Brange Bizcocho

Andy was gone.  I was tired of white walls.  I needed something to do at night after the kids went to bed.  Why not paint the house?  My last distant memory of painting was my parent’s rundown rental house in Delavan, IL some 20 odd years ago.  Delavan is internationally famous for 2 locals in the Guinness Book of World Records shooting marshmallows the furthest distance - from 1 person’s nose to the other person’s mouth = )  I digress.  

I clearly needed a painting refresher course, so I spent a few days watching You Tube videos on painting and spackling.  Feeling sufficiently confident that I could replicate the best prep and paint methodologies, I headed to the paint store.  Now my friend had warned me that choosing and mixing paint colors was ... umm ... different here.

My first tip-off was the dirty looks I got taking 10 paint color cards out of the display and leaving the store with them.  When I returned with my chosen colors, they hand-mixed “matching” colors from a different brand of paint all-together and showed me about 1,000 more color options on rings that were clearly not to be removed from the store.  They also suggested that I really wanted a different color than what I’d selected.  You really want this one, it will look better.  Ummm.  No, I really want the one that I chose.  No, you don’t, you should use this color.  Ack.  In the end, I think he was right, but who fights with their customers to change their paint colors?

Apparently I have a talent for picking brownish-orange colors gone wrong.  My “subtle orange” kitchen color was in fact a garish brown-orange.  I returned it for a brighter, definitely-no-trace-of-brown orange and after being blinded by its OJ intensity for a few days, I have grown fond of it.  The living room was a sadder story.  I chose a creamy wheat color.  Ha.  It came out ... drum roll please ... brownish-orange.  Depending on the time of day it looks peach or pink, definitely not creamy wheat.  Andy says our living room now resembles a big wedding cake or bizcocho.  This was not intended as a compliment.  Thus, I have cleverly entitled this blog Brange (brown+orange) Bizcocho. 

At some point in the upcoming months I hope to finish Hannah’s room (pale blue) and Naomi’s room (pale yellow).  I am curious to see what the colors actually turn out to be.  I’m optimistic that neither will veer towards brown-orange, but ... you never know!