As Kim Wilkerson Moses was heading out the door for a weekend visit to Nashville, she asked husband Ken if he'd brush some paint swatches on the kitchen wall so she could see what their four color choices looked like with the appliances.
He did her one better. He painted two walls .... in a camouflage pattern.
Ken Moses surprised his wife by painting a camouflage pattern on their Ooltewah residence's dining room while she was out of town. He did this after he and his wife Kim had difficulty deciding on a color as an early April fools joke. Then he posted a message using her Facebook profile to announce the change. Needless to say, she was surprised. 
Ken Moses surprised his wife by painting a camouflage pattern on their Ooltewah residence's dining room while she was out of town. He did this after he and his wife Kim had difficulty deciding on a color as an early April fools joke. Then he posted a message using her Facebook profile to announce the change. When she came back, she was surprised to see that he had actually painted her wall in camo colors. 
Ken Moses surprised his wife by painting a camouflage pattern on their Ooltewah home's dining room while she was out of town."That's just me," the retired firefighter laughs about his paint prank. "My first thought was I'd do one color in a circle. Then I thought I'd try another shape, then another ... and the idea just came to me. I just did it to have fun with Kim."
But he wasn't through.
After spending more than three hours creating his camo kitchen, Ken then got on Kim's Facebook account late Friday night and posted a photo of his handiwork.
Posing as Kim, he wrote:
"I asked my dear sweet husband to paint some paint samples on the wall so I could get a feel what each color looks like with the different kitchen appliances. He doesn't like the colors I have chosen. My dear sweet husband thinks he's building his man cave in my kitchen OR my dear sweet husband thought he was cute and said he was going to make the kitchen camouflage so I'd have an excuse for not knowing where the kitchen is."
Kim discovered the picture of her kitchen remodel Saturday morning. She hoped it was Photoshopped until she got home Sunday night and saw it wasn't.
"But this is why I love him," she says during a phone interview. "He's always making me laugh. We've been married almost 38 years and couldn't decide on what to paint the kitchen. We had finally narrowed it down to four colors, but had still been going back and forth for three weeks over which one. So he just had some fun with it."
More than 200 Facebook friends of the couple posted comments or hit "Like" over that weekend -- some even voting for their favorite color. Remarks were divided male vs. female as everyone enjoyed the early April Fool's joke.
Kevin Davenport: "He spent a lot of time on that ... and it looks good!"
Christie Payne: "Chickenflage!"
Doug Moses: "He always said the best place to hide your gift was in the oven. Hey, it's painted. Why complain?"
Stephanie Evans Fincher: "That means since it's a man cave he gets to cook and clean it up. Right?"
David Smith: "Never met him but he has great taste and an extreme sense of humor."
Lola Rooker: "Duck Dynasty would like your kitchen."
Kim jokes "it's actually starting to grow on me" and that they may leave the conversation starter up for a couple of months. While sitting in the kitchen, she has discovered funny little shapes he hid in the camo pattern: a kidney bean, two hearts, a baby's outline. Ken even signed his masterpiece within one brown shape.
But they have decided on the final color, she says. The light cream won.
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.