Grace D. Plunk: How I Pick Paint Color

Hello! How’s it going? Over here it’s going messy – more than usual actually! I have decided I need a make-over – but not a make-up or hair makeover (kinda needed, but less of a priority). No. Right now I need an entire life make-over. But I like to think big, start small so I’m starting with having my condo painted.

And I have a step-by-step process I personally follow to choose a paint color. You should probably Pin the shlt out of this post. I’m pretty sure HGTV is going to be knocking on my door any second because these tips are gold…

Step 1: Randomly decide on a Wednesday night you want to paint your place and peruse Craigslist looking for painters. Email some. Text some.

Get distracted and text a friend. Tell him you read an article about how colors affect mood and you’re painting your entire place Kermit the Frog GREEN because it’s supposed to make you feel closer to the Earth. Let him try to talk you out of it in a nice way – this shows you if it’s a real friend.

Step 2: Get quotes from painters.

Preferably quotes from funny movies because then you know they can paint your house and play “What movie is this from…”

Step 3: Choose paint color.

Go to Home Depot (or wherever sells paint) –> proceed to the paint section where there will be a wall with 22 million different colors.

Look at all the colors.

Consider getting something on trend right now like a flat gray color (discover there are actually more than 50 shades of gray).

Then, observe all the people around you at the paint wall who look completely lost and overwhelmed by all the colors. Note that a few of them look like they’ve probably been standing here in the since 2006.

Decide to go with something neutral.

That sounds easy until you realize there are 12 million shades of white in various tones and undertones and Boca Ratons.

Grab a white paint card. Hold up a few off-white paint cards to it.

Don’t pick the darkest one. Don’t pick the lightest one. Pick the one that’s just right – boom. You’re the Goldilocks of choosing paint.

Go up to the counter and order a 5 gallon buck of Sugary Snowstorm (or whatever it’s called).

Pay for it and go home to enjoy a snack while everyone else is still trying to decide on which shade of sea foam is going to be the answer to all their problems.

Actual conversation I had after choosing paint:

Me: “I was just going to get the primer and ceiling paint because they need it for tomorrow, but all paint was on a big sale ending today so I just bought everything.”

Mom: “What color? Did you already know what color you wanted?”

Me: “No, I didn’t want to deal with it so I just got one of those off-white bullshlts. I told them to give me a 5 gallon bucket of it and we’ll use it for everything.”

The painter was super surprised I picked a color so fast. Ha! I get their fastest picker award.

It took me longer to walk around the store to see if there was anything cool or fun in the area.

The point is :

I’m either super chill about this kind of stuff and can pick a paint color for my entire life in under 10 minutes OR

I’m colorblind so I don’t really see the difference OR

I know I don’t really pay attention to stuff around me so I won’t care when it’s up on a wall OR

I’m the worst and will soon regret my house looking like a hospital. But at least when it starts to drive me crazy I’ll already be used to living in an institution.

I asked Vegas about the paint color and he said, “Meow…” which translates to ‘I legit don’t care but it’s fun that you put a ladder here’

Step 4: Reward yourself for crossing that off the list.

Now I’m relaxing with some much needed dark chocolate… I’ll let you know how the painting turns out!

In running and eating news…

I can’t find the charger to my Garmin –it probably got lost in trying to move things around for the painters. And this is actually important to me so I’m a little stressed about it.

I ran without my running watch this morning but really need to find it because I have a training plan for my next marathon and need to do some speed work with it.

Pre-run I had a banana with PB.

And I had a funny fail when making a protein shake…

I was making a green smoothie the usual way – ice, frozen spinach, protein powder…

but scooped the protein powder into a can of nuts that were next to the blender cup!! I usually snack on nuts or something while making breakfast so it’s usual for me to have a container right next to my cup.

Ha! I was just bummed I wasted protein powder because it’s expensive!

Ya gotta roll with the random stuff like this…

And lunch was a big salad with chicken, nuts, craisins and onions on the bottom – then, topped with salad veggies. I do it this way so the veggies get dressing.

Today’s Plan:

I’m all about doing a 90 day plan right now since I keep hearing you can be super productive and knock out huge goals if you remember it every day, set a plan for that day and work on it. So, I got this Today’s Plan Notepad and am going to fill this out first thing in the morning for the next 90 days.