I had to hire a painter for a rental recently, too bogged down with other things to do it myself. I've alway been a DIY painter and I was surprised at what it cost. I know a good painter earns every penny, but it's just not something I could afford in my own home, not as often as I like color change.

My regret in my living room is that I did our foyer (15' high) and two walls in suede paint. Came out nicely and I've gotten compliments, but that's going to be a bear to cover when it's time (and after 5 years I'm bored with it). So I'll have to do it myself, too labor intensive to hire out. pffft. ;-)

I painted my wainscoting (okay my sister did) black and I never tire of looking at it. But there will come a day that I will change it, but not anyway soon.

Absolutely. Although I'm not exactly tired of the color, I painted my bedroom in a deep red-violet - which was lovely 6 years ago in August, with no curtains, when the tree in front was a sapling. The color itself I still love, but the tree is grown up, I added curtains on top of the sheers, and the bedroom itself is a cave. Great for migraines, but too dark otherwise. So I am going to repaint in 25% BM Brookside Moss (will use 100% in the adjoining bathroom, and this time do the ceiling in the same color - and as one part of the bedroom, a sitting area,has ceilings up to 15 feet, and I get terrified at 11 feet - I will have to pay someone. I keep putting it off because it is so expensive, and am trying to talk myself into colormatching in Aura and at least doing the lower ceiling room area.....

terry

Not my LR, but my bedroom. My husband was assigned the job of painting while I went to work. When I came home I knew it was wrong. The color was SW Burlap. He refused to repaint thus began my mission...a complete overhall working around the paint and it wasn't easy.

bigdtc, check a local rental center for a Bil Jax scaffold. We rented one when I did our high foyer mentioned above. I was able to walk around on the ample platform (3x4, maybe a little bigger), reach the ceiling to do cut in with my brush, no problem. It was over our stairs, it has side rails and a built in ladder, I felt completely safe. Think is was abt $75 for a few days (cheaper to rent it for a bit longer period of time).

I hired a painter to paint our LR formal DR (18-20' ceiling). Made the mistake of not sampling the color in-situ because I just had a newborn and didn't have time/energy to go through that. I chose what seems to be a very neutral color (off white) and now I wish I'd taken time to choose a better color. However, it's too expensive to redo so I'd just have to live with it for a while.

I start to dislike my paint colors about the time the painter packs up his truck to leave.

It's always that way with me. For me, it's like putting clothes on lay-away and then by the time you get them out after 6 months (those were the days, weren't they), because you have imagined it on yourself so long and so often, you feel like you have worn that dress or pants a thousand times and are already tired of them.

That's the way I am about paint. I labor over it for a long time and once I finally get it painted, I feel that it has been that color long enough to re-do.

Yes, I am a little off but that is what makes us all unique.

Confession: I love the circus. I have a great collection of original posters and admit to a love of one circus in particular. The 'Pickle Family Circus'. I have posters, along with original work connected with this group. I admit to trying to trying to work my decorating around this group - to no avail. The colors of my walls, quickly covered up of course, have had many wild experiences, if only temporarily. So now I've ruled out all yellows, because of what influenced me. I need to shake this idea off, for good. It all ends up bad.

I painted my bedroom, at the last house, antique white. Because of ALL the light in the room it looked lemon yellow. Very bright! I had to repaint it in navajo white to get the off white color I was going for.

The livingroom turned out alright, a brownish pink. Sanibel sunset.

Here is a link that might be useful: sanibel sunset

I'm usually in Patricia's camp! My poor DR has been so many colors, there's been the good, the bad and the ugly. Right now it's a wonderful shade of warm spa blue, that I love, but am tiring of and it's barely been 6 months!

The only color I've yet to tire of is the Baby Turtle which has been up for almost 2yrs. You should have seen the shade of blue it was before. Pretty but just wrong.

I love black!

{{!gwi}}

Never messed up a living room but I'm in the middle of a hallway paint issue right now. We picked a beautiful soft BM gray called Oystershell, painted large swathes in various lights and loved it. Painted two floors' worth of hallway in a three-story rowhouse and it reads as Sad and Depressing Gray, except by our front rooms where it looks identical to the two cool blues we put on those walls. Blech. We're using professional painters as part of a more comprehensive house renovation and I hate eating the cost of a re-paint, but I really really hate Oystershell in my hallways even more.

