Arrogance and Paint Patches

I have the exact special kind of arrogance it requires to think I can successfully paint without testing a patch first. I have enough first-hand experience, and have now watched enough home renovation shows, to know better than to do that at 39 and 1/2 years old.

However, I am cut from the same cloth as my father, and my youth was surrounded with intense paint choices that never blended together into something pleasant. For instance, I was raised with a Canary Yellow bathroom whose glow lit the pathway to a kitchen that was trimmed in Cranberry Pink. Some might say that I never even had a chance.

However, life constantly demands self-reflection to correct core issues. I just try to be better than the generation before me. To some extent, in my younger years, I did just that. For example, in the first home my husband and I owned, I chose to create had a beautiful, vibrant red kitchen (complete with a Tiffany chandelier) that perfectly complimented my country lifestyle and apple-patterned dinnerware. It all went together very nicely in that one room.

My flaw was that I had an open-concept floorplan, and painted the adjoining room a calming green. Independently, those were both very nice colors. However, there was no resting place for the eyes between them. I grew to regret my life choices.

I won’t blame that one entirely on myself, though—I was too poor to own a TV with DIY programs to help me rise above where I started. Fast forward 15 years, and I've spent enough time watching Hometown, with Erin and Ben Napier, that I should have known to act on their lesson about always painting a test patch first when I decided to take to heart their encouragement of not being afraid of color.

So, because I thought I knew better than the small voice in my head reminding me do a test patch, I did not create something with balance and peace in our latest home. I took my arrogance and inspiration, the gallon of creamy yellow paint that looked so pretty on the sample paper, and quickly slapped it on my walls and bookshelves. I knew as I was coating the wall with paint that something wasn't quite right, but I do have a stubborn never-say-die personality, and I just kept going. Every time that the sun shone on my bookshelf, it looked the Canary Yellow bathroom of my youth!

I am too old to be this impetuous. I should have painted a test patch first and spent time quietly reflecting on the consequences of my decisions. That lack of forethought, my friends, caused me many weeks of unnecessary work to bring together a cohesively painted and decorated home. Oh, it's coming together—but had I acted on the wisdom of others, it would have come together more easily.