Thursday, January 17, 2008

Me and Sherwin Williams

The following is a true story (mostly true anyway, occasionally we all get hyperbolic):

I am painting our dressers, because they need to get along better with our new beautiful walnut bed that Greg built. The process involved me taking off the current hardware, sanding the current finish, priming, and then painting the dressers our chosen "Creamy Ivory", and of course, adding new hip and wonderful hardware. Piece of cake; I've seen HGTV.

The first step in this process meant the buying of our chosen "Creamy Ivory" and primer. Greg thought Sherwin Williams would be a nice place to go, although we don't normally buy paint there due to the high prices of said paint. BUT, we figured, IT'S JUST ONE GALLON OF PAINT AND ONE GALLON OF PRIMER; HOW BAD COULD THAT BE? Besides, these dressers get high usage; quality would be nice.

So, in the midst of EXTREME NAIVETY, I walked unawares into SHERWIN WILLIAMS.

"I need one gallon of your classic latex paint in "Creamy Ivory," I said VERY CONFIDENTLY. "O, and I'll need one gallon of primer also. What would you recommend?" I asked, still in a VERY CONFIDENT sort of way.

I explained the project I was working on, feeling like she probably thought I was just like the design ladies on HGTV, you know doing this sort of thing a lot.

She smiled at me in a way that looked a little too excited for someone who sold paint and primer all the time. At the edges of her sweetly excited smile, there was a little hint of something, but I wasn't sure what. She explained her choice of primer, and I told her that sounded fine.

"Okay, that'll be $93.75."

"I'm sorry?"

"$93.75"

"That's for the ONE gallon of primer and the ONE gallon of paint?" I asked not so confidently.

"Right."

I handed her my Discover card in utter disbelief. Did Greg know how much this would cost? I figured he must've, and in my shock didn't really know what to do. So, I bought them, silently fuming and thankful for my 1% back (Discover Card, the card that pays you back).

Greg did not realize it would cost that much, so after discussions I took the $38 primer back and replaced it with good old Kilz for $16. The paint was ours to keep since it was already our chosen "Creamy Ivory." O well, it'll be really good quality, of course.

I felt VERY HIP and PROFESSIONAL using the belt sander. I'm including a picture to make my father-in-law proud...


After all of my unscrewing, sanding, and priming (which all went quite well), I am now trying to figure out how to get the terrible drips of exceptional, high quality Creamy Ivory that are running all down the sides of my dressers off. I made very sure there were no drips after I painted, but apparently this magical paint keeps trying to paint itself, even hours after the painter is done. They are very durable and stuck paint drips.

My own HGTV show may not happen, I'm thinking, and Sherwin Williams is absolutely fired by me. For the price I paid, my paint should have come with a professional painter in there.

6 comments:

Greg said...

I feel your pain, my love. Although that is not a belt sander you are holding, it's a random orbit sander.

Jenna said...

$60 for a gallon of paint?! What did they give you, stuff with platinum flecks in it?! Holy cow, I used to buy paint from there all the time and it was $25 a gallon, MAX. You got seriously ripped off. But maybe prices are just that might higher in Kansas than they are at the Sherwin Williams on Collins Road in Cedar Rapids...

Kelly said...

WHATEVER, Honey!

Mama Gail said...

You have my sympathy, Kelly. Sherwin Williams may sell some of their paint for $25, but most of it is seriously overpriced and not worth what you have to pay for it anywhere in these United States. I do think you looked quite fetching with the random orbit belt sander thingy.

mattandshannon said...

Hi Kelly!

I'm a friend of Erika's. I told her that I felt creepy because I look at your blog and she suggested that I comment so I might not feel as creepy. So...I did.

Katie said...

Holy Cow! Did that paint have flecks of 14K gold in it?! I can't wait to see pictures of the dressers when they are finished. :)

Your Cousin,
Katie