Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Painting The Ceiling Pink In Our Daughter’s Room

We did it! We can put three big ol’ check marks next to “paint the walls” and “paint the closet” and “paint the ceiling” in Clara’s room. It was definitely a bit of a painting marathon, but how sweet is the soft pink up there on the ceiling? It’s Pink Cadillac by Benjamin Moore in their eggshell finish. In some of these photos it’s pretty subtle, but in person it’s soft-but-noticeable – so while it’s not the entire room’s focal point, it’s a fun layered detail in the room. We thought clean white walls would complement the fun ceiling color without fighting too much with all of the color and pattern in things like the rug/pillows/curtains, so we went with BM Simply White in eggshell, which is also what we use for trim and doors in a glossier finish. Here are some other popular whites for walls and trim.

Claras Room1010

We also used some leftover ceiling paint in the closet, just to add something in there too. Someday I want to add a built-in bench in there and I even think about doing something interesting to the slanted ceiling (little cedar roofing shakes could bring out that “indoor playhouse” vibe – and maybe even some playful wallpaper on the back wall could be fun).

Claras Room8

Oh and you’ll notice that the rug and the curtains from the living room have migrated up here. Clara’s pink rug was shedding like a maniac (the new hardwoods made the giant pink tumbleweeds especially noticeable) and Clara loves playing on this blue rug (she pretends the light blue parts are the ocean for her toys/dolls) so we rolled it out up here to see how we liked it. When we plopped everything down after moving we figured a bunch of things would find their way around the house, so it’s fun to see things making the rounds, and now this woven rug is in the living room – although the jury’s still out on whether we like it there for the long haul.

But let’s rewind to the room all prepped (we moved everything into the center and covered it with a few plastic dropcloths). Remember those old stripey walls from spraying the doors before we installed the hardwood floors? Well, we decided we didn’t want that primer/paint “flashing” (meaning that it could show through the paint if we didn’t prime) so we took a minute to prime just the areas that we worried about that happening.

Claras Room1

Here’s that area all primed along with the ceiling painted (we painted the ceiling first, then moved on to priming just select areas of the walls where we worried about bleed or flashing).

Claras Room2

Then we broke out the white paint for the walls. I grabbed this shot so you can see the difference between the yellowed old wall paint, the cooler toned primer, and the Simply White wall color.

Claras Room3

Of course we’re still missing a bunch of things on the wall, like something I’m halfway through sewing for over Clara’s bed (COUGHcanopyCOUGH) so I can’t wait to get that done and hung – along with some other art and eventually a light fixture that we’d love to add too. But it’s already a huge improvement not to have the old yellowed walls and to finally be rid of those stripes from spraying the doors! And it’s certainly a far cry from the room full of blue trim that we started with:

Claras Room

We’ve also been trying to work on our photography skillz (picture us both laughing and blushing as we say that since we have such a long way to go) but we shot all of these after photos in manual for the first time! They’re definitely not perfect, but we’re slowly getting the hang of it… I think.

Claras Room5

Clara is in love with her pink ceiling. When she came in and saw it she said “now when I’m sleeping I can look at the pink and the pink can look at me.”

Claras Room6

I love that it’s a balance of crazy and calm in here, thanks to the fun mix of patterns (in the pillows, curtains, and the rug) combined with the white furniture and the white walls to sort of temper things so the room isn’t too wacky.

Claras Room7

Here’s a shot from the closet, looking back at the other side of the room. That wall above the crib definitely needs some art, although Clara seems close to being done with her crib so we might just wait until she’s outta there to move it out of the room and then decide what will live on that wall, which will definitely inform the art above it.

Claras Room99

Ooh look, I focused on the book and blurred the alligator. I feel like I should make myself a construction crown that says “Photoshoot Skillz In Da House” … and then promptly crumble it up after checking out my other favorite blogs, which all have infinitely better photos.

Claras Room11

This cute kid makes any picture better though, so big ups to my girl for making this shot.

Claras Room1212

Oh and if you look closely you’ll see that we didn’t quite get into all the cracks where the wall meets the ceiling since we’re planning to add some crown molding – hopefully pretty soon!

Claras Room1313

What are you guys painting? Any clean walls + playful ceilings going on?

Comments

  2. Kara says

    I never comment, but just had to jump in and say I looove it!! White walls are my jam, though… white everything actually! I’m always trying to show my husband pics of Scandinavian decor so he doesn’t totally panic! ;)
    And I am SUPER shocked you’ve been using automatic till now! Could have fooled me… I’ve always been impressed with your camera skillz. :) it’ll be amazing to see what you can do now that you’re in manual!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Kara! We typically shoot in A mode (aperture) so some things are manual and some are auto, so going full manual had us skeered but it’s not so bad! Slowly but surely!

      xo
      s

  4. Kari says

    Isn’t this the rug with the big cut in it which use to hide under your bed? How is the rug working out in a more open space?

