Bitten by the DIY bug

Summer is just around the corner and I’m itching. Seems the DIY bug has bitten me, so after stocking up on “Home and Garden” magazines, I’m ready to take that leap of creativity and redo my lounge. Also known as the cat’s relaxation area.

Like most women I want to match the paint colour to something already in the room. And it’s not the cats. Some old blue plates hanging precariously on the wall will work and since we’re replacing the couches, I might as well splash something on the walls that will compliment them at the same time. The fact that they are beige is beside the point.
I consult the only other human in the house – my husband – and we decide that blue will work nicely.

Walking into the hardware store a few days later - and dodging the eager salesmen who want to sell me things my husband wouldn’t know how to use anyway - I find the paint sample area and have to stop and stare dumbfounded.
I have never seen so many colours. I didn’t even know that blue came in about 56 shades. It’s all “crisp air blue” and “Periwinkle”, “Bruce Blue” and “Blue Yonder”.
Suddenly I’m thinking that interior decorating can be a dangerous tool when placed in the wrong hands.

So I grab a few samples printed on a tiny cardboard slither and return home with what I believe will help me chose the ultimate colour for that dingy little room.
But I’m in for a surprise. Suddenly the blue looks lavender in the little bit of light that sneaks through the only window. Maybe this was a bad idea and I should match the paint to one of the cats after all.

I eventually decided on “Crisp Air Blue” and console myself that should it end up lavender, I can always throw some crochet arm covers on the new couches and tell everyone my grandmother helped me decorate.

I return to the store and stand once again before the huge paint sample collection.
It seems there are about 30 shades of lavender too. Perhaps if I paint the wall lavender, it will appear blue.

And then I remember the bathroom; my first DIY project that went horribly wrong when what I thought was pastel green, turned out to look baby blue. Now I have a pink and baby blue bathroom. Still, if you close one eye, turn off half the lights and use your imagination it is green.

Or so I keep telling myself. That reminds me, I wonder if I shouldn’t repaint that room as well. I think yellow might look nice.

I hear my husband groan…