve painted enough to lose count on how many colors we’ve painted over the decades. No, no, no, it’s not dementia either, it’s called ‘normal mid-life, it’s-not-important-to-remember’ kind of stuff.
It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them. – Epictetus
Our ‘orange’ room became the “we’ll get to it later; I don’t know where else to put it; I’m going to go through it and sell it; it was my mom’s I’m not ready to part with it yet; I’m going to donate it; I’ll get to it this weekend” room.
The perfect space for extreme motivation. A treadmill, a storage shelf, and boxes of treasures. (Rule #1 of Dubious Minimalism: A shelving unit always makes things appear organized. Rule # 2 To stay motivated, close your eyes to clutter.)
I had little faith we’d ever get to clearing it out. And I doubted I’d want to paint over this quote either. The color was carefully chosen way back when.
Over the years we’ve repainted a lot, and in the process of celebrating each new extreme color, we may have consumed some wine, too. (Cheers – can you believe we painted a room that color?) Unlike a paint can you have to open to see what color is in it, it is hard to resist wine bottles. They come in such pretty colors – burgundy and reds are our favorites…no orange that I can remember? We left that color for the walls and plant containers. Orange and green does go very well together, don’t ya know?
Our interior decorating daughters love colors – all sorts of colors, so it is reasonable and attainable to have painted a multitude of rainbows in our house. We’re not talking soft antique white rainbows either. Our rainbows ranged from soft pink to vibrant green, purple, and orange.
Back to the orange room. Yep, bright orange, as bright as the Tiger Lily in the yard. It surprises me every year by its glowing appearance. It blooms through all the weeds every year. Same with the pansies and morning glories. Their rate of survival amazes me.
Perhaps the flowers in our yard were the inspiration for the colors of purples and oranges chosen for the walls? Yeah, let’s go with that. How else would they dream up the bright orange and purple?
“We want the fun colors mom.”
I have to admit, the orange room really, really, really needed the upgrade (or downgrade) to a calmer color. I wasn’t as motivated on the treadmill as one would think I would be with the energizing orange color.
With paint, tray, rollers, and brushes in hand, we know it is feasible to accomplish our desired paint-the-room-mission by first piling all the stuff in the middle of the room. Just leaving enough space to walk around and move the ladder, we’re able to cover every spot without too much effort. There’s no reason to sort through all the stuff before painting. (Rule #4, Never waste valuable time and energy.)
Two coats weren’t enough, I wonder why? Peach wasn’t the color we were going for. (Rule #5 – If you’re going to paint, buy enough paint.)
After the laborious work of painting (3 coats), we “organized” and “stuffed the closet” and made the room presentable for work, walkthroughs (obstacle course has gone bye-bye), and most important – a calm view for running on the treadmill. Besides, it’s a beast to move, it HAD to stay in the room.
My partner in crime – a serious botanist wannabe – said, “It looks great mom, now you need to add plants.”
“Wait…but, plants require maintenance, and the cats will get into them. I don’t know if I like that idea.” (Rule # 6, Never add more work if you want a low maintenance lifestyle).
“Just try it, you’ll love it, trust me.”
Why wouldn’t I trust a botanist? So we added a palm tree. The splash of natural green did add something special to the room. She was right, for a bit. The cats did leave it alone. And it was a nice addition.
Until we discovered it was blessed with little visitors who had perfect conditions for thriving. As the palm tree grew, so did the spider webs. The discovery impressed the botanist. I was not excited.
So we gathered tools and gave it a haircut. And a spider removal treatment.
And now we wait to see how viable this plant (minus bugs) really is (Rule #7 – Be ruthless with bugs.). The room…well that’s a story for another day!
We had our home built, back in 2001-2002. The walls just came with primer. We didn’t have the money to paint them for 2 whole years! When we finally could paint, we hired a painter. I chose a light yellow pallet for all of the downstairs rooms, off the color swatch. Each room got a different shade of the yellow on that color swatch piece of paper that most paint stores have. You know the strip? Anyway, that was 13 years ago and we haven’t touched the walls since (just touch ups since I still have some leftover paint). The walls still look good, I still love the colors and that’s that! Upstairs, I did the same thing but only chose a blue strip and painted each room a different color from the strip, so they all jive perfectly. We did that 7 years ago and still, no need to change.
Thankfully, our new condo now came pre-painted with a common beige and I only had the urge to paint just one wall, behind our headboard an amazing blue, like the ocean, sky or the bay. Who can get tired of that??? Again, we hired a painter. They come in, they cover, they protect, they do the work and then leave. No mess.
Back in the 1990’s I once painted one wall in our living room a wild shade of pink. I loved it. No one else did. each day, I never heard the end of it. No one appreciated my great sense of design. LOL!
I liked your orange. But the new color looks great also. So nice you can paint! We can’t.
Enjoy your ‘new’ room!
Cindi, I enjoyed your painting stories! We enjoy painting most of the time, there are moments though! I’ve always dreamed of doing a beach themed room, but never do it. I’d rather be at the real deal! Thanks for your feedback and for reading the post, love hearing from you! Take care!! xx
Shelly, we DO live near the beach. Only 15 miles away. The Gulf of Mexico. Ole’ Ditto when I did the pink wall. Beach was right down the block. Double ole” (lol)
Oh, my, I’m jealous you’re that close to a beach! It’s -22 below here this morning…no warm surf for me! Next time you’re there, stick your toes in the surf and think of me!
Oh my goodness! -22……….yikes! Stay warm. I feel your pain. It’s been a bit colder here also, like 50 to 60 degrees. Down from 80-90. Some nights it went down as far as 35F degrees. I had to take my potted palm trees inside. It’s been a brutal winter for sure!
Yes, it’s cold! I’d have shorts on if it was 50-60 degrees. Stay warm!!