    Reply

  6. Victoria says

    Love the pink ceilings! Not a fan of the white walls especially as the wall color is the same color as the trim. looking forward to seeing how things progress and hoping you will eventually do something more interesting with the wall color even it it is only using a different white than the white trim.

    Reply

  7. Angela says

    We met you in Dallas. John actually signed my son’s Harry Potter book. We just moved to Austin and the first order of business is the kiddos room. My daughter has requested Purple and turquoise. Wrap your head around that. Wish me luck! Love the pink ceiling in Clara’s room.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, we still talk about that Harry Potter book signing! Your son CHARMED us to no end! Tell him we say hi! And as for the purple and turquoise, I know you’ll pull something amazing out! All the luck in the world!

      xo
      s

  8. Sara says

    Hi,

    First of all i wish to appreciate for the colours and curtains you picked so far.. It would make your kid to feel fresh all the day. As she said here afterwards she can see the pink and pink can see her.. Awesome..!!

    Reply

  9. Lacy A says

    Hey there!!! I love how Clara’s room is coming together. I just wondered if you had noticed Ikea has a mini furniture set for kids. I thought Clara’s dollhouse would accommodate some updates just like the rest of your house has been undergoing changes. (: she could have her own listy vonlisterson. Lol

    Reply

  10. Erin C says

    Oh man, I’m totes jealous of Clara’s new room. I don’t want it for my kids, I want it for ME! ;) I’m sure you already posted about this but is it a lot bigger then her last room?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Erin! It’s around 13 x 12′, so it’s a little bigger than her playroom (and with two windows on that wall it gets nice light). She picked her room here, and it was actually that deep closet with the pitched roof that sealed the deal for her. I’m like “you’re not even a teenager and you’re picking a room for the closet?!” – haha!

      xo
      s

  11. Sarah @ 20 State says

    I hope Miss C loves this room, its fun and fresh without screaming a small girl child lives in this room…until she turns 8 and arrives home from school and announces she loves yellow, like now! White always sounds so boring but it’s easy to touch up and update with colour and pattern. Hearing you re the wool rug issue! I bought a wool rug 6 months ago and was ready to pack it away until I could tolerate fluff balls on steroids or vacuum daily, cough cough. I love the rug too much so now I sweep it every day and remove humongous amounts of fluff from the broom head then vacuum weekly, like a normal person, and it’s saved my sanity. Super quick and easy and no fluff bunnies lurking in every corner of the house.

    Reply

  12. Jesse says

    The room looks great except for the rug. It is far to big for the space and doesn’t quite work with everything else. I’m surprised you are keeping it in there since it looked much better in the living room. It is a beautiful rug, but not for this space in my opinion.

    Reply

  13. Amy says

    Love the combo of pink and navy, the ceiling color is awesome, sucj a cute room than can really grow with her! Great job. Your blog has helped me introduce more color into my own home too. You guys are aweesome!

    Reply

  14. Seaweed & Raine says

    I’m in the process of trying to choose a new colour for our front door (and our back doors!)… the pain chips have been on the door all week and I still haven’t decided yet. Guess I haven’t taken the plunge since the door will need some serious sanding, there are cracks where the paint is ancient(can you say ‘Rental’?). Any tips?
    Sheree

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Whenever I can’t decide after paint chips I get some little test pots of paint and try a few and usually seeing them actually painted on the door really helps! As for those cracks, I would sand and then use wood filler and then sand it down before priming and painting (test the paint to make sure it’s not lead before sanding though). Good luck!

      xo
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Ashlea! They’re actually from Ikea so we didn’t make them, but they no longer sell them so finding a white and navy polka dot fabric would be a good way to recreate them!

      xo
      s

  18. laura says

    It looks so cute! I love white walls! I think it makes the decor and furniture stand out so much more. The pink ceiling is such a cute girly touch too. Its funny, it looks so much brighter in the closet. The cedar idea would be so cute in the closet. Love all the slanted ceiling lines. Gives it so much character!

    Laura
    House Envy

    Reply

  20. Molly says

    Kitchen was first, about a month ago. If I could remember the name of the paint, that would be great. But it’s Behr, a very light green. Goes perfect in our tiny kitchen! Trim still needs done :x

    We just painted our living room on Sunday, it also had yellowing walls and creepy stains… next up is the dining room, which thanks to our budget will be the same color as the living room but it’s such a huge improvement I don’t mind at all.

