Some Home Improvement Tips

Sometimes removing a light fixture to replace it with another (more awesome) light fixture can result in a large portion of a wall needing to be replaced.
Especially when it turns out the old light fixture was apparently a "load-bearing" type previously unknown to construction science.
My opinions on the how charming exposed brick can be seem to be largely irrelevant in this matter.
Today, the living room is being painted. We picked a warm and inviting tan for that room and bought three gallons because that managed to consume all of the appropriate base for the color that happened to be in stock.
Last night I went to another paint store to pick up the fourth gallon. When I requested that it be made in Base #3 like the other three gallons, the person helping me became confused.
The computer told him it was strictly a Base #2 kind of color. He assured me that mixing it in a Base #3 would result in an entirely different kind of brown, and he was right. It was way darker than the sample.
I called home and asked Shana to verify the base number on the side of the can and she confirmed that all three other gallons were Base #3. She did not have a paint sample to check with.
Not wanting to bring home paint that did not match, I loaded up the new paint and brought it home to discover that it was quite a bit darker than the other containers.
I spent possibly too much time trying to figure out how to make it work.
Then I loaded two gallons (one old and the new one, both clearly marked as Base #3) back into the car and headed across town to the paint store again.
Going by the formula printed on the sticker on the top of the more recent can of paint, they exactly matched another gallon of the wrong brown.
The labels were checked again.
Then help was called.
Several other employees confirmed that identical formulas in identical bases were mixing into two different colors. This action did not help me.
It was also confirmed a number of times that the computer suggested Base #2 was in order, in spite of the Base #3 gallon in my possession which was the correct color.
A gallon of Base #2 was mixed. It matched the sample.
For some time after that, more employees than I thought could possibly have worked there came to read the labels and peer, perplexed, into the various gallons of paint.
But, eventually, I was permitted to leave with my mis-matched but matched paints.
There are some things which fall into my comfort zone, things which I feel, generally, equipped to handle.
Removing light fixtures and buying paint are officially off that list until further notice.
Moving forward, I'm planning to embrace my strengths.
This afternoon I will be building a fortress out of couch cushions and a blanket.
And I will find refuge in it.