Paint Colors

Blue Feather, Mt. Rainier Gray, Hollingsworth Green, White Dove, Cloudy Sky, Wildflower and the 2014 Benjamin Moore color of the year, Breath of Fresh Air, are all whirling around on my painter's wheel of fortune. Bath Time is less than two weeks away and that means it is time to pick a paint color for two rooms in what we affectionately call the Maine house. Who knew that paint colors would occupy so much of my brain space, but they do. I notice color everywhere, especially when I watch beautifully filmed movies and "Downton Abbey." I find myself Googling "What is the best green to paint a living room?" It is pure insanity and yet the question lingers there in the Google box! Thank heaven for John, the most patient, dependable, funny, honest painter you can imagine. Last summer, when Joe and I turned the key and opened the door to our Maine house, we were certain of only one thing: we needed to paint. Please know that this is not a judgement on the good, former owner of our  house. I truly believe no two people can ever completely agree on the best paint color to paint any room. If only you could unwrap the mystery as easily as fish and chips! But you cannot, so you have to look for that magician, a.k.a. house painter, and a friendly hardware store, which if your lucky reminds you of Walt Disney and Dad. In Bath, the house painter is really a stand up comedian, and the friendly hardware store is Roger's.

You are probably wondering how one finds such a sweet pairing: comedic painter and Disney like hardware store. Sometimes the road to fruition begins with a phone call to a well known, highly recommended realtor.  I believe the right realtor can make the impossible seem possible, and our story is proof positive. We were in fact blessed three times.  Elizabeth, the innkeeper, introduced us to Patty, the realtor, and the color wheel began to turn as Patty introduced us to John, the painter. Call it providence, but I call it Bath. A good realtor can quickly identify what draws a potential buyer to a home and in the same moment recognize what keeps that buyer from sitting down and wanting to stay. All the woodwork in our Maine house was beige, almost brown, and the walls for the most part were off white. The rooms seemed tired under such dull colors. The outside was really yawning with paint chipping all along the trim, and the garage seemed to be weeping, so Patty arranged for John to meet us at the house to plan a rescue in bright daylight. As they say in Spanish, ¡Qué genial! (Did I tell you I'm a Spanish teacher?) It was a smart move. John didn't actually move in, but he certainly spent a good part of last summer at our house, and if I can decide on the best color to paint a living room and dining room in 2014, he will hopefully visit us again this year! In addition to being a skilled painter and a sterling general contractor, John has become a part of our circle of friends in Bath. One of the best days last summer was the day we all sat in the kitchen trying to decide on the best color combination for the walls and shelves. My husband is usually serious, but after 34 years of marriage I know he has a funny bone, and John found it that afternoon. Joe made a subtle, straight-faced joke that could have been missed by a slower man, but John is quick, and he caught the joke, and he ran with it, and those two men, Joe and John, were belly laughing in our kitchen, and it felt like home. We were finally home in Bath. It was Bath Time, and it felt just right. I cannot wait for that fun to begin again, to laugh in Bath a few short weeks from now.