    After that is the bathroom…. the hallway…. every wall and ceiling surface ever, basically.

    I love Clara’s room! The pink on the ceiling is such a good idea.

    Love your blog!

    xo!

    Reply

  21. Jess says

    Lovely! The white is so very fresh, and the curtains are perfect. If you don’t find a use for the rest of them (the curtains) I would totally buy a set or two from you!

    Reply

  22. Jennifer says

    Just a tip I have been thinking about for you guys for a while now…it would be nice if you made both your vertical and horizontal photos the full width of the post. Just think it would look cleaner and more seamless.
    I am practicing myself to take better photographs! Love to hear your tips as you keep going with it.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Jennifer! We’ve actually thought about doing that, but when verticals are that big you can’t always read the type right above them (they can take up the whole screen sometimes) and we might be saying “see in this photo below how the ______ does _____.” So since horizontals at that width allow for type to share the screen we like verticals to be slightly narrower so some type can still share the screen as well. Hope that makes sense!

      xo
      s

    • Jennifer says

      That does make sense, I just have a big screen, so I can see a lot of the length of your post at a time.

      http://makingitlovely.com/ does the full width thing and I can read the paragraph below with just a bit of the top being cut off so all the content still makes sense. Your column width is smaller then hers anyways though so your vertical pics would never be as long as hers.

      Anyways, great convo! I just want to see bigger pics of your adorable family and awesome projects, could ya blame me?

      Have a great day!

  23. Stacey says

    I’m jealous! Clara’s room looks great! I really love the rug and curtains. You’ve brought it all together so well.

    For decorating my kids rooms- 2 girls and 1 boy, I never really got into character bedding or anything too age specific but rather stuck with stripes, polka dots, rosebuds/flowers with neutrals, so it would last longer.

    Clara’s room is definitely a room to grow with. You won’t need but minor changes through the next several years. Really nice work!

    Reply

  24. Megan says

    Love the white walls and pink ceiling! It’s such a fresh look. I have lived in apartments the last couple years and always bemoaned the fact that I couldn’t paint the walls so I avoided it in our house now. However, I’m going to do it now. It seems like there are so many whites that maybe I can find something warmer than “apartment white”. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply

  26. Stacey says

    Hi Sherry – sorry if you’ve answered this question already, but I was wondering where you found the fan on Clara’s dresser?
    Thanks!
    Stacey

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      So far that’s the plan! I think they’ll look nice on that wall where the crib is once it’s moved out. Maybe with her kitchen under them and the birdcages hanging above?

      xo
      s

  29. Emily @ LaForce Be With You says

    Funny you said you are starting to learn how to use your camera in manual. I took a hands on class earlier this year and have been loving shooting in manual mode since then. If you are interested, here is the class link below called Lights Camera Manual. It is in Charlotte which isn’t really a day trip but isn’t too far from yall for a fun weekend trip :) and the teacher is a very talented friend of mine.

    She has held 2 of them so far and the 3rd one is this weekend so just email Brittany if you are interested in attending a future one!

    http://www.brittanylaurenphotography.org/#/photography-101/

    Reply

  30. Kristy Diebold says

    Haha!! I recently UNDID color on my daughter’s ceiling!!!

    For our daughter’s 10th birthday I JUST did a “makeover” on her room!. She previously had soft pink walls and soft lavender ceiling (her color choice at the age of 6–tho I talked her down about 78 shades!!)

    The new color format:
    – white ceiling (muffled cursing at TWO coats to cover the pain in the neck lavender. SERIOUSLY stiff neck and shoulders after that job!)
    – soft aqua walls
    – accent wall painted with white and medium aqua horizontal stripes (16 inches tall)

    In hindsight, I would have left the ceiling lavender. It would have been a lot easier -YES! But also I think it would have been a cute accent color to the aquas. DOH!!!

    Reply

  31. Runt says

    Paint, paint, paint. Oh boy! We are expecting our first little one in January and that definitely jump started the “GET THE HOUSE PROJECTS DONE NOW” part of our lives. Hubs WILL NOT “let” me help him since I’m pregnant and all so he’s tackling lots of things himself! I’m just being the cheerleader… or the nagger? =[ WOMP! Anyway, he finished painting the ceiling in our guest room and then his dad came over to help with the wall color. Hubs is now working on sanding the walls in the kitchen. (UGH TELL ME WHYYYY the previous home owners had a border up in the kitchen?! Well, they put up a border AND THEN painted the walls so there’s a little bit of a raised line where paint meets border.) So, after Hubs sands the walls and cleans them he’s going to paint the ceiling. Then prime the walls (we are going from red to yellow), then paint them! Woo hoo! AND THEN, Hubs has to take down the other border in the nursery, paint the ceiling in the nursery and paint the walls in the nursery. Whew. Did I mention this all needs to be done in three months. I’m six months pregnant. Did I also mention that it’s hunting season so Hubs is most definitely occupied most weekends now. AH! Wish us luck. =]

    Reply

  32. Ashley says

    Where did you get her twin bed from? I am sure you posted about it somewhere, but we are looking to get our little one a new twin bed and I LOVE yours!

