Brown or Gray

You know those color strips that you get at the paint store?  Well, we have one that started a complete color change in the house.  At the darkest on the strip, it is a nice, rich brown.  At the lightest, it is a creamy color.  We picked somewhere in the middle where there would seem to be some green mixed into the paint, but the effect is definitely taupe and it blends beautifully with cream colors.

I like it a lot.  It favors the sunlight that comes in through the easterly windows and it is also a hit for the westerly side.  We decided to paint the living room/dining room/kitchen/hall in a color off the same strip, but just one shade lighter.  I didn't want the house to be too dark because we seem to get less light on the western side. 

We did an accent wall between the living room and dining room in the darker shade that we've already used in two bedrooms and it is great.  Then we opened up the lighter shade last night and put some up just to see what it would be like.  Here's the thing -- it's not too good.  For some reason the paint was mixed so that it is definitely more gray than the brownish I was looking for.  In fact, where the two colors come together it moves toward hideous!!  I'm not upset yet, but we are going back to the paint store today and try to sort it out.  They have been really good to us and the quality of the paints is unquestionable.  Most times, we can do one coat and it works out well, plus it doesn't drip and there's no drag on the brush or roller.  And it's made in America.

Let's see what happens.  I hope he can tweak the color a little bit and get it right.  Otherwise, in all honesty, I'd pay to have it remixed. 

Color is such an amazing thing!  When we talk about how color changes things, it sure does.  Look at the difference between the sunlight in winter and then when we have leaves out in full glory.  Look at how our mood lightens and we get energy again, not only from the sunlight but also because of the color.  Here in Ohio, it is curious that so many people devote so much time to growing flowers, flowering trees, and shrubs even though we don't get to see any of it for about six months of the year.  And annuals -- these are just the fleeting flowers that we plant just 'cuz, and then we have to watch them freeze!!  I remove them usually before the first frost because I hate to see them go that way.

The poets and the writers talk about how the seasons mimic the pattern of our lives -- spring being the time of new birth, of freshness and discovery; summer as the almost frenetic fast-paced rush to get every moment out of it like our teens, twenties and thirties; fall being a slowdown time when we bask in the glow of the warm color palette and reap the harvest, and finally winter, with washed out colors, and the wrinkled tree bark in full view.  We don't have to get picky here and select the season that matches our own lives -- actually a lot of it is up to us.  The attitude of new birth doesn't have to belong to the young and yet we can learn a lot from those grizzled from a life of experience and hardship.

I'll let you know what happens with the paint.