Sarah's Shades!

Last night we got the first coat of paint on the basement living room walls! YIPPEE! That said, I won't be revealing it to you quite yet. Rather, I needed to share with you my review of the paint we picked.

When we started the process of picking a paint colour, I already knew what direction I wanted to go with the basement. B told me he would swing by Lowe's and pick up paint samples he liked (in the hue I was thinking) and would let me pick the final colour. I asked specifically if he was going to Lowe's to grab some chips of Sarah Richardson's new hues that she has released in collaboration with Para Paints.

After looking at a number of paint chips at home, we finally settled on the colour Pearl.

According to Sarah's advice on her website, Pearl goes great with soft blues and greens. Something we had been thinking of... but I'm also leaning towards throwing in some bolder blues. You'll see when it's all come together.

After settling on Pearl (via paint chip), B headed back to Lowe's to get us a sample can. Downside? The Para paints aren't offered in sample cans, so we colour matched a Valspar and brought home a sample of "Muslin Wrap". It was a little bit more yellow than Sarah's colour, but we were okay with it, so we knew Pearl was our perfect match. Even better was that Sarah's paint only cost us $29 (CDN) for a can, while Valspar paint will run you over $30 (CDN). Thanks for making your fantastic colours so affordable Sarah!

Last night was the big night. I cracked open Sarah's "Pearl" paint and was so happy to not be slapped in the face with your typical, harsh paint smell. There is still a scent to the paint, but because it is low VOC it is far less obnoxious. It really makes the whole painting experience that much better.

The best part though? The coverage of the paint is FANTASTIC! With only one thin coat of Behr's drywall primer on our new walls, we got awesome coverage with our first coat of paint! Thanks Sarah and Para! It was an absolute dream to paint with, and is the perfect light colour to brighten up our space, but still bring in a bit of colour on the walls. The rest of our colour I plan to obtain through colourful toss pillows, an area rug and some accessories. I also have one furniture piece in mind that I hope to paint.

We're still working away feverishly to finish up the basement so we can share it with you and our family and friends... but also so that we can take some time to relax and enjoy the rest of the summer before we move onto our next reno.

Now time for me to get back to it. Still so much to do...