No, I do not want a pink door.

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Yesterday I decide to take the front door from a dreary maroon to a vibrant cranberry.  Simple project, right? Why is it always the easy projects that end up being far more complicated than you intended?

Before heading off to buy paint, I pulled out one of my handy paint fandecks and picked out a color I thought would be fabulous: Radish.  The sample looked like the lovechild of magenta and maroon and matched my paisley rug fabulously.  I got the paint mixed and the wet paint almost sent me into cardiac arrest... it was hot pink!  When I saw a dried sample of it in the store, however, it looked closer to my sample.  I went home wary, but hopeful.

Thankfully I decided to test a patch with a few coats to make sure that I didn't end up with a hot pink door.

Yeah.. that wasn't going to cut it.  Even after 2 coats and letting it dry for 12 hours, it wasn't even close to the coveted Radish color.

Out came the acrylic paints left over from my design school days- I was determined to tap into my atrophied color mixing skillz and get the right color!

The color was super scary when wet, no?

Thankfully after quite a bit of trial and error, I ended up with an acceptable color and finally got 2.5 coats on the door.

Here's a reminder of where it started.  Not horrific, but could use a touch-up and pick-me-up.

The after isn't drastic, just slightly cheerier and much less scuffed. (and not neon pink!!)

How did your weekend projects go?  Easier or tougher than expected?