Painting

     When did people start painting their walls?  I suppose most people would point out the cave paintings from 20,000 years ago.  Maybe that was early home decor.  Maybe it was graffiti born out of some boring hours stuck in a hole in the ground.  Painting the interior of your home is for looks, but also serves to seal and protect the interior surfaces.  Though the rich painted before this, regular folks didn't paint their walls until the 1800's.  That was when Henry Alden Sherwin found he could mix zinc oxide (a white pigment) with linseed oil to produce  white paint.  By adding various pigments, Sherwin and his partner Edward Williams, created a rainbow of colors.  Mixing paint to create colors was a time consuming and messy job, so people loved the Sherwin Williams product.  By the 1880's the masses were covering everything in paint - walls, wood trim, even the furniture.  http://www.uselessinformation.org/paint/index.html
     Mr. Sherwin and Mr. Williams have consigned me to a tiny, private hell.  There are an infinite number of colors from which to chose.  There are dozens of shades of white.  There's matte finish, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, and glossy.  Mike and I have been in this house three years, and most of the walls have been painted three times.  Not only does one have to find the perfect shade for a room, but colors from room to room must  flow.  Just when you thing you've nailed it, when you think you are on trend, the Pottery Barn catalog switches back to  using white walls in their photographs.
     So, now you know why "Happy in Hainesport" has been on hiatus.  I've been color scheming and slapping paint from those little sample cans on the walls.  I promised Mike I would be done before Christmas so, "Roll 'em!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdKiINy4ICQ