Home Office Redux with Glidden Testers

Remember those Glidden Testers I was contemplating? Who thought I would pick the Spanish Olive?

Me, too! Green is my favorite color, particularly pea soup green. Since my challenge was to break the color rules, however, I opted to forego the obvious. I loved the darker swatches but my office is pretty small with just one small window and I didn't want it to feel even smaller. In the end, I decided to go with the yellow: Glidden Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I thought the sunny color would open up the room and maybe even perk me up a little.

By far, the worst part of the repainting project was emptying my office. I knew I come from a long line of hoarders but pulling everything out of the room made me face up to just how much junk I've been keeping around for no reason. Cardboard boxes for example. How many of those do I really need to keep on hand instead of recycling them? Gee whiz! Look at how all of my detritus filled our living room:

Okay, so I forgot to take any photos of my "before" space before I cleared everything out. Trust me, it was bad. Like papers piled six inches high on my entire desk bad. This really needed to happen. Here's some proof of the stark whiteness of my office (the black dropcloth is covering my desk and computer):

You can see my sample paint swatches on the wall to the left:

I was really pleased with how easily the Glidden Brilliance Collection 2n1 formula cleaned off of the moulding since I am too lazy to tape before painting. It was also not very smelly and has low VOCs, which was great because it's been well over 100º so there was no way I was opening the window. Painting was pretty straightforward, although it did take about three coats to get the opacity I wanted– possibly because I am not the most uniform painter in the world and tend to leave big streaks. Really, though, the biggest payoff was seeing how great the color looks with my stuff moved back in. Here's a picture from the same vantage as the first white walls photo:

It's a pretty drastic change, right?! I absolutely LOVE it. The color is a bit hard to photograph- I tried to take a photo of the full-screen paint selector from Glidden.com but the color is so bright that it throws off the digital camera's light metering. Heh.

I love how it looks with my Russel Wright vintage folding chairs and thrift store paintings. I need to hang them and get a bunch more out of storage.

The new color is making me giddy about decorating again. Check it out, I even put up some whimsical birdie decals!

Here's the view from the other door:

And my computer nook, where all the magic happens. Kind of.

I am really enjoying how non-neutral my walls are and how the color makes everything pop.

It makes a fun backdrop for all the little trinkets I've picked up here and there throughout my life. Time to break them out of their boxes and put them on display…

Wondering how the other Social Fabric community members took on the Glidden challenge? See everyone's results on the Glidden Testers website or search the hashtag #GliddenTesters on Twitter.



In accordance to the FTC Guidelines and WOMMA Code of Ethics, I am disclosing that this project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Glidden Testers/Paint #collectivebias. All opinions are, as usual, strictly my own.

Break the Color Rules with Glidden Testers

My husband is an artist and we have tons of colorful paintings and sculpture displayed throughout our home… not to mention the omnipresent scattered kids' toys that add a riot of color to any given space. We try to keep our decor neutral so it doesn't clash with everything else in our lives. As a result, our walls are plain, stark, boring gallery white. I was happy to undertake the challenge to "Break the Color Rules" by repainting one room in my house.

First I visited Glidden.com to see my paint color options. Unsurprisingly, they are vast! I really like the Glidden Color Palette tool, which lets you visualize what a color will look like in a room with a click of the mouse. You can "drop" colors onto walls or moulding. In fact, you can even click to make the color swatch fill your entire computer screen so you can use your monitor as a giant paint swatch! Awesome.

Another excellent website feature is the paint calculator. You add in your measurements and it tells you how much paint you need to buy. Handy for the math-phobic like me. The website will generate a printable shopping list for you, too. Technology is a beautiful thing.

In the end, I decided I wanted to see the colors in person, so I headed to Walmart to buy some of the new Glidden Testers. These 2 oz. bottles of paint feature an easy-to-use brush attached to the resealable cap. Each bottle covers 2 square feet, so you should be able to get a decent idea of what the color will look like on your wall– no holding up a tiny paper swatch and squinting at your room, trying to visualize your results! Even better, they are stocked in a pretty huge variety of colors so you can pick a bunch and test them out. See my ThisMoment story below to fully experience my shopping trip!

My mission was to "Break the Color Rules" so I wanted to choose bright hues that I would ordinarily shy away from. Since I've decided to paint my home office, I also totally disregarded my husband's art school-honed sense of color theory. I just picked shades I was drawn to, the way you would shop for shoes or a handbag. It was exhilarating! I highly recommend scoping out some colors the next time you're shopping at Walmart. Obviously, I couldn't control myself. I was supposed to pick out three colors for my room and I ended up with six. But what a lovely half dozen!

From top to bottom: Bittersweet Chocolate, Black Tulip, Spanish Olive, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Blooming Fuschia and Vibrant Day Lily.
My husband HATES the pink. Ha!

The Glidden Testers are also about the same size as bottles of acrylic paints at the hobby store, so if you're a DIY aficionado, you might want to pick some up for crafting– house paint typically has excellent coverage and the rainbow of colors available is impressive. Hey, you know what? There's a coupon link on my sidebar that will give you $2 off per bottle, bringing the price down to less than a dollar in my store. Stock up, mini-Marthas!

The paper swatches are pretty accurate; they look about the same on my wall as on the cards

Aren't you dying to see what I come up with? Me, too! There are plenty of other Social Fabric community members embarking on their own painterly makeovers, some with the same "Break the Color Rules" mission as mine and still other brave souls are actually letting their readers vote on their color schemes! Yikes! You can check out everyone's progress on the Glidden Testers website or search the hashtag #GliddenTesters on Twitter.



In accordance to the FTC Guidelines and WOMMA Code of Ethics, I am disclosing that this project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Glidden Testers/Paint #collectivebias. All opinions are, as usual, strictly my own.