basic bee equipment

I have ordered six pounds of Italian honeybees from Dan Conlon of Warm Color Apiaries in Deerfield, MA. He will be my source for equipment as well, as his prices are fair and he lives only 5 miles away, allowing me to pick things up. I went to his beeyard last year with my students on a field trip while we read The Secret Life of Bees, and he inspired me to get started after years of consideration. I am eager to take his class, which begins March 23 at CISA. I have decided to start two colonies in my first year. This way I can study the differences between the two, and should anything go wrong with one, maybe one will survive for the second year. The following is a list of things I need to purchase from Dan soon, so that I can put the hive bodies together before the bees arrive on May 11.
For each hive I need to order:
1 bottom board
2 hive bodies
1 inner cover
1 telescoping cover with metal over-cover
20 deep frames for hive bodies
20 sheets of wax foundation to match the frames
1 feeder
nails
paint for the hive bodies
In her book, A Book of Bees, Sue Hubbell writes:
In this country, for reasons I have never understood, it is traditional to paint beehives an unimaginative and antiseptic white. White is reflective, and if the hives are placed in the direct sun, that may be a kindness to bees. But hives, even white ones, can become too hot in the sun and should always be set out in a place where they will receive some afternoon shade. So placed, there is no reason to paint them white if a beekeeper prefers another color. Karl Von Frisch, Nobelist, zoologist and student of bee behavior, discovered that it helped bees to find their own hives if those placed in a row were painted different colors; in addition, he found that they rather fancied blue.
If bees fancy blue, then perhaps I will choose two differing shades of blue for their pleasure.