I realize I’m about to stir up trouble with this advice but: Never label your paint cans.

 
There I said it.

 
You have a better chance at winning the lottery or being attacked by a shark (in my dreams, both of these happen regularly) than you will of deciphering what your paint can labels mean eleven years after you wrote on them.

 
For example, “Baby’s Room” probably had just one possibility when you had your first baby.

 
We have three kids. We have had three “Baby’s Rooms.”

 
Which one of our babies goes with this paint colour?

 
Next is the can labeled: “Ellie’s Room.”

 
Greg thought that one would be easy to decipher. Then we realized, Ellie has claimed three rooms in this house as her own in just nine short years.

 
Ellie’s room was once the “Baby’s Room” after it was Hanna’s. It was also the room that is now “Hanna’s Room” which was previously lived in by Ellie alone, then Chloe alone, then shared by Ellie and Chloe. She now calls “Liz’s Office” home or “Ellie’s Room” as we so intelligently planned when labeling our paint cans.

 
“Greg’s Office” looks a lot like the colour of his office in our previous house. I guess we thought we would live there forever or that his office colour would follow him wherever we chose to live. Or maybe there was such a Greg-vibe about that colour, Benjamin Moore just named it “Greg’s Office” like “Mouse’s Back” or “Elephant’s Breath.”

 
“Living Room.” Huh. Haven’t we painted that twice since living here? Are we going to open up a can of terra cotta clay or Collingwood grey? Why didn’t my Dad spill on any of these containers when he was painting so we could check the splatter against the wall colour?

 
“Cloud White.” Oooh, I loved Cloud White before I had the need for “Baby’s Room.” I used to watch decorating shows and they really pushed Cloud White as the essential, can’t-go-wrong shade of white. But where did I use it in this house? I need to start labeling the baseboards and furniture with the paint colour instead of the cans if I want to have a fighting chance of figuring out how to assign the paint colours to their various projects. Maybe I’ll find a neat font and write it across the baseboards, Cloud White, so it looks like one of those inspirational sayings that make you feel better about your paint can labeling. Live, Love, Cloud White…..

 
Last but not least, don’t label anything,“Door.”

 
Enough said.