OFFICIALLY First Time Home Buyers & How to Pick Paint Colors

Finally..........We are home owners! We closed on our town home today, after much stress and constant document fetching. We had a complicated scenario with 3 different mortgages (one primary and two down payment assistance loans), so it took quite a while to figure everything out. But, all of that is in the past now, and we can focus on the fun stuff.

So what is the first thing you should after closing on your first home? Go to the paint store! That's exactly what we did. We like Sherwin Williams, because no one else can compare with their customer service and knowledge. We went and picked up three colors of wall paint, and our base board paint for touch ups. The colors we picked were a gray screen (SW7071) for the living room and dining room, recycled glass (SW7747), and echelon ecru (SW7574). We aren't sure yet where the echelon ecru and recycled glass are going, but one will be the kitchen color and the other will be the half bathroom. Go to the Sherwin Williams website and look at their color visualizer, it's pretty cool and you can see the colors.

Coming to these colors was not easy. We knew what we wanted from our various "inspirations" and pictures, but it was much harder to make the decisions than we thought (especially for Maggie ;)). For instance, we wanted the living room to be gray from the beginning, but a gray that was almost blue and almost gray at the same time. The first color sample we got ended up being way too light, almost a sky blue to me. We painted the samples on pieces of white carboard paper, because the man at the paint store told us that this would give you the best idea of how the paint would transfer to the wall. What we found out after some quick Googling is that paint will dry darker than it looks on the color wheel. So don't be afraid to go after that color that you really want, even if it looks a little bolder on the sample.

We wanted to pick colors that were neutral enough to sell the home with, but also that gave us enough color to be comfortable. We also believe that it's cheapest to go neutral on the walls and use accents (pillows, fabric, etc.) to give the rooms color. A pillow is cheaper to replace than a wall of paint. Write that down.

Here are some of our inspiration pictures:







Oh yeah, all of this "advice" is taking place prior to us actually putting any of the paint on the walls. So take it for what you will.

Next stop is Lowes to get supplies. Moving starts after July 4th and then the painting party with delivery pizzas and dinner on the floor begins!

Thanks for joining us on our crazy ride...

-Grayson (& Maggie)