Eggshell from Hell

One piece of advice The Investor did give us was to use good paint, something we’d already decided to do.  He mentioned Home Depot had a sale on Behr paint, but we needed to hurry.  The sale ended July 5th.  (Just to reiterate, we began the flip on June 30th.)

Those first few days of work were brutal, long grueling hours of physical exertion.  One evening after I’d showered, I dragged myself to the Home Depot closest to our duplex and did my best to make decisions.

I knew I wanted neutral shades in the same color palette.  And I didn’t want to paint every room the same color.  For about thirty minutes I studied my options, running to the back of the store to match my choices with the countertop I had picked out, a brown and cream laminate made to look like granite.

Finally I came to a conclusion and took the swatches to the desk.

The Experts Aren’t Always Expert

Mind you, I was grumpy, but the guy who helped me was grumpier.  I felt out of my element and needed help.  He didn’t seem to happy to give it.

The Paint Expert said, “Are you planning to prime?”

“Yes. I have some KILZ.”

“With KILZ you have to paint the next day.”

I looked at him quizzically.  By this time exhaustion was kicking in and I wasn’t sure how much longer I would last.  I wasn’t exactly sure what he was trying to tell me.  Did I need to purchase a different primer?  I more or less ignored his comment, handed him my choices, and asked him to help me figure out how much paint I needed.

He suggested, “Five gallons for the kitchen, dining room, and two bedrooms.  A gallon should work for the master bedroom and another gallon for the two bathrooms.  A gallon should also be enough for the living room and hallway.”

I trusted his expertise.

Now here’s where it gets tricky.  I remember the conversation as follows, but I was tired and cranky and it was two years ago:

“You want those in eggshell?”

“Flat.”

“Eggshell is our flat.”

Again, I trusted his expertise.

He mixed up the paint and I walked out of the store satisfied I’d done okay.

The next day The Investor actually showed up.  Both he and The Painter told me I should have purchased flat finish.  “You can’t cover your mistakes with eggshell.  You have to repaint the whole wall,” they both told me.  I repeated the above conversation.  They each gave me a hard time about it, repeating the mantra “use only flat paint” ad nauseum, for several days to come.

I wanted to deck them both, but just smiled and held my tongue.  In my mind I had ordered flat paint.

Reality Sometimes Paints An Ugly Picture

As we began to spread the paint onto the walls, I realized two things: 1) They were right.  Eggshell not only showed the flaws, it caused hours of extra work as well; and 2) The Paint Expert didn’t know the first thing about paint.  His measurements were all off.  I still have some, at least a gallon, left of the five gallon bucket.  Not only did we use it to paint the kitchen, dining room, and two smaller bedrooms, we also painted half of the fifteen square foot room in the basement and a room in our current house (with two coats)! And as you will see, I also had to return to the store several times for more paint.

So what’s the lesson here?  Eggshell is bad?  Not at all.  In fact I have used it successfully on other types of walls.

Should you ignore the recommendations of Home Depot employees?  No.  I believe this guy was the exception.  Everyone at Home Depot up until this point and for the rest of our project went above and beyond to help us in whatever way they could.  And most gave us solid home improvement advice.

What I didn’t do and what I suggest you do is your homework.  There is an abundance of information on the web.  Both Behr and Sherwin Williams have interactive sites where you can download pictures of your room and envision it in different colors.  You can purchase samples either online or at the Home Depot store and check out colors before you buy them.   And DIY has a whole section dedicated to teaching you everything there is to know about paint and painting.

And if all else fails, get help.  Yes, it can add to your expense, but it can also save you time and grief later.  As it turned out for us, we would have actually saved money if we had hired The Painter to paint both the inside and outside of our rehab.  Hindsight.

Happy Transformation,

Shawn

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