Lovin Behr's paint samples!

So, I know I promised to post my mini-bathroom redo by this weekend, but that's just not gonna happen anymore.

:(

I fell in love with this color on card stock. It was a beautiful gray (or is it grey? I don't know). I wanted to just dive in and buy the entire gallon of paint, but this little voice in my head kept saying, "try the sample first! Just to be safe!" So, the safe, perfectionist in me went and bought a sample.

THANK YOU, VOICE IN MY HEAD!

The color was waaaaayyy too dark and looked like dry sludge. It was U-glee (ugly to the max power). What followed the rest of the week were 5 more trips to Home Depot and 4 more paint testers.

(I know I said painting the bathroom would be easy.... trust me, I am thisclose to deleting my last post)

I was ready to give up and just paint the bathroom white. Then, a friend who was helping me with my major weekend project (which will be revealed later this week) went into the bathroom, saw the strips of paints, and exclaimed her love for one of the colors. She further pointed out how the color matched exactly with our shower curtain. Long story short, I'm trusting her and going for it. We will be painting this week.

Anyhow, bottom line is, never paint a room until you sample it on the wall! The samples are around $3 and both Behr and Glidden offer them. IT WILL SAVE YOU SO MUCH MONEY! You can also use some of the samples for other projects in the home...

Exhibit A:

I found this cute tray at Goodwill for $5.99. It had wooden circles glued on each side and was probably, at one point, in a nursery.

I have been wanting a tray for our entry table for our bills, keys, and other small items we need to throw down as we walk in the door. So, I took it home, ripped off those pain-in-the-butt-wooden circles, sanded it down, primed it, and painted it with a sample of Behr's "Suede Black."

To put a finishing touch on it, I printed out a large "R" (for our family name), cut it out with an exacto knife, and painted the "stencil" onto the tray...

This is what I ended up with...

Beautiful, monogrammed tray for less than $10!

HOLLA!

It's almost too pretty to throw bills and keys on top of! When guests come over, I can display this tray on our fireplace.

You can buy stencils at Michaels, but to save money (!) printing out the letter means more money in your pocket. I did the same "stencil" technique for this project.

I am linking this to:
Made By You Monday, Making the World Cuter Monday, Make It for Monday