So the wife and I embarked on one of those time tested traditions–that is to create a personalized space within our home by adding a bit of color to it. What’s odd is that we’ve lived here for a few years now, so it may be a bit odd to people that we have waited up until now to paint.

It does not come as a surprise to anyone that I’m not the most handy kind of person. True, I can put together a kick a** computer, but when it comes to matters of the handy, that I am not. But unlike the typical male stereo-type, I am freely admitting this to all. When we had our garage door put in, I called in the professionals. When we had our storm door put in, same, more professionals, so wouldn’t it surprise you to know that when it came down to painting, my first inclination was to hire in those trusty professionals again, but the wife and friend convinced me otherwise.

The situation then came to which paints to use. This seems to be an age old question, similar I’d say to the question of stick shift verses manual. There are SO many different kinds of paints, and producers of paint, that the process took a longer time than I had expected. We had to choose between Behr, Sherman Williams, Benjamin Moore, Glidden and others, and I have to admit, that was probably more thought than I had expected.

In the end, we choose Benjamin Moore for a new line of paint that they had–Aura. Now the tag line for this paint is: Quite Simply the finest paint… and I have to admit, the name lives up to the tag line for once.

First off, the paint is going to be more expensive. But the trade off is two fold: First you don’t seem to have to prime the surface (give it a good wash to remove any dust and such), and Two you don’t have to put more than 2 coats of paint on, Period.

Having said that, the colors in the palette were also very interesting. All of them were in harmony, meaning they could be used with each other without fear of clashing. This isn’t to say that you are limited, as the good folks at Benjamin Moore can mix whatever color you want in the Aura formula.

For our house, we choose the Eggshell finish, and we used Aura in all our rooms. So far we have only done part of the living room and the kitchen, but as you can see, the results are AWESOME!

Also just to give credit were credit is due, not all Benjamin Moore stores are alike. Living in the Chicago suburb area, we are close to two stores. The first:

MEADE BALTZ PAINT 01
928 N PLAINFIELD ROAD
JOLIET, IL 60435
(815) 726-5400

Was terrific. We went in on a Saturday, and got our paint, and the guys there were both knowledgeable as well as honest. They didn’t try to sell me a bunch of stuff, such as brushes, drop cloths, and most importantly primer. The sales man was a former painter by trade, so his advice was invaluable, and the customer service was terrific.

But that same weekend, we needed another gallon of paint, and Meade Baltz was not open on Sunday, so we headed up to the Benjamin Moore store in Naperville:

JC LICHT (F) NAPERVILLE 06
419 S WASHINGTON STREET
NAPERVILLE, IL 60540
(630) 961-1771

What was great was the fact that they were open on Sunday, the downside is that the customer service was POOR! This was very surprising after our previous experiences with Meade Baltz. We walked in and discussed with the gentleman what we needed, we needed another gallon of paint, here was the color, and we even gave him the information from the lid of the previous gallon as we wanted a perfect color match. Wouldn’t you know that the first thing he said was that we probably need another as we have to put 3-4 coats on and the fact that we didn’t put primer on would result in poor quality. Now I’m thinking, this guy works for BM, and is trying to tell me that Aura needs 3-4 coats, when the advertisement saids no more than 2 coats–EVER, and is self-priming?

At any rate, we paid the man, got home and after the 2nd coat, the walls looked AMAZING! Now I don’t consider myself to be someone who is handy, we know this, but the job looked professional and the walls were even coated with no evidence of brush strokes or rollers. The paint didn’t drip, and went on very evenly. Head to my gallery (link on the right side) to view pictures from the paint job.

All in all, I’d recommend Aura for anyone who is considering to touch up their room or add a bit of color, like my wife and I went out to do.