For any of you that have done renovations with your significant other, you know there are always things you both want to do differently than the other person.

Almost since we put the offer in on the house, we’ve been “debating” on how to paint the place. Dave wanted to paint the entire place white… just like his Mom’s condo, and his Grandma’s house. Every. Single. Room.

And I admit… it’s clean, and bright. But I’m a girl who needs COLOUR.

And while I’m pretty willing to just go with the flow… after living in “contractor beige” hell for the last eight years, this was not something I was willing to compromise on. Dave did make me promise not to go too crazy (no eye-bleeding yellow, or Barney purple). Most of the main floor will be varying, but complimentary, shades of green and the kitchen will be yellow. (I have a thing for yellow kitchens)

But, of course, the first room to paint is actually HIS room. His studio. For some reason, I kept envisioning it in light aqua. I don’t know why…

Anyway, I mentioned this to him, and he said “What is aqua?”

I explained it was blue-green, and I was thinking a shade a little lighter than the 1955 corvette model he bought me when we first started dating

“But I thought we were doing everything green?” he says.

We went back and forth for a while on how I am NOT doing the whole house in one colour, and how he just has to trust me… I’m good with colour and it won’t look like a fun-house when we are done. Eventually he gave up, but I never really got the go ahead on that aqua.

So, the next time we went to the hardware store, I dragged him over to the paint chips, and started pulling out all their “aqua” options.

He looked at the first one and said “But that’s green!” and I was reminded that he is, in fact, colourblind. It’s something I don’t think about much, but every once in a while we come across a situation like this. I told him it’s actually got a slight blue tint to it, but yes, it was more-or-less green. I showed him a few more that leaned a little more toward blue. “No, those are all blue. I don’t want blue” he said.

“So you want the green aqua one?” I asked.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

I showed him a few more options that were truly green (light olive, etc) and he insisted they were mostly “grey”

So green aqua it was! I win!!!

It’s “Filtered Forest” actually. And I will admit, unless it’s up beside a true green, its blue tint is not as apparent. It’s really a little minty.

I had the whole weekend by myself to paint away. Dave’s Grandma was back in the hospital (she’s home and better now), so he was down helping his Mom out.

I know some people hate it, but I actually love painting. I wouldn’t want to do it every day, but it’s definitely my favourite part of renovations.

I cranked up the radio and brushed and rolled until the wall were covered.

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What a transformation from when we first started.

The room isn’t done yet, of course. This is just the first coat. And we still need to put in some flooring, and of course trim (which will be white), but painting makes it feel like we are closing in on the finish line!

Bonus pictures: You remember that nicotine coated ceiling and fan? Well it’s all fresh and WHITE now! Hurray!

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