Say Yes to the Paint...

Are you all familiar with the show "Say Yes to The Dress?"

Well, I've decided an HGTV spin off called "Say Yes to The Paint" would be highly entertaining. Featuring crazy homeowners like myself trying to determine the best exterior paint colors. 

With decorators giving their expert opinions, neighbors and family weighing in on the decision.  

See where I'm going? Highly entertaining so long as you aren't the one making the decision. 

If you've never had to contemplate painting the exterior of your home, consider yourself lucky.

I tried 30, T-H-I-R-T-Y!!!, different paint colors before

finally, FINALLY (yes, I'm sort of screaming) selecting our final ones. 

Andrew had plenty of practice with his multiplication tables...

 "mom, you just bought 6 new colors to try, you've wasted another $30 dollars..."

(a small sampling of our kaleidoscope)

It wasn't a fun process. 

I stalked neighborhood houses, 

carted around old dried up paint cans to get matches for unknown colors, 

emailed bloggers with pretty homes,

 even called business owners if I happened to be driving by a pretty retail building. 

I have scrutinized every painted home till I no longer like any of them.   

The sad part about this whole ordeal is that I truly thought I was a recovered perfectionist.  

That I had a relatively firm grasp on what was important and worth worrying about in life.  

Clearly I need to be rehabilitated.

BUT...in the process I've found some gorgeous paint combinations.  

While they were not right for our house they are beautiful and maybe would work for your own 

should you ever have to venture down this very treacherous terrain.

(I have also decided that in neighborhood directories, right next to addresses and phone numbers, 

should be a listing of exterior paint colors.  It would make this a whole lot easier!! No?)

During my "I want an off white house week" this combination was our leading contender.

This is one of my favorite painted houses in our neighborhood

Here are the colors:

The problem was on my home they read way too similar to my next door neighbor.  

So much so, even the mailman made a comment.

It looked like we were trying to match. Also, the undertones are a bit cool,

and our interiors are so warm.  It didn't flow right with our home,

but these colors are gorg, gorg, gorg!

Next up (still on my off-white kick) was this charming store front in a neighboring town.

The poor landlord called me after rummaging around in his basement to find

10 year old paint cans.  I didn't have the heart to tell

him that I'd moved on and was back to a darker color scheme.  

Again stunning, but better on a home that gets a lot of sun.  

All our trees warped these colors considerably.  

So, ultimately we ended up right where we started.

Our house is very New England farmhouse looking, and despite our best efforts, 

we couldn't shake the feeling that it was meant to be darker.

A little more subdued...

Here are our final paint colors...

mega greige - SW

soft antique white - porter

tumstone gray - porter

Now if only the rain would stop so these painters could get busy before I change my mind!!