My Lunch Date with Benjamin

Shhhh, please don’t tell my husband….but I had a little lunch date today with my friend, Benjamin. But don’t worry, my husband isn’t jealous in the slightest… he just starts to think thinks I’m crazy any time I pay a visit to Benny Moore’s place of business.  Ben and I, we go waaaaay back….and know each other better than, well, than I actually wish we did.

And, to make matters worse, I am a maximizer. You see, the 3,400 or so color choices Ben offers me aren’t even enough…I gotta go out and create my OWN custom shade.  Sheesh, I can be a pain at times.

Ok, well anyways, I made a slight detour on our way home today to stop and pick up this:

Just let me explain… the walls above my board and batten are currently Benjamin Moore Nimbus Gray. 

It’s a beautiful color…about as perfect a gray/blue as I can imagine.
But I’m not finished painting: the entry, kitchen, dining room and hallway are all still Monroe Bisque (click here to see the Monroe Bisque) {or Lily White or Beacon Gray or Nimbus Gray- really, I’ve been through that many colors?}.…and honestly, I think the Nimbus Gray is too dark for those areas.  {I actually think it’s too dark above the board and batten too, but I’m trying to pretend that thought has never crossed my mind.}  So today I ordered a quart that is
25% of the Nimbus Gray. 

When I told the paint guy I wanted a 25% formula of Nimbus Gray he told me that would be the same as the color one above it on the swatch: Silver Gray {been there, tested that.}  So now he thinks I’m {even} crazier than DH thinks I am…but I contended that a 25% formula of Nimbus Gray would be a tad less green than Silver Gray, and sure enough, the formulas agreed with me. The paint store guy still thought I was out of my mind, but he didn’t dare mess with the crazy house wife with twin girls testing out all the tape measures at his register. I forgot to warn him when I walked in that I am insane, I mean a maximizer, I mean, a satisficer in training. {Ah, I like the sound of that.}

 So, I came home with 25% Nimbus Gray and tried it outhere:

and here:

and here:

and here:

{That’s Nimbus Gray on the right wall and 25% Nimbus Gray on the left wall.}

And the verdict?  I don’t KNOW!!!

I think my next step is to take that same quart and have it remixed to be a 50% formula of the Nimbus Gray and see what I think.  Ultimately, I think my plan might look like this:

Paint the kitchen, dining room, entry way and hall way a 25% formula of Nimbus Gray.

RE-paint the family room above the board and batten a 50% formula of Nimbus Gray.

Paint the playroom {I know, I know, I’ve never even mentioned the playroom to you before!} STRAIGHT Nimbus Gray {I DO love that color!}…but just the top half of the playroom walls.  I’ll paint the bottom half Chantilly Lace {white} and install a chair rail/row of hooks/clips for coats, dress up clothes and/or artwork.  I’ll show you what I’m talking about another day.

Then all my rooms will tie together. It will look like I planned it that way from the beginning.  Like a real decorator designed the house. And I will sit down and finally get to say, “Ahhhhhhhhhh it’s purrr-fect.” Until I decide to buy a new sofa.  Just Kidding!

On a serious note, friends…I really am trying to work on this whole maximizer problem I seem to have. I think I’d be a much happier {less busy} person if I didn’t agonize over each and every choice to this degree. I met a satisficer over the weekend and her carefree, relaxed attitude was SO refreshing..it gave me inspiration to get there…
Just as soon as I finish painting!
Anyone out there sympathize with me?

Linking up here: