Painting Blue(s)

Yes, blue. The colour of our bedroom walls in my parents' place. It's such a cool, soothing colour to sleep and completely chill out in that I actually wanted to repeat it in our own place.

And cuz I was trying to make it for the Qoo10 Q points cashback promotion (last day 2 Sundays ago), I spent a large part of the Saturday before last checking out Pinterest and Houzz for colour inspirations and then the Nippon paint catalogue (2014). 

However, the designer in me is well aware that screen colors are largely inaccurate, often dependent on monitor calibration, colour profiles, gamma and what-nots, so Sunday morning saw me hitting some of the physical stores to check out the colours in a printed catalogue. I tried the following:

1) Kim Wah General Contractor @ Blk 84 Bedok North St 4 #01-05

Listed on the Nippon website as a Nippon Paint Shop, I was rather disappointed when all they had was Odour~less Premium All-In-One paints and a shopkeeper with a lousy attitude. I asked for a copy of the catalogue to take a look at the colours and he threw it at me across the counter like I owed him something. Ignoring that, I asked him some questions...

Q: Uncle, what's the difference between Odour~less Premium All-In-One and Odour~less Easywash?
A: Aiyah, all about the same one lah. Not much difference one.

Q: Does Matex for ceiling turn powdery?
A: Aiyah, nowadays all are emulsion paint, won't turn powdery like last time one lah. (Which was not what I've heard from many other people out there)

Obviously, he didn't seem too interested in entertaining me and walked off after that as I was going through the catalogue, dismissing me. Well, definitely a no-go for me. I won't be back again, Uncle. :P

Price: Nippon Odour~less Premium All-in-One @ $78 / 5L

2) Home-Fix @ Bedok Mall #B2-17/18

The sales person here was a whole lot more forthcoming with information, patiently answering all my questions, even with a running nose. The prices were of course, slightly more expensive than what's online but I would have gone with them if they had offered free delivery. I wanted to give him my business! But unfortunately, they don't and I live on the other side of the island so it didn't make sense for me to buy more expensive paint AND still pay for cab fare home.

I learnt that there are actually 4 bases for the whole range of Nippon Odour~less Easywash paints and prices for each colour vary according to the base number. The darker the colour, the more expensive it is. They mix the colour on the spot with the colour machine when you place your order. Apparently, colours will not vary even if you run out of paint and have to go back for more (just quote your colour code).

I spent a good 20-30 minutes staring at all the paint swatches, picking this and comparing that, until the sales person took pity on poor ole me and gave me a copy of the 2015 Nippon Paint Catalogue so I can bring it home and take my time deciding. That could be him just trying to rid the store of me but in any case, he's an absolute life-saver. Thank you, kind sir from Home-Fix Bedok Mall! :D I left the store with these swatches...

Price: Nippon Odour~less Easywash @ $74.60 (base 1) and up / 5L (dependent on base)

After I got home, I started work immediately, pouring through the Nippon Paint Catalogue all the while staring at our new sofa, curtains, wood laminates etc. and finally concluding that the cool colours I wanted initially are not going to work with my ideal theme. I ended up choosing more neutral colours to complement what we have going on in our deco.

Clamshell 3161 (a slightly warm medium grey) for our external kitchen walls and Solitude 5035 (an almost cool grey) for our bedroom (haha, is that what will happen to Bailey and I for the rest of our lives!?). Everything else will be white.

Ordered 10L of white, 5L each of Clamshell and Solitude from Estore on Qoo10 that Sunday night and after a small cart coupon discount, my order was slightly over $300 and barely in time for Q points rebate (which would amount to $30). I knew I needed more white paint but since the next tier for cashback was $500 and there was no way I would be able to hit that amount, I decided to hold off ordering more in case there were other upcoming sale promotions in the new week. However, Estore was really efficient and contacted me on Tuesday morning to fix a delivery date (I left a special note in my order to give me a call to confirm delivery time/date). That was when I had to let them know that I need to add on to my order and so later that night, ordered the additional 10L of white and 5L of sealer that I needed. With some Qoo10 member coupons, I actually managed to still get my paints at the same price and delivered together with my first order. Qoo10 rocks when it comes to rewarding loyal customers! :)

Price: Nippon Odour~less Easywash @ $72.40 / 5L (inclusive of delivery)

All my paints were delivered on Thursday afternoon and their deliveryman was kind enough to call me after that was done (since I wasn't present to sign for the delivery), complete with a MMS to show for it.

Such a hassle-free transaction it was that I would love to buy more paint from them if I ever needed it again. Highly recommended!