Potter Paint

I moved into my house in Sept 09, and we have just started to think about redecorating our living room. Having a degree in Interior Design (ahem) I love design and everything that comes with it, the colours, the look, the objects, the furniture, the bits n bobs that just make a room...it makes my heart beat that little bit faster and when I get an idea I'm like a squealing, giggling school girl on helium, yes I do get THAT excited!

Anyhoo, the look I was going for was a folk-inspired-eclectic-mash-up and the colour I wanted for one wall was green. A deep, rich green, a British racing type green. We tested a few paints and couldn't really find the right one and it was starting to get a little frustrating!

Totally unrelated but gets related in a minute (stay with me) I have the most beautiful Harry Potter books, I am a self confessed HP geek. They are special editions from the bookshop Waterstones, clothbacked in different colours, gilt embellished covers, gilt edged pages and just b-e-a-utiful! I only have books 1-5 at the moment and they are stacked at the top of my stairs while the living rooms in a mess.

Now every day I pass my beautiful books, admire them and think now, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the type of green I want for the living room and then suddenly it HIT me!

My local DIY store has a Dulux paint mixing machine....they can colour match colours....they can match a colour to my marvellous book...they can scan my book and get me the perfect colour....the perfect colour for my room.....HURRAH!

So off I trundled with kids and book in tow and asked the assistant to colour-match my book. He set about doing whatever they need to do whilst holding my book (I'm ashamed to admit, I was checking his hands were clean!) and then voila! my tester pot was ready and my 4 year old whispered to me 'Mummy, is he going to give you your book back?'

So the paint was tested and it came out perfect...it is 'the one' and I shall call it Azkaban.