SHADES OF WHITE

From living room, across dining room, into kitchen

It’s time to pick paint colors for the farmhouse – at least, we think it is. The living room, dining room, and kitchen need to be painted as well as a shade of white chosen for the kitchen cabinets. I was stressed about making choices for a while, but then I realized I didn’t need to re-invent the wheel even if Sherwin-Williams did buy Columbia Paint, our original company. I’ll just take my Columbia Paint colors to Sherwin-Williams and ask them to match them or suggest a similar line. Problem solved.

In 1945, my dad had returned to the farm and evidently while Grandma and Grandpa were away visiting relatives, he decided to do some interior painting – or maybe Grandma asked him to. His brother, Earle, was a shop teacher who also worked as a painter on the side, and he provides the following advice, written from Idaho Falls on January 7, 1945.

Uncle Earle in 1953 (57 years)

You will find it difficult to get paint in anything but white [because of WWII], therefore, let me give you some instructions on tinting the white: If you choose an off-white, get a pound can of burnt umber – or a small tube will do – and use about ½ teaspoon to one gallon of paint. If you wish it to be a little more off, add more burnt umber – a very little at a time – and stir well, pouring the gallon back and forth by using two containers. This mixes it better than any other process. In tinting paint, always add the color a little at a time. Of course, you see why. Use the “Colors in Oil” tints. Any brand will be o.k.

In case you do not want the off-white color and prefer the ivory, get some Raw Sienna color and add it a little at a time until you reach the right shade. I prefer light ivories. I’d mix at least one gallon of the enamel for both rooms. It is always smart, when you have to tint paint, to tint enough for the job, as it isn’t so easy to mix to a tint afterwards. It can be done though, by saving a sample of the original tint.

The great advantage of doing your own tinting is that you can get the exact tint you want. If you buy ready mixed tints you get only standard colors, and all in between shades are left out. [I can attest that this is no longer true!] I never buy any other colors except whites and do my own tinting. It is a lot of fun [I’ll bet!!] and if one is careful he can get exactly what he wants.

I expect my dad kept this letter because he found it entertaining. I can hear him chortling away.

I remember my dad saying in a tone of disdain that if my aunt had her way, everything would be painted in a shade called “Princess Ivory.” I researched that color just for the fun of it and discovered such a shade in the Behr line (here). I also recall that back in the day, those tinted paint shades would get darker as time went on. KW