Patricia, amen to that. I love my colors, but I'm not even in the house and thinking about more colors I could maybe have liked better. LOL

Back when we were smokers I had an excuse to paint every 6 months, but not anymore. I also could get on a ladder and repaint the entire house myself when the mood strusk me, but that's not happening anymore either.

LOL, Patsy. I just get tired of it easily and if I had thought of it I would have used the smoking excuse too. LOLOL

I have only once had a painting regret. That was in my master bedroom when I did a soft blue called Storybook Blue by Valspar. The color was lovely, it went well with the fabric I had chosen, and the room came out really pretty. But I love warm colors, and after a couple of months, it was really a downer to me, walking through my home, going down the hall, turning the corner, and seeing the blue. So I repainted.

I think it's normal to have regrets if the painted color didn't look the way you envisioned. But usually, the way to avoid this mistake is to buy a whole quart of the color you decided on, and pour it out into a paint tray. Roll it all on your wall. Even if you are having pros do your painting, they can overpaint your quart just as easily as they can paint any other wrong color. Once you get the quart on the wall, you should be in a really good position to decide if you are going to love two gallons of it.

And for what it's worth, I did do the quart test with my own bedroom. It went well with the drapes, set off my flow blue dishes I wanted to put on the wall, and looked pretty with the furniture. I chose it to work with the blue tile in the visible vanity area of the master bathroom. What I didn't take into consideration, was just how much I disliked the blue tile, and to try to make it work by painting the bedroom to match, did not make me happy.

Red

Nope, but a tip: When you use a "one of a kind original" paint color (ie: you went to HD, bought several mis-tints and mixed them all together and got a great shade of gray-green), make sure you move any large objects while you're painting, and paint behind them. Even if you think you will never need to move said large object, inevitably there will come a time when said object DOES get moved, leaving a gommin unpainted HOLE and you now have no paint to paint it with. And don't count on the "can you match this" people, since- while they'll do a fantastic job of creating the shade from the slice of sheetrock that you took off the wall to get a 'paint chip'- the shade won't be completely exact. Sigh.

Just a word to the wise is all.

nicole, which Antique White brand did you use at first? I also had to repaint my Master Bathroom from Ralph Lauren Deep Cream mixed in Benjamin Moore Paint to BM Navajo White since the lemon tint clashed with the bone sink, toilet, Jacuzzi and wall tiles. Now the room is peaceful and the color is pretty and warm without being lemon in that room. It is funny how paint colors change depending on the size, of the room, the lighting, what colors are in the room, and the ceiling color.

I am glad you like your painted walls now. Which Navajo White brand did you use?

Yes our MBR was supposed to be "southern shadow" which read a light gray, but when painted looks just plain white/beige. No grey in sight until about 9pm. I want to repaint but I have yet to talk the bf into it.

Plus our hallway we just painted this weekend. It screams army green to me! He loves it...but then again he picked it out.

I do love the color on the stairway walls...it's glidden olivewood.

It's a deep grey/taupe/olive, and looks great with the LR, which was actually much lighter than I anticipated.

Love my kitchen though..it's BM louisberg green. But green is my favorite color and it seems my entire downstairs has hints of green as undertones. Then again my bf's last name is GREEN.

So I guess it fits...lol

Yes, MANY!

We painted before we moved in. Our sofas are burgandy/maroon (I don't know which!) and I had not a clue as to wall color. DH vetoed green and all forms of beige. So I had gold. Gold, gold, gold. In the LR, DR, and hallway. Gold. Did I mention that it was gold? Oh, and it had green undertones . . .combined with the reflection of the greenery outside making it look even more gold/green. So very 1960s/70s. In fact, my friend's mom came over and remarked that she had her LR painted that same color back in the day.

Then, the upper hallway. I felt I had to match the intensity of the gold, so it was blue. BLUE.

