Few things are sexier than a guy who is handy around the house. I'll take a man with a tool belt and a measuring tape over a stiff in a three-piece suit any day.

Sure, the stiff in the suit can hire a plumber or electrician to come to the house, but it's much more convenient to have a live-in "honey-do" man who can build a deck out back, assemble a shelving unit, fix the leaky toilet and install a ceiling fan that doesn't wobble. (That's "honey-do" as in: "Honey, do this" and "Honey, do that.")

Unfortunately, my husband subscribes to the duct-tape-and-wire-hanger school of home improvement whose motto is: "Instructions? We don't need no stinkin' instructions!"

Put a man like that together with a woman who watches way too much HGTV and only bad things can happen.

Take my most recent stay-at-home vacation. The top project on the honey-do list was an accent wall for our "great room." According to DIY mavens, painting an accent wall adds excitement and importance to a space. Personally, I think the clamor for color was cooked up by that Sherwin-Williams guy and the little Dutch kid with the blond bob.

Still, an accent wall is the simplest of projects, no? You would think.

It took four trips to the hardware store to find just the right color. First, I brought home a quart of "Valencia moss" and painted a small square on the wall, realizing immediately that it was a little too mossy. The second quart was "twig basket," and after living with it a couple days I decided it was just too twiggy. The same fate befell "wool tweed," which, of course, was too tweedy.

The wall was beginning to resemble a patchwork quilt when I trudged back to the paint counter, narrowing down the final choices to "earthy sage" and "rolling prairie." The former got the nod.

Hubby did a fine job applying a smooth, even coat with a roller. The trouble came when we tried to do the corners. Because the drywall has a slight, pebbled texture, paint seeped under the tape in some spots, making it impossible to get a crisp, clean edge.

We used the same color for a smaller wall at the end of the hallway. I bought another quart of "earthy sage" to finish up the main accent wall, but after the paint dried, it became obvious the second can was noticeably darker than the first. (Lesson learned: Don't count on two cans of the same paint to be identical in color.)

My vacation ended before I could trek back to the store to buy a gallon of "earthy sage" to repaint the whole thing.

Even with all the humbug and flawed workmanship, the wall provides a soothing backdrop for the TV. In fact, it looks so nice, I've decided to do the entry hall, perhaps using up that quart of "wool tweed" or maybe something warm like "rum raisin" or "pumpkin patch."

"Oh, honey. ... "

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.