Tuesday, May 1, 2012

RENEGING ON POCKET WATCH WHITE

So here's the deal.... I take back what I said about Pocket Watch White in a previous post.  The post where I talk about my favourite whites.  Now you may ask why??  Well......
In life we make our decisions on what we know and our own experiences- well at least that's how it sometimes works. 

For years I have used what I "thought" was Ralph Lauren's Pocket Watch White.  Well...... apparently not.
As you all know we are giving our Dining Room a face lift and doing High Wainscoting.  In order for the trim paint colour to be consistent throughout I wanted to use Pocket Watch White.  Since I had very little left in my can I went off to my local Home Depot to get more.  They don't carry Ralph Lauren anymore-Boo hoo...  but they will mix it up in Behr or CIL.  So I asked the paint assistant to mix me up Pocket Watch White.  I get home and opened it up and I thought to myself, "that looks awfully yellowish white".  So I painted a little swatch on a board with a swatch of my left over paint and low and behold they look NOTHING alike.  What the heck is going on??  So I go and get my chip from my old Ralph Lauren chips (I kept them all), and guess what.  The new paint I had mixed matches exactly to what the chip?  Huh??  And what I thought was Pocket Watch White is less yellow???  What is going on??  It turns out that all this time I have been using what I thought was Pocket Watch White but haven't!!!  Yikes.  So here is where life experience has coloured my judgement. For years I have said- Pocket Watch White is the perfect white- not too yellow and creamy, not too stark!  I take it all back.  If you want a very creamy white then Pocket Watch White is for you.  It is one of these moments where one has to own up to ones mistakes.  But in all fairness it was my experience that made me talk the way I did.



So..... what was a girl to do?  Off to Home Depot my husband went.  Did he come home with the paint we wanted?  HE DID NOT!!!  The guy in the paint department said he wouldn't be able to help because of 2 reasons:
1. They have changed the tints since the last time I got Pocket Watch White so it wasn't just as easy as reading the formula off the lid-apparently that wouldn't work!!
2.  He wouldn't be able to colour match since there colour matcher was broken!  Probably wouldn't be fixed for some time!!  Well that's just great!
So what did the fine paint clerk do for us--- NOTHING!!!  Now in all fairness, it wasn't his fault that my original paint wasn't mixed properly and that they couldn't mix it now.  However, the colour I wanted wasn't correct.  So to make a customer happy do you think maybe  I could get my money back- you know that whole "keep the customer happy thing"!  I am the type of person that does NOT make themselves a pain in the tuckas at stores- I may have wanted too on many occaison!  But I have not.  I think the least they could have done since they couldn't fix the situation was given me a store credit for the amount of the paint- apparently not.

So now I have a can of Semi Gloss Pocket Watch White- anyone want it??  But I still have to paint my Dining Room.  So.......off to my favourite place to get paint- my local Home Hardware.  They have (in my opinion) really great paint- I especially like the Beauti-Tone Paint.  You cannot beat it for it's price point.  And I must say they are really great at my local store.  Fran fixed me up really good and I have my modified version of Pocket Watch White- I think I will call it "Megan's White"!!

Home Depot I will NOT be coming to you for paint and Home Hardware thanks you for not trying to find a solution to my problem!!

In addition to mixing up my colour, Home Hardware can mix up any colour- They do Ralph, Benjamin Moore, CIL.....  If you have a swatch they can match it.  So give them a try, I think you will be surprised at how great the paint is.  And they have great friendly staff too- Thanks Fran!!

Beauti-Tone also has some great colours too!  Years ago when Canadian Home and Country magazine was still around (oh I miss that mag!)! they had a colour line called the "Canadian Home and Country Collection".  Well, Erin McLaughlin who used to be the editor at that mag is now the editor at Style at Home.  Style at Home has reintroduced those same colours.  They really are great colours.  I had to scan them of all things!!  I could not find any info anywhere about them-can you imagine??  Launching something like this and not talking, advertising or even blogging about it- come on Style at Home and Home Hardware!!  Here are the scans- I apologize for the quality.  I hope at some point I will find better pics:













Aren't they lovely colours?  They basically reprinted the same colours (which are still great) and then added up to date photos to go along with them.  If you are lucky enough to be here in Canada, go check them out. The front and back photos are really nice- gotta love peonies!!  The Beuadalaire section is my favourite- maybe it's because of "Mary's Lipstick".  What an awesome red that is.  Very similar to what I put in my dining room above the Wainscoting.


They also have the Style at Home Colour Collection:











All of the colours can be found here at Home Hardware.

They also carry a collection of colours by Canadian Design great Simon Chang.  They are called  Trend Colour Collection. Here are those colours:






I added the paint colours from Home Hardware so that this little posting wouldn't just be me complaining about my paint!  I also wanted to say that we can all be wrong from time to time and shouldn't be afraid to admit it  They say we learn a lot from our mistakes- I learned that I don't like Pocket Watch White (the true one) as much as I thought and that I should go to Home Hardware from now on for my paint!!

Have a great day everyone.
Megan

5 comments:

  1. I really need your help -- I was all set to go out and buy Pocket Watch paint by Ralph Lauren to get started on a house that is desperately in need of paint before we move in.....well now I hear they not only do not sell it anymore - I do not have a paint chip and am in need of the perfect white paint for all trims, ceilings, etc. -- I am in Virginia......what do you have and what do you suggest. How did Martha Stewart Painter's Chalk compare to the Ralph Lauren -- Pocket Watch color? Really need help here and so do appreciate your blog --helps us military families on a tight budget have some enjoyment in our homes....

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  2. Hey Grace- before even suggesting a white I would have to know what colour the walls are or will be. There isn't a "perfect" white that just goes with everything-no matter what some designer will say that this is there "go to white". Email me at Megan@delormedesigns.ca so I can better help you. Would be glad to give advice.

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  3. Could you please recommend some white paints that go well with Carrara marble to use as a wall paint? It is so hard to know if you don't have an eye for it! Thanks

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    1. Hey Mntngirl- I would pick either Chantilly Lace or Decorators White by Benjamin Moore. They are clean, fresh and modern. Good Luck.

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