Painting Party

OK...I'm a little worried that the highlight of my Friday night consists of going to Home Depot. Even worse, I know the guy working behind the paint counter by name - Joel. I suppose that's because he helped me out on 3 different occasions within a 2 day timeframe. What can I say...picking a paint color is quite difficult. There are so many colors to choose from, in addition to the type of finish you want. Flat? Glossy? Semi-glossy? Eggshell? Paint by number? Just kidding on the last one, but it would be nice. I finally decided on a purply-grey color with a flat finish for the 2 accent walls in the living room (Ralph Lauren "Parma Violet" to be exact). I was so excited....I love purple! Unfortunately, when I brought the paint home, I decided it looked too dark. I didn't want to be living in the bat cave, so I took it back and had my friend Joel add 2 ounces of white - much better! I chose an off-white for the other walls to lighten the room up (Behr "Antique White").

Prepping is the hardest and most tedious part of painting. All that taping, ugh! If any of you want to paint anytime soon, I have supplies galore you can borrow (brushes, rollers, tarp, etc). I learned a helpful tip from my friend Alia - use grey primer under deep colors. That way you don't have streaking and you can use less coats. Ripping out the baseboards was pretty fun and exhilirating...I could NOT wait to get rid of those hideous things. What a waste of a tree.

Some friends came over to help out, it was a girl's painting party (plus Jeff, my roommate). Thanks to Jenn, Eugenia, Jeff, Nicki and Melissa!! More pics to come...