DIY Thursday-Why is the Paint Purple???

It's that day again, DIY Thursday at A Soft Place to Land and Transformation Thursday at the Shabby Chic Cottage. Head on over for your weekly fill of fun projects and great ideas.

So I decided this past weekend that it would be a good time to paint the vanity in our hall bath. The bathroom we hardly use, but keep pretty for any company we have over. I've been planning to give it an overhaul by changing the floor, light fixture, and mirror and slightly changing the paint color. But for now, I figured I'd paint the vanity using my free Glidden paint from their recent promotion. Or that was the plan anyway.

So the first step in most painting projects is to sand. I hate sanding. It's messy and boring, but my vanity cabinet was not glossy so I just gave it a little light roughing up followed by a nice rinse.

I also layed down a plastic dropcloth, although since I'm going to cover the floor with vinyl or laminate, I wasn't too concerned with keeping it clean. It's always imporant to cover your cats when you paint too. It helps prevent all those kitty tiptoes through the painting tray followed by a trail of pawprints.

Once plastic bubble cat was banned from the bathroom, I added a coat of oil-based Kilz. I learned the oil-based primer does not hold up well in a hot garage. While I expected it to separate, I did not expect it to form a thick crust on top and adhere to the sides of the can.

I stirred it away and hoped for the best, although I had to watch for random clots of primer crust goo ruining my smooth finish. Yuck.

Then it was finally time to break open that glorious free can of paint. The color I picked was "Dark French Chocolate." Doesn't it just sound yummy?

Ummmm, wait a second. Does it look purple to anyone else? More like "Dark French Eggplant?"

Now I'm not a big chocolate eater. I like a little dab now and then, but give me a bowl of fruit over a candy bar or vanilla ice cream over chocolate anyday. (Yes, now you know that I am officially weird, and if you can't stand people who don't drool over chocolate you are welcome to leave, but I would like it if you would keep reading.) But I don't remember my chocolate ever being purple and I don't think the French like it that way either.

Well, maybe it will dry darker and more brownish.

Or maybe it will still look purple. I wish these photos showed better just how purple the paint was.

It was time for battle now. I did not want purple cabinets interfering with the spa-beachy-calming-pretty vision I had for this room. So I drug out two cans of paint I had left over from other projects. One was a medium brown interior semi-gloss(which also came out the wrong color of brown than I was going for, but at least it wasn't purple.) The other was a black semi-gloss exterior. I figured interior, exterior, what's really the difference. We can have a mixed blending of the two. So I poured different amounts into my tray until I got the color I was after.

Of course all this pouring and mixing left paint splattered basically all over the bathroom.

Then I proceeded to paint everything one more time with my new special "Sara's Dark French Chocolate Special Blend." Ooh La La. Can you see just how different the brown is against the purple?

While I never expected this project to take on the drama it did, I like the finished color.

And one more shot with a furry model showing off the brown paint yumminess. That's what I call good chocolate.

Now I just have to buy some knobs or handles and finish with the rest of the bathroom transformation. And while I'm bummed about my free paint not being what I want, I did sort of cheat and order two free samples. So I have another free quart of Blue Sky to use for the walls. (I checked too, it's not purple.) So maybe God is telling me to follow the rules or I may end up with something different than I planned for. Like purple paint.