How to Paint a Bathroom for $1.

You think I'm joking, don't you?  Yankin' your chain.  Makin' a little ha-ha.

Really, I paid one whole dollar for the paint.  One solid smackaroo.  One buck.  One hundred cents.

I know, it sounds fantastical.  Click-baitish.

So yeah, that's right, I took a photo of the receipt for you, juuust in case you're not buying it.

We already know that paint is a splendiferous thing.  It's one of the cheapest things you can do to wholly change a room.  And it's sooooo easy too -- you can revamp a room within a matter of a few short hours.  But blah blah tone deaf, I know you know this.

I think of paint and painting a room as like, well, changing clothes.  Ya know, getting ready to go somewhere and I change clothes several times before I settle on something, like people do (I know they do.  Right?  They do, right?).

Because I've been painting things for so long, ahem, we won't get into details there, but let's just say a mighty long time (Prince quote!), paint, to me, is temporary and dizzyingly changeable at any given moment.  Every given moment I should say, much to Mike's chagrin at times.

I'm a whale of a paint pusher.  Do it early and often.

But, what could be better than a bucket o' paint?  I think I've mentioned this before.  Ah, here's one mention, but I didn't fully expound on the benefits.

Paint mis-mixes.  Mistints.  Oop's paint.

Now, before you get all twitchy, hear me out.

It's cheap!

Ok, as I sit here, that might seemingly be its only major plus.

Yeah, you have to check the mis-mix section frequently.  Yeah, the colors are typically dreadful.  Yeah, sometimes it's not even a full can of paint.  Yeah, you gotta be patient.  Yeah, you don't get to select your own color.

But, if you're not in a rush to paint, if you've got patience to ride that wave, it can pay off.

I don't even know what color this is as they scratched out the label.  But for $1, a hope and a prayer, I could squeak the whole hall bath repainting outta one quart.  Just barely.  And just barely it was indeed.

Bathroom after Paint Round 1, although it was the incorrect color.

If you have a small enough bathroom like this one, or room, or a closet, or a ceiling, or any other smaller paint task, mix-mixed quarts offer a superb option.  Or gallons.  Or even five gallon buckets as I lucked into that same day, as seen on the same receipt above.  Fifteen bucks for five gallons.  Yup, that's ± $20 less than the price of one single gallon and $110 off the regular price.

Granted, it is true, Menards does have the best deals on mis-mixed paint.  Fifty cents for one a' those sample sizes, $1 per quart, $5 per gallon and $15 for five.  Maybe that's why their paint reject section is pretty well empty always.

Super secret tip?  You can use mismixed paint as a primer of sorts.  Yep.  So right there you're saving tons o' bucks off of primer.

Bathroom after Paint Round 2.  Much better, whew.  And Mike likes it too!  Yay!!

Here's another stellar benefit to mix-mixes:  you can get creative, make you own custom color.  Yes that's right.  Experiment!  Mix the mis-mix with remnants of other colors you have laying around.  Be sure test that new color out, to let it dry completely and preferably in the area you plan to use it to see how it looks first.

Further, if you have a quart and need to extend it out a wee bit, custom mixing your own is where it's at.  Don't be afraid, you don't have to be a Paint Mixologist.  And what's the real loss if you go too far one direction?  Not much since it's so cheap.

Opposite wall, yup.

Plus, c'mon, what a point of pride:  "oh, what color is this room," your guests query.  "Why, it's my own personal custom mix color, found only in my home."  Uh huh, see?  And you can come up with whatever goofy name you want too.

Got to hang more of my around-Chicago photos!

Or ya know what else is fun about mis-mix?  Trying a color you might ordinarily pass up then finding out you love it.  Or, well heh, dislike it but at least it was cheap enough that the pain is mitigated.

Or.  Or if you become frozen at the sight of the vast array of paint colors spread before your eyes, locked in a panic by too many options, mis-mixes culls the choices down for you, easing you gently into the wondrous world of paint.  But hey, don't feel obligated to pick one just to pick one.  You should still feel positive about the color you're grabbing.

Great color for a buck, huh?  It's like a charcoal gray smudged with a hint of chocolate brown.

Anyway, I'll go back with the lid one day and find out what color this is as it needs to be added to the Binder of Record, the holder of Master To-Do List.  Aw jeez, the one I'm super behind on updating with changes around the house.

Speaking of Master To-Do List, light fixture -- you gotta go.  Bleech.  And yes, I need new hand towels.  Those are leftovers from the black bathroom four houses ago.  Which was super awesome by the way.

Speaking of paint though...I think.  I think...I think I have gotten a green light from Mike to paint the kitchen cabinets black.  Oooh yes, you heard me, black.  Oh yes I'm doing a happy dance.  I had to gingerly ask a second time after I had finished my spit take to make sure I heard his precise response.  Even then I was in dubious shock but I know I can't ask too many times or the answer will change.

Honestly?  Black would be a vast improvement, very classy actually, while the other ideas I have are percolating.  They're close, I can feel 'em.

I'll likely need door pulls to lessen paint wearing....aw ugh, throwing my arms in the air over the bazillions of choices there, ha!  Another months-long project in itself!  Oy jeez.

Regardless, I know, I'm totally utterly stunned.  Maybe he's finally warming to the dark side.  Yessssssssss.  I best get moving on it, make it too late for him to change his mind.

Well but wait.  The new Ikea catalogue just showed up.  Uh huh, see ya guys later!