Painting Disaster

A couple weeks ago, I decided to paint one of the walls in my dining room as an accent wall. Not because I love painting because I don’t. Not because I’m bored because I could have thought of more fun and exciting things to do with my time. Not because I wanted another disaster because I tend to have enough of those to deal with already.







I wanted to hang a collage picture frame and put vinyl wall lettering on this wall. The wall was dirty, not the greatest color, and peppered with holes from the nails that held pictures for previous renters. It is also the first wall that you see when you walk in my front door. And it is the biggest empty wall in the whole house. Therefore, I thought it was a logical and sound decision to paint it.





I’m always trying to figure out what I can do to improve the look of this place, because to be quite frank, it’s ugly. I’m embarrassed to have people over (not that I do, but perhaps I would if my house was cuter…and if I had people to invite over lol). Because there is nothing I can do to hide certain features, I try to be creative and come up with ways to draw attention to something else. And this was one of my ideas. One of my brilliant ideas. It was just one wall after all. There was only one doorway and two outlets on the whole thing. How hard could it be?

I went to the store and grabbed a bunch of paint color swatches that I thought might work. Then I brought them all home and meticulously started the elimination process. Too orange…too peach…too burgundy...too olive. I finally found the perfect hue to go with my flat, cream-colored walls and even made sure it would look okay with my furnishings. “Innocent Spring Fawn.” Sounded harmless enough.

Then I got the okay from my landlord and on Thursday night I drove to Sherwin-Williams to buy the paint. I brought home my purchase and then went to work: taping off the trim and even caulking to fill in the holes and dents in the poor wall. It was going to look fabulous…I just knew it.

I poured the paint in the tray and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach as I dipped my brush in and started spreading it along the corner. My strokes got slower as I studied this color on the wall. I put my brush back in the tray and stepped back. I don’t know how long I stood there, silent and frozen. I finally found my voice and jumped frantically into the next room as if to escape the nightmare on my wall.

“What is this?? Terra Cotta? You have GOT to be kidding. I just spent $25 on this gallon of hideous paint!”

I couldn’t believe it. I tried to pick out the perfect color and I ended up with Sante Fe/Southwestern style disaster. It totally did not go with my furnishings or the other paint.

I tried to convince myself not to cry about it; that wouldn’t change anything anyway. After much agonizing thought over this current predicament, I suddenly remembered the paint I had leftover from my bathroom remodel. I knew I liked the color, so I felt safe about putting it on the wall. Even though it was kitchen/bathroom paint and semi-glossy, I decided that I would put it on my flat dining room wall anyway. I certainly didn’t want to buy more paint.

Friday evening, after a long day at work, I once again began painting. I put a little in the corner to make sure it would look okay and since it did, I continued on the whole wall. It truly is a nice color. Very warm, inviting, and relaxing. Some of my family are coming to see me this weekend so I will finally have some extra hands to help me hang pictures and place lettering.

Oh, by the way, does anyone need a gallon of premium quality Ter- uh, I mean Innocent Spring Fawn paint? It would look great in a Mexican restaurant! Or perhaps you need to paint the inside of your barn or shed (I’m sure the livestock and lawnmowers won’t mind the color). Or maybe you have three dozen pots that need a new coat?? Something? Anything? Let me know, I have just what you need.