    Reply

  34. Pam says

    You guys are just so much fun to ck in on everyday! Great job trying new camera skills–Please don’t take this to heart at all because I love you guys !! BUT, I REALLY WISH I could see more than 1 object in you photos with clarity–I would honest to god do back flips if I could see the ENTIRE room (or shot) more clear (wayyyy LESS BOKEH pretty please). Thank you in advance for taking time to view my comment.

    Love you guys!!!
    xoxo

    Reply

  35. Emily @ LaForce Be With You says

    Funny you said you are learning manual mode on your DSLR. I took a helpful class earlier this year and ever since have loved shooting in manual mode. If you are interested here in the link below to the class. It is in Charlotte which isn’t really a day trip but isn’t too far for a fun weekend trip for yall :) and is taught by my talented photographer friend.

    She has held 2 of these so far and is doing another one this weekend. If you are interested in a future one just email Brittany!

    http://www.brittanylaurenphotography.org/#/photography-101/

    Reply

  36. Pam says

    Way better! SO fun and not chaotic at all with all those wonderful prints & designs. Clara is a lucky girl! (Say hello to Pink for me!)

    Reply

  37. Petra says

    Hi. I like the way you haven’t put the furniture up against corners/walls etc; you have the room to position the day-bed off centre. Also lovely to have a table and chairs in the room – will come in handy for your daughter over the years with all sorts of play activities. :-)

    Reply

  38. Julie says

    I love the new room–it looks kind of more grown up to me with all the blue notes.

    Incidentally, I would recommend using the “P” (program) mode over the manual mode–in the photography classes I’ve taken, this mode is recommended because that way you can’t choose a shutter speed that’s so fast that no light is let in to your camera. My teachers assured me that professionals generally use the P mode unless they have a good reason not to. You get the same control over your aperture, shutter speed, white balance, etc., but with less scope for error.

    Reply

  40. Karen says

    I am really loving that C pillow! I have a little cousin named Clara. And she just turned 5. So I sewed a monogram pillow for her. You should have seen her face! It’s something about them receiving something special just for them…it melts your heart. Here’s a photo of her holding it. (www.facebook.com/karenpasacreta.art) My mom and I were just saying it’s not a name you hear often, but when you do it always seems to fit. Cheers to your new endeavor!

    Reply

  41. Shavonda@AHomeFullOfColor says

    Her room is crazy adorbs! And really, practice makes perfect with photography: Hmm what have I been painting? Recently I painted our hallway ceiling coral and painted black and white stripes in our entryway. Our walls are textured so it took me a while to work up the courage for that one! Cant wait to see her canopy.

    Reply

  42. Elizabeth Gunn says

    The Sleepy Little Alphabet is one of our favorite books. We have read it so many times, we have it memorized (including my 3 year old). “See you in the morning, A, B, C’s.”

    Reply

  44. caroline [the diy nurse] says

    I love a painted ceiling!! It’s the one thing in our house we can’t do- darn popcorn ceiling that I loathe. It’s probably one of the biggest things I dislike about our house but I suppose it could be worse! #firstworldproblems

    Reply

  45. Sherri Early says

    Great job! We had a similar canopy for our daughter when she was little, and she loved hers, too. :)

    Where did you get that cute blue fan sitting on the dresser? I want one!!

    xo

    Sherri with an “i”

    Reply

  47. Erin says

    I want to paint my daughters room a fresh white that’s not too creamy or too cold/grey. Are you happy with the Simply White in Clara’s room?

    Reply

  48. Tracey Baird says

    Where are the curtain rods from? I have a window that is directly next to a wall and am having a hard time finding a rod with little or no finials. And I’m sorry if you’ve answered this in the comments already.

    Reply

  49. Amy @ Elephant Eats says

    Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me what primer you used for Clara’s room? I know you guys like low or No-VOC stuff and I’m about to have my new house painted and was hoping to use the brand you like :) Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Home Depot now sells Kilz Premium which is no-VOC (and water based). So check the labels to find the one that says “no-VOC” since there are many variations of Kilz primer (some with oil-bases that are super stinky). Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

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