Like xantippe, we also painted our office red (DH's choice). It is a really nice red, but wow is that room dark already . . . which isn't so bad (since I've read if you have a dark room, oh, well), but it is just SO much red.

That was 4 years ago. The blue I got rid of first. Now it's a boring but inoffensive white. The gold just got painted recently-- LR is a cream, DR is a chocolate milkshake brown. The red is staying because within 2 years it will probably be our bedroom, and I will change it then.

The first time, we paid someone before we moved in (didn't know how we'd manage to do it with with the kids). Now, DH does it and we've saved so much, though he hates the task (but he's good at it!). The only color that has stayed is the green in the playroom. I like that in that room!

I'm like Patricia43. I decided the best way to solve that was to learn to prep and paint myself.
Great tip, Redbazel. If I like it I can keep going, if not, paint it over.

Only once thank goodness and it was in the guest bath so I lucked out, the first green had too much blue in it. Since then I've used the quart method and it works every time! Tried 4 different quarts on my living/entry/dining areas before getting it right and it was so worth it!

I once saw this lovely, light-filled dining room in a magazine - tons of bright white woodwork and chocolate brown walls. It was gorgeous. Flipped to the back of the magazine, looked up the color and painted my small, dark foyer without ever even looking at the paintchip in my space, let alone painting a sample.

OMG, it was AWFUL. Looked like something that belonged in a toilet.

Our living room is painted in off white (Cozy Cottage) which I like and which goes very well with the rust red walls in the living room. However, I decided it would look nice if the two walls flanking the corner fireplace were painted a soft gray and I'm actually quite pleased with the way it looks.

ingrid_vc, any pics of the Cozy Cottage since that is the color I wish I painted my bedroom and not the Deep Cream. Thank you.

I painted my whole house, all 3500 sq ft of it, and am unhappy with only one room. My living room is a rusty red and I still love it but I tried a Devine color, in their new matte finish, in a guest bath and I've never liked it. I thought once I got the accessories in it would be better but I still go in there and think how much I dislike the color/feel of the walls.
Might know it was one of the most difficult rooms to paint with nooks, corners, angles and tight spaces for a ladder.

It's been nearly 4 yrs since I painted so I may tackle it this winter!

I painted an office BM Santa Fe Pottery - salmon color - hated it and repainted. We have BM 233 for 10 years. I like it overall, somedays it is a bit gray and depressing feeling, but mostly very neutral and changes in the light. I like it. Right now, we are going to paint our new whole house - VERY nervous about this!
Good luck

Yes, my lliving room and bedrooms are both painted deeper shades of gold and I HATE them. Why in the world would I want that much "warmth" on the walls when it's over 100 degrees outside? arggggghhhhhh

Furthermore, I was decorating with red when peach and blue were just going out of style. I was way ahead of the curve, and I am so sick of these colors. (I'm older than a lot of you. haha) I want something cool, soothing, and relaxing. If my house doesn't look "warm and inviting" when guests come over - too bad. LOL

I figure I must have been having an out of body experience
when I had my LR painted Taupe, then Red then yellow and now
Gold.
I still have one room in my home off white..the rest colors.
My off white room is my favorite.
After I win the lottery and can hire it painted again, every
room will be a soft soft white. Kind of how you picture Heaven. I went with the trend.....not what I like.

Birdlover, whether you simply opt for a nice Antique White, or go with a more soothing 2009 color like one of tbe pale green/blue/grays..........I think you would almost instantly love your room again. Warm golds are lovely if you love them and if you are up to that much color. I have Laura Ashley Gold#3 in my bedroom and do like it a lot. But if you can't handle the encroaching gold or it feels too warm to you, then, just change it. Paint is not that huge. And it makes SO much difference to the joy you feel walking into your rooms.

Perhaps Gray Mirage, Nantucket Gray, Dry Sage, or another soft muted shade by Ben Moore? Organic Architecture by Pratt & Lambert looks like another soft yet complex blue/green/gray. Restoration Hardware's Silver Sage is pictured in the link here below. Also, the Grey Mirage is in a LR here. Something on those lines would provide a nice rest for the eyes and probably still look good with your furniture.

Red

Here is a link that might be useful: Gallery Link to some soft greens