I have been largely neglecting this blog for about a year, because it was always meant to be a place for random thoughts, and I was working on a more focused idea over at Not So Basic Black.  However, I struggled to get through the end of last year on that blog, and since then, have only written the post saying that I was taking a hiatus from the blog. (UPDATE: I did write a few future posts over the weekend. Nothing significant though.)

I find myself largely avoiding the computer at night as of late, and the only thing I can assume is that it’s finally catching up with me that being online all day, writing blog posts for work, tweeting and interacting with customers on Facebook, all of this is coming together and making me completely uninterested in creating more content at night.

Oh this is me a little bit. Hilarious.

It’s good in a way, since my focus is on my job and I’ve been creating more content there as of late, which is my favorite part of this job.  Check out my Elvis Presley post!

So, right now, I have the following projects in motion.

• Work blog: The Noritake Dish
• This blog: JamieSanford.com (not very active though)
• Shopping/Fashion/Pop Culture/etc blog: Not So Basic Black
• New project: Magnets And Stuff
• Podcast

Should I list the full-time job there as well, or is it assumed?

So I’m busy, and I think something has to go.  The podcast takes the least amount of work, it’s mostly just me and one of my best friends having a blast talking about many different topics, while being wildly inappropriate. We even have a tentative “yes” on an interview for the show that I am REALLY excited about.

I’ve thought about moving most of the Not So Basic Black content to JamieSanford.com and just having my site be a home base for “things I want to talk about,” whether it be me talking about business and marketing or reviewing a movie.  It would probably be easier to handle, and would take me down to 4 projects instead of 5. Magnets and Stuff is very embryonic and needs a lot of work, work that I haven’t found the time for yet. I need to finish my judging for The Communicator Awards and I have some other things happening right now.

January has been a month of stewing on a lot of things, which I think I needed, at least for my personal projects. I’m ready for February, and the rest of 2012, to be more productive and leave me feeling accomplished and fulfilled (as opposed to overwhelmed and feeling like I’m not getting enough done) at the beginning of next year.

How is everyone doing with their 2012 so far?

I have recently been slacking on a number of things, including this blog, because I have spent much time dealing with a recent move into another apartment.  One of the things I was most looking forward to in this moving adventure was the chance to paint some new colors on the walls. 

The first wall that was painted in the apartment was completed with a Zero-VOC paint that I picked up at Lowe’s.  I picked the brand because I liked the color, there weren’t really other factors involved.  I really loved having paint without fumes, so I went back to the same brand to paint my bedroom this past week.

Unfortunately, I was unaware of the mystic qualities of grey paint that make it so paint that looks grey in one place looks like baby blue on the bedroom wall.  As I wasn’t convinced of my defeat, I went ahead and used a sponge roller to apply texture with a dark grey paint over the (alleged) light grey color.

Still looked blue, even started to look more blue when my husband came home and asked why the room was blue.

We tried texture in another color to add a third color to the wall in order to balance things out, but we ended up with what I can only describe as “country kitchen,” which is not in my taste at all. 

I consulted with my trusted advisor, Google, to amend the situation.  A quick search of “best paint for paint coverage” resulted in many recommendations for the Benjamin Moore Aura paint line.  I checked out the site, and although using the Interior Paint Chooser suggested that I use the Natura line of paint, I decided to pursue Aura as it was the one I had read about and also mentioned “extreme hide” on the site.

As a side note, the Benjamin Moore website also has a great color-selection section on the site that allows you to pick a room with similar furniture, etc, as the room you are intending to paint, and you can then try the paint out in that room.  We had wonderful luck with this tool and soon settled on 546, Courtyard Green.

It’s nice, right?  I think so too.

A different experience was having to go to an old-school, non-chain hardware store to pick the paint up, as we don’t have Benjamin Moore stores in my area of New Jersey.  (I’ve heard from my good friend Alex that BMoore stores do exist, I am just not that lucky.)

I digress.

So on New Year’s Day, I got started on covering first the wall to which I had already applied 3 layers of paint, and right from the beginning, it was a beautful application process.  Very smooth and I could tell from the first coat that the coverage was really excellent.

Slight downside that I noticed right away – this is not a Zero-VOC paint and there are some fumes.  They are minimal though.  As I mentioned, BMoore has Zero-VOC paint available, but I put more emphasis on the coverage of previous paint jobs.

I continued painting, other priorities and circumstance resulted in my bedroom painting project taking 3 days to complete (not full days, mind you, partial ones).  I am not 100% convinced that the Aura paint can cover a wall in 2 coats, without a primer coat or another darker paint color on the wall first.  The grey/blue paint that I started with acted as a great primer and let the Courtyard Green start on a darker surface. 

Realizing this was a good thing, as I was able to use the grey/blue reject paint as a primer coat underneath the unpainted walls (we weren’t painting on naked drywall, these walls were covered with a white flat paint that had been applied by the apartment management company).  When this primer coat was in place, the Aura paint was well-saturated after 2 coats of paint.  I believe that part of my problem might have been that the Courtyard Green isn’t too dark, if I had been trying to go from white to yellow, I’m fairly certain that 2 coats would have been more then sufficient in terms of color saturation.

Here’s a really low-quality phone photo of the wall.  You can still see how beautiful the green is!

So, all in all, I’m really happy with the Banjamin Moore Aura paint that I purchased for this project.  It was quite expensive, costing around $60 for the gallon, 3 times more than the paint I had previously used successfully in my living room.  However, the colors I was able to review on the BMoore website and in person on the hardware store color wall were beautiful and I would certainly go back to Benjamin Moore products again.  I would hopefully NOT be in a rescue situation for my wall the next time I’m buying paint, so I’d probably lean to Natura (have also heard good things about the Affinity Colors from BMoore) for my paint needs.

I’m pleased with the results of this project, it was a long week of painting, being disappointed, painting some more, making another plan and finally finishing.

Do you have a paint brand that you are loyal to?  Do you do your own painting or do you leave it to the professionals?