Paint Selection: From Root Canal to Easy Breezy

What paint colors are currently “In”?

Does it matter if I even like what is “In”?

How will the color I choose affect the future resale value of my home?

What color goes best with my floors and furniture?

How will I be able to tell what the color actually looks like in my spaces?

How will I ever make a decision with the overwhelming number of colors to choose from?

I bet you have had some of these same conversations with yourself when you have had to select paint for your home.  I really never thought of myself as needing help from someone like an interior designer.  I thought….I am a decisive person.  I know what I like.  I can do this!

As much as I could not wait to get my home painted and enjoy the improvement, I became completely frozen in fear of making the wrong color selections and having to live with it.  I decided it was too big of an investment not to ask for some help so I approached the team at Beach Floor and Decor.

Their designer actually has a process she takes her clients through whether they are in person together or working remotely.  She promised me that at the end of our time together I would feel confident in my decisions, look forward to getting the work done, and actually come to love my choices and how much it transformed my home.  I told her I would rather have a root canal than select paint colors.  She was not put off by this and said I was not alone but she promised she had a fail safe way of working through paint selection PTSD.

So I met her at the Sherwin Williams store which is the preferred paint vendor of Beach Floor and Decor.  I told her, I have been here on 3 separate days for hours each time.  How is this going to be different.  She asked me to trust the process.

She then asked me to “Stand in front of the paint swatch wall and pick up every swatch that appeals to you and makes you feel happy.  Don’t read the names of the paint colors on the swatch.  Don’t worry about which section it is in (i.e. blue but I don’t like blue) just take every swatch that you see that you like and put them all on the counter.

She then quickly organized all of my color choices into similar themes and starting saying pick this or this.  I had laid down 17 swatches and when she was done with this exercise we had 3.  I could easily see how I would like any of the 3.  But she was not done.  The three that I selected I said one was a bit too deep but I like the color.  She then told me another little insider note….you can ask the paint store to mix a 50% or a 75% of the color you like.

So with my 3 favorite colors and a paint sample of each of them in 100% and 50% we proceeded to my house.  She painted all 6 paints (3 colors at 50% and 3 at 100%) in various corners of my rooms.  Some where there was more light some where there was less.  Some next to my kitchen cabinets, some closer to the floor.

She then looked like she was ready to leave and I said wait, what do I do now?  She asked me to use the house just like always for a full 48 hours and glance at the different swatches at different times of the day.

By 2 days later I had selected a color that I was in love with at all times of the day or night.  The Beach Floor and Decor team scheduled to start painting a week later and a week after that I was done and IN LOVE with my new space.

This whole experience changed a very frustrating, teeth pulling feeling into one that gave me confidence that I would be very happy with my new space.  Thanks to the professional and personalized service provided by the Beach Floor and Decor team, my home is now freshly painted; and I love living in my space.