Nursery Update: Paint

After we found out the gender of our little one, we (okay, I) couldn't wait to get started on the nursery. I knew we wouldn't be able to do anything until we got the room painted. Sidenote: I'm sort of a commitment-phobe when it comes to paint colors. Our bedroom has literally been painted 4 different colors since we moved in back in 2010. Justin knows this about me, so he usually wants no part in the painting. Basically he has adopted a "YOU want to paint it again, then YOU do the painting" attitude, and rightfully so. Of course, he does always end up helping me a little with the tough parts, just because he loves me.

Anyway, back to the point. I knew I wanted to go with a gray color for the walls, since most of our house is already in a gray/beige color scheme and it keeps it pretty neutral for adding décor later. The nursery, AKA our old guest/craft room, AKA really just a junk storage room, started off an off-white with yellow undertones. It wasn't bad, just not what I wanted.

Also, the ceilings are pretty high.

So I got the idea to drop down the ceiling with a sort of faux-crown moulding effect. We knew we wanted to drop the ceiling paint down 8 inches, so as we painted the ceiling in a bright white, we painted roughly the top 8 or 10 inches of the wall too.

Next we had to decide on what kind of gray/greige to use on the walls. First I tested a gray that pulled much more brown tones. It also was a little to light for what I was going for.

Then I tested a gray with a cooler undertone that was also one shade darker than the last. I was SO sure it was THE one. Until I got to Sherwin Williams to purchase 3 gallons of it and I panicked. Was it TOO dark? Will it make the room look too cave-like? The associate helping me saw me struggling to decide, so he suggested going halfway between the darker gray and 1 shade lighter.

 

I didn't even know you could custom order like that, but I'm so glad I did! It exceeded my expectations.

 

Keep in mind, these are cell phone pictures and the colors are a little off. Also, in case you were wondering, I did paint a lot of the room myself. I felt we had sufficient ventilation and we used paint containing zero VOCs (an industry standard now days) so I wasn't worried about harming the baby.

 

Justin measured 8 inches down from the ceiling and taped the perimeter of the room. God bless him.

Tedious measuring is not my strong point.

It ended up looking great! It gives the effect of moulding at a fraction of the effort and cost. I then suggested beefing up the baseboards with the same technique and I pretty much got laughed at. Maybe one day!

I was going to save the next step for another post, but this one would have ended pretty anticlimactically. (Ooooooh, we took a perfectly fine off-white room and painted it gray. Big whoop, right?)

No, we decided to get crazy and add an accent wall. Again, the next few pictures vary in color and aren't as true to life. I'll get the hang of white balancing one day.

We measured out and drew vertical lines with chalk...

 

Then cut sponges into various sized triangles and just started stamping.

 

Tadaaa! A hand stamped Aztec inspired (also Pinterest inspired) accent wall.

I wish I could say that was the end of our paint experience, but it wasn't. More to come!