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I had 4 rooms in my house painted yesterday. I did all the "right" things before choosing the colors; matched them to our area rug (the thing we wanted to base all our colors on), went through all the swatches, bought sample cans and painted huge poster boards and hung them up for a few days. I really thought we had this one covered.
I love the way the back bedroom turned out, but I'm not happy with the other three rooms. I now feel I should have gone one shade less bright on the sage greens I picked for the foyer and living room, and I was super disappointed to see that once the whole dining room was painted the gray color we chose, that the color looks way more blue than the warm brown undertones I was going for.
I could have the painter back, and essentially pay again, or...what are some other options? If I bought the new colors and painted over it myself, would I be able to get away with only one coat, given that the colors are so similar in the grand scheme of things, and given that all the walls were just washed, prepped, and painted yesterday? Or do I need to do two coats? I'm assuming I don't need to worry about primer...
The other thing is, the eggshell is way shinier than I thought it would be, and way shinier than the eggshell in our old place. If I got the new colors in flat, would that effect any of the process?
Help...we want to get this done before all our furniture gets moved over next week...
Yes, generally a good quality paint will easily give "one coat coverage" to a similar shade on recently prepped walls. I would caution that if you do not have experience, good vision and PERFECT lighting you might go too thin when covering similar color,so maybe calling back the pro (and begging them for a discount...) could be wise.
As to the eggshell vs flat the biggest concern is what the factory calls "scrubabaility" but I tend to say equals "what happens when I try to clean my house". You cannot really "scrub" (like with a brush or steel wool) any painted surface. With flat paint if you have even newsprint on your hand and lean against the wall it will show. You have to get it of quickly and gently. With some colors even the "magic eraser" and WATER will alter the look. At lest with eggshell the slight gloss does tend to hold up better.
I think some companies now have a "super matte" finish that is almost as flat as "flat" but with the srub characteristic of eggshell. Check the web site of the paint makers .
I wonder if you did not get "satin" instead of "eggshell" -- satin is glossier, and some base comes with exactly the same label save for that one word.
If you did not do some test sections maybe that would be a way to triple check the color and sheen...
Don't forget you are now looking at empty rooms probably with naked windows too.
Colors bounce off one another and tone down or bright one or another.
I can't really say what they will look like furnished; better or worse in your opinion, but know this about paint:
no one company's eggshell, flat, satin, semi-gloss or gloss is the same as another. They are all close, but none the same. Just like no two company's whites are the same.
Eggshell and satin are the most popular finishes today though.
And the shinier the paint the more light it reflex. Example: If you took the same say-navy blue in all the different finishes, it's the same blue, but side-by side the shinier the paint those would appear lighter, but not.
Luck.
It will take a little while to get used to the colors if they are a radical change from what you had.
And once you add drapes, art, lighting, furniture, etc... you may find you like what you have!
It will take a little while to get used to the colors if they are a radical change from what you had.
And once you add drapes, art, lighting, furniture, etc... you may find you like what you have!
Waiting is always possible, though it becomes much harder to deal with the logistics of painting later, and the walls are freshly prepped now.
I think in the dining room, it really is a case of it being the wrong color. I was really going for brown-gray, not blue-gray. In the other two rooms, I might get used to the brighter tone.
I say get the painter back and have him do 1 coat on the dining room and possibly the other 2 that are too bright.
Without having seen it, I can't say, yes you will get used to it. 1 coat now will be/should be significantly cheaper than the wall prep, priming and 2 coats that you paid for. But obviously, the painter didn't pick the color, he will need to be compensated fairly for his time.
personally if I paid for a professional paint job, and they did a great job, better than I could do, I would really hesitate to do another coat myself.
I did this with a pantry area and stairway. we picked a yellow that was a true yellow, I didn't want a creamy baby nursary yellow. low and behold, when my wife painted it, I came home from work and was horrified. She kept painting b/c I was so set on the color initially....... it was bright keep you awake at night YELLOW. We never fixed it and got used to it sort of, but only b/c it was a pain in the neck to paint that area and was out of the way. We still disliked it when we moved 4 years later.
If you are really unhappy with the paint colors and you can afford it, get the professional painters to come back. If you have experience with painting and want to save money, go to the paint store and speak with a salesperson and they will give you good advice on color choice and how many coats you'll need. But you will probably need two coats for good coverage.
I would give it a day or two. I've noticed that the color of our walls really changes throughout the day as the light changes. I love our yellow bedroom during the day, but at night it looks off. I've tried different shades of light bulbs and that really changes it too. Check it out in different lighting situations and then decide. I've found that if I just don't like it, it won't grow on me. In that case, better to fix it. I love the subtle reflective quality of eggshell. It really brightens the room without being obvious like satin. Are you used to matte? I wonder if eggshell is more reactive to light and that's why it changes throughout the day. Lighting never did anything to improve the old gray/brown matte that was here when we moved in. Give it a day or two and pay particular attention to it at different times under different lighting conditions.
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