Woohoo! Advogato's back!

So anyway, I am in the middle of decorating (so far I've stripped wallpaper, plastered holes in the wall, sanded, re-plastered the holes after sanding to get them smooth, re-sanded). All that's left is a bit of sanding in one room, and some more "finishing" plastering in a few places that have had the finish a bit cracked. We should be good to go for undercoat by the 12th (I'm taking a week off to decorate).

The interesting thing that I've noticed while looking for paint is the names that companies give paint colours. And it got me thinking about the guy who probably does nothing but that all day. Someone hands him a swatch with a light blue, and he goes through some process like this:

"Hmmm, looks kind of marine. Maybe we could call it something-spray or sea-something? Nope not green enough. We need something more subtle, but unverifiable... Something like a seashell, but what type? cockle shell should be pinker, oyster shell needs to be greyer... How about a generic "something shell"? deepwater shell? Nice - but the colour would be darker. I know - "secret shell"."

And there we have it. "Secret shell" is a pale blue.

"Hidden garden" is a dark yellow/light orange with hints of green.

"Rickshaw" is a deep red.

And so on.

I don't envy that guy but I'd like to try his job for a day.