My Blue Period is Much Better Than Picasso’s Because He Didn’t Get Periods

 

So I was sick of looking at this:

I painted this door almost three years ago.
I KNOW CAN YOU BELIEVE THREE YEARS?????
It was a colossal hit after I did it and I loved it so much, but after three years; I was tired of just a dark door.
Dark, dark, door.
Why so dark, door?
Why everything so dark??
I feel the need to lighten things up in my life.
My head, my mood, everything and it needs to start with my front door.
Like a Feng Shui thing.
What does a black interior door even mean in Feng Shui?
Googling it….right ……now……

Crap.
Guess I should have left it black.
I don’t even follow Feng Shui.
Screw it.

Whatever the case, I am going through ch-ch-changes and so it was on a week of craptastic gloom and doom weather that I was like THAT IS IT and literally got up and drove to the local paint store to get a paint swatch.

First, I went on Pinterest and saw this pin I had pinned like a year ago:

– you don’t have to go to an “official” Ben Moore store. There might be a paint store or Ace Hardware, etc. that carries their product, so Google before you leave your home. I loved this color and pinned it immediately.
It is called Lake Blue by Benjamin Moore or Ben Moore.
I call him Ben Moore because we are all cozy.
So I headed to my local Ben Moore store and got the swatch.
Here is the lowdown on Ben Moore:

– don’t leave your home without looking online for inspiration. Ben Moore paint swatches look NOTHING like the actual paint. This advice comes from me AND the Ben Moore paint guy. Trust both of us.

– also, it helps to have the paint number, not just the name. If you go to a Ben Moore store and can’t find the name, ask for help and they will look it up for you. Sometimes the swatches are in random places. Ben does not want what is best for you, trust me, but in the end, it is worth it.

– if you have serious coin, buy the Ben Moore paint. If not? Be cheap like me, get the swatch and get the HELL out of that store and go to Home Depot or Lowe’s. You’re welcome.

So I left the nice Ben Moore sales guy with my swatch in hand and went to Home Depot and bought my paint and supplies.

I used Behr Ultra paint, which is a paint and a primer in one as recommended by the amazing woman at the Home Depot paint department. Love them there.
I used a foam roller for most of the door and a foam brush for the cut in work.
Also, I used interior paint, not exterior paint, even though it was a front door because it was inside.
I know this seems like a head slap, but I felt like because it is so close to the outside it needed to be exterior paint.
You shouldn’t be shocked by my reasoning if you have read my blog here with any regularity.
Those just reading for the first time, welcome to the madness.

Here is the before:

Like, will it look 1986 country blue?
With the country geese?
And the little Amish girls with the bonnets?
Not that there is anything wrong with that.
In 1986.

THE PICTURE IS GONE BUT SEE THE CLOSET PICTURE BELOW TO GET A FEEL FOR THE NEW BLUE INTERIOR DOOR COLOR.

Then I said “screw it” again and just did it.
Life is too short to be stuck with a black life-sucking door.
I loved my black door for three years, but it was time for a change.

No going back.
What does Feng Shui say about a Country Geese blue door from 1986?
Mallory??
Alex??
Mr. Keaton????
It looks different in photos than it does in actual life, much more country blue in pictures than in real life, but I have to say, I love it.

 

My husband, who normally could really care less about things like this, was home the day I was painting and was watching the transformation the entire time I was working.
At first, he was as skeptical as I was, but as the paint and chit-chat were going on and on we both agreed that it was looking pretty amazing.

 

It got me so excited that in typical Kari fashion; I decided I must paint ALL THE THINGS.

This was our hall closet before

It was looking faded and needed an update.
And since I had some blue paint, just burning a hole in my pocket…..er paint can…whatever…..I decided that nothing was going to go untouched.

It looks so much cleaner and very, very blue.
Then the following day I was outside looking in and saw this:

 

It was a veritable rainbow for the senses.
A carnival for the eyes.
I didn’t know how to process it all.
Green??
Blue??
Black??
Brown??
MRS. KEATON??
SKIPPY????????
AM I RUNNING A FEVER!?!?!?!?

The first thing I thought of was Rio de Janeiro.
Or cotton candy.
The second thing I thought of was resale value.
Because this home is NOT our forever home and nothing screams FORECLOSURE like a house with ten different colors as you walk in the foyer or FOYAY.
That blue, I love, looks so different with the time of day, the weather, your mood.
Then it hit me: that blue is MY MOOD.
That blue is me.
HOLY BALLS THAT BLUE IS ME.
Blue Lake by Ben Moore could have been named Bitter Pre- Menstrual/Menopausal Female by Kari at A Grace Full Life.

Picasso has NOTHING on me.