- The coverage SUCKED. We've used Martha Stewart paints before without primer and never had any problems. In fact, the green that is up in our living room right now is from Martha and it went right over that bright orange monstrosity that used to be in our room. No primer, no problem. But this? Yeah, a darker color going over that green is going to need some primer. In this regard I am actually really happy with the Behr + primer paint even though traditionally I haven't been a fan of Behr. I might be switching.
- The low VOC paint from Martha smelled worse than the regular old Behr paint. As I was painting I kept getting this "fake clean and fresh" scent that made me gag. The Behr paint? Nada. No smell at all. Strange.
So the lesson in all of this is that maybe I don't like Martha paints as much as I used to? I wonder if the company that makes her paint has somehow changed the formula, or, if because it's a sample size it's somehow a different mixture?
Anyhow, on to the actual color.
Putting it on I really liked it. In fact, I wish it was the color we had painted the dining room when we first painted that room back in 2006. That's the color I *thought* we were painting but the final color versus the tiny paper swatch was a whole different ball game. The other thing I thought was that it wasn't right. I like that it's steely and moody, but it's not saturated enough for my liking. I wanted deep and bold in here and this isn't really that. It would, however, look fantastic in the kitchen.
See?
This was taken with the lights out, using only the natural light coming into the room.
This one was taken with the same natural light + the overhead lamp which makes the room seem a bit warmer.
By the way, this is the color swatch for the one on the far right - December Eve. They look nothing alike.
And this is the swatch for the color that I'm turning out to like the most - Distance. As you can see, this one falls squarely in the blue-green category but it's not pulling that way at all.
In fact, the more I go through this process, the more I'm leaning toward it which is funny since I didn't love the 6 in x 6 in box I painted at the beginning of this exercise. You can't really tell because all of these pictures I'm posting were taken with my iPhone at weird times of the day, but at night with all the lights on, this color is AWESOME. Very moody. Very deep. Very dramatic. It reminds me of how I think of Tofino in my head when it's cold & cloudy there.
