Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Painting Egypt by the Numbers


Last Saturday, with much help and encouragement from my intrepid friend Valerie, I pulled up the ratty old carpet in my bedroom to reveal the lovely hardwood floors beneath. And now I want to make my bedroom even prettier, so I'm pretty set on painting it. Maybe even new curtains!

The problem with paint, of course, is -- what color? I like warm colors and greens, with occasional bits of blue. But which exact shade? After trips to Home Depot and OSH to look at gajillions of paint chips, I felt a bit overwhelmed. I'm scared of dark colors -- I've seen some walls done in darker colors that I just hated, and I didn't want to inflict that on myself. But all the pale, pastel colors just weren't cutting it -- too timid, too "almost there." Why not just go with off-white at that rate and be done with it?

So I went back to look at a place I've long been obsessed with -- Egypt. I loved the colors there. My photos of the Nile during our cruise are all of dark green river, brighter green fields, orangey gold clifffs, and blue sky, with the occasional fishing boat, irrigation ditch or water bird to break the monotony. The cliffs there are the same color as the temples. Makes sense. The temple stones were quarried from them thousands of years ago. That rosy limestone color just might be perfect for my walls.

I was worried that it might seem too girly. Then a male friend pointed out that I am indeed a girl and that this is my bedroom. What better place to be girly? It's a lesson in trusting yourself, this whole paint selection process.

So, thanks to the Sherwin-Williams paint selector online, I've started to narrow it down to a skin toned orange-gold. Should I go as dark as Autumnal, or be a tad lighter with Chivalry Copper? More yellow with Viva Gold? Darker with Bakelite Gold? Is it terrible of me to say that the names of the colors are part of their appeal? I'm so awfully word-oriented. (Is there a word for "word-oriented"?) I'm more likely to want to paint my walls a color called Autumnal than Blonde, for example. Unless Blonde was perfect. Which it isn't.

1 comment:

Wendee said...

Why do we blog? I don’t know. Sometimes it’s just that I’m keeping track of these conversations I have with myself. Does anyone read them? Sometimes you wonder, and in the emptiness, the typed words echo back to you. And then sometimes someone posts a comment, and you think "Well! There’s someone out there! Reading! I knew it!". People say that the internet can be impersonal. And yet every once in a while you get little bits of connection and encouragement, and then suddenly, you’re not just talking to yourself anymore.

Huzzah, Neen!
xox, W