If you have ever wondered what twenty one sample colors of yellow paint would look like….look no further. Allow me to save you the time, money and mental anguish involved with navigating all of the different hues and tones “yellow” has to offer.

I knew pretty early on that I wanted to paint the red dining room yellow. It started with an antique radio I picked up at a shop down the street. The deep wood tones of the radio hummed with intrigue and the reverb was a golden hue.

The story was set. Think Cuba, think Hemingway, think cigars and mystery.

Think yellow on the cusp of gold. Day on the edge of night.

It was a struggle.

I could see the color, the picture, the story in my head but translating it to the “real world” proved quite the challenge.

Over the months (yes….months) I acquired a palette of samples with names ranging from Marigold to Sunflower. Wheat Stalk to Glen Ridge Gold. Ginger Ale to Soft Boiled Egg. And every yellow flower, landscape feature and food in between.

None were quite right.

Most went on encouragingly true to my vision and then dried on the dark side of orange or brown, or baby poop green. I had no clue yellow could vary so much.

I was on alert and every sighting of yellow was reason to pause and evaluate and weigh this new version against the picture in my head. The deli down the street, painted a mustard yellow, proved too dark. Gold riding gloves spotted on a male model astride a chestnut horse in a screen shotted ad turned out to be too bright.

Yellow. Yellow. Yellow

On CD covers, on couches in the form of throw pillows, birds flitting through the garden. So many shades and forms of yellow and again, none were quite right.

I had given up and was reconsidering my color choice when I spotted a sample paint chip propped up on the fireplace mantle, peeking out from behind various knick knacks which have yet to find a home.

I knew almost at once that this yellow was THE yellow. I hurried to the hardware store (wearing my mask) to get one more sample. Lucky number twenty one.

Valspar’s Caramel Honey.

It went on smooth, but appeared a shade too bright. It dried however to the perfect shade: deep welcoming yellow in natural light, mysterious, amber in the low light glow of evening.

We finished painting this afternoon and have spent most of the evening drifting in and out of the room to admire it in every shade of light.

The room is still a jumble of furniture and boxes but it is one shade closer to realized, one step closer to done.

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