Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Neither Hibiscus nor Mimosa

Remember how I had definitely decided on the paint colour Mimosa?  Well....

As you know I've been looking for a yellowy-green.  I found Mimosa.  Hugh has never been a fan of it.  He refers to it as "that yellow one" whereas the other samples on the wall are called by their names: hibiscus, lime twist, pear etc.  Whenever I'm looking at our paint chips fanned across our island or taped up on the wall, my eye is always drawn to the Mimosa.  But it is a bold colour so one night we decide to paint a few test samples of a few colours on the wall downstairs. When we finish and the paint is dry I decide against it.  In the dark with our room lights on it's almost neon.  Like 80's yellow neon.  We try switching out our lights from soft white to bright white which actually makes it worse.  No question, Mimosa is not what I'm looking for.  I'm definitely decided against it.

And then I wake up the next morning and go back downstairs to reassess the other colours on the wall in the natural light.  And then I love the Mimosa.  It's an acid yellow-y green and perfect.  So I decide that's the one I really want.  Then Hugh comes home from work and I tell him I've definitely decided on Mimosa and we go downstairs to look at it and the sun has gone down and we flip on our lights and...we're back to fluorescent.  And this goes on for a few days and every time I decide yes, Mimosa, Hugh says, I trust you, which somehow makes me feel less confident rather than more.  On Friday I email our contractor and give him our paint colours and Mimosa makes the final cut.  Then on Sunday I email him again to say I'm having a mild panic attack about Mimosa and can we have a bit more time.  Then last night it's back to the paint store for more samples. We get another sample on the wall and decide finally 100% against Mimosa.  Hugh is relieved.  Now he feels free to tell me how much he dislikes that colour.  Although on Sunday when he didn't know that I was late because of sheer klutz and he had convinced himself I was late because I had rolled the van and wasn't coming at all, ever, he did decide he would paint the basement Mimosa for me, since that's the one I had really wanted. 

The point to this entire post is after many paint chips, several paint samples and much debate I'd like to announce we have finally decided on a colour.  Drum roll please.... We picked #7824! That's kind of anti-climactic isn't it?  I can't remember the name on the paint chip and I'm too lazy to get up to check.  It's from Cloverdale. The colour is a bit less yellow than I was originally looking for but I'm exercising my womanly prerogative and changing my mind.


It reads a bit darker on the wall sample but I'm happy with it.  I am.  I've even made it official by emailing it to our contractor.  It's just...I'm kind of wondering if I should have gone with the one that was one lighter on the strip.  I can't go back and get another paint sample because technically Cloverdale doesn't do samples anymore and they only gave me this sample as a one time deal.  It's okay.  I'm sure this one will be fine.  I like it.  I really do.  Do I love it?  At this point, I've lost all perspective.  I have never been this indecisive about a paint colour before but I've also never paid someone to paint so the pressure not to screw it up is enormous.  If I paint and don't like it I'm only out the cost of the paint.  If they paint it and I don't like it it's a way more costly mistake.  I really hope I haven't screwed it up. 

3 comments:

  1. Oh dear... well, I hope that #7824 is exactly what you're hoping for...

    We did the same things with the lights- changed the light bulbs. Totally did nothing for the colour. I feel your pain. And your indecision.

    ReplyDelete
  2. How often are you going to be down there when there is natural light?
    If it's any consolation I really like #7824.

    ReplyDelete