The Wrong Color

The poor mother.

She painted the sides of the shed last weekend while I worked on the back. She got one side done when we realized she was using OLD paint. A much lighter shade of gray like the house used to be. I went downstairs and got the remainder of house paint we had on the shelf. She started painting AGAIN.

She didn't have enough, so part of last weekend's Hardware Heaven trip was buying more paint. OK. Full gallon. Good to go. No problem.

We both noticed that something seemed wrong when I started painting the back of the shed that is being covered with lattice.

"That's too dark," says the mother. "You bought the wrong paint."

Did not. Took the label right off the old can and plunked it down on the counter when I bought it. I always do this because it seems to avoid confusion and limit trouble as the person in the paint department on any given day may or may not know what the hell they are doing.

She started painting AGAIN using the new can. At least now, it all matched.

When the paint finally dried, I could deny no longer that something was wrong. I looked at the shed. The house. The shed. The house. Yeah, something is not right.

I went to get the original can. Sure enough, the labels matched. But, not on the label, but on the CAN. it said PASTEL BASE. On the can I had just bought, ACCENT BASE. Uh-oh.

This was confirmed, recognized, and corrected last night. I was given a free gallon of the WRONG color (this time on purpose) last night. The paint kid recognized the problem right away.

All that's left paint-wise on the shed is the trim I'm putting up today and a few other spots that need some touch-up. I'm not going to make the mother repaint it AGAIN. The differences are subtle, but they're different enough that if I had bought the paint in question to TOUCH UP THE HOUSE and had put that color all over the house I just painted last year, TWICE ... that paint department would be in pieces.

So, off I go to start what I HOPE is the final act for Pimp My Shed. I had a change of plans on some of the trim. It would be so wonderful to wrap this project up today. Cross your fingers that it works ...