Recently, I read on Cote de Texas where she, the champion decorator, kept the painters waiting while she tried out 15 more paint samples in her room, only to finally pick a color that turned out to be the color of her trim!

So, I just wanted to begin by telling you that I've gone through dozens of chips and samples, trying to get to the color that I really want. Even though I do have a pretty good idea of my own taste, what undertones my paint chips have, and even pretty good visualization skills for how it will look on the wall, I still find myself wondering if I'm ever gonna find the right color. And don't forget; if the paid decorators have it hard, just think How tough it will be for the rest of us!

Anyway, there have been several threads with painting tips and I hope I'm not repeating too many, but I just wanted to share a few today. See what you think!

1. After you've brought home dozens of chips, think you've narrowed down to a couple of choices, or at least a couple of color groups, go to the dollar store and pick up some foam board for sampling. The big painted boards are much more helpful than little swatches.

2. Try out the small samples available. If you get the Glidden $2.95 jars with the built in brush, still pop for those little $1.97 "touch itup" trays at Home Depot. They come with a small plastic roller tray and a little 3" long roller. I think you'll find that rolling that paint onto your board, or even rolling onto your wall, gives a much better finished look for stepping back to view, than the brushing on we usually use. I rinse mine out and go to the next sample. And I didn't toss it till the roller was flat--after about 5 paint jobs.

3. A painting platform (usually on sale at Lowes or Home Depot for $39, and the other store will meet their competition's sale price if it's in the ad for less--Got mine for $19) is a great little bench like thing that gives good stability for painting, hanging window treatments, or hanging mirrors & artwork.

4. What if you are trying out window panels and don't know which look better in your room? Go ahead and hang your rod. Buy a package of clip rings even if you plan to do a different style of hanging hardware. You can get them pretty cheap at Walmart or Lowes. Then, clip ring your panels to your rod so they can be viewed hanging, instead of just held up to the wall or looped over a rod.

5. Even if you're stuck on a color like maybe Gray-blue; keep an open mind. The reason all 32 Gray-blue chips look wrong, may be because you really need Gray Green. Or Simply White. Or Manchester Tan.

6. Unless you are fabulously Lucky--Have excellant color sense and rarely make a mistake--or have a practiced decorator to help you, you are probably going to have to Kiss more than a few paint-flavored Frogs to find your Wall-Color-Prince. So plan and budget accordingly.

For example.

2 touch up kits $2.00 each

2 foam boards $1.00 each

2 Sherwin Wms Samples to go $$5.00 each

2 BM or Glidden or Valspar samples maybe $4.00 each

Comes out to let's say...$24.00....just to sample maybe 4 colors before spending AT LEAST THAT AMOUNT to buy your first gallon of paint. But there is nothing more mood-lowering than staring at a full gallon of Alexandria Beige and knowing it's completely wrong for your room, and you've already spent half of your paint money.

Just a few musings....now I need to get back to my own 32 samples and hang some more foam boards.

P.S. Use push pins with your foam boards if you are really going to paint. The pin holes are small and can be easily painted over. They give you some flexibility for hanging your foam boards.

Red