Yup, we went for it. We slapped up two paint colors that we love (and already had on hand) in our bedroom to see if darker walls (which is something John that has been campaigning for over the last few months) is the way to go.
Remember when we poorly photoshopped it a while back? Except picture it more brown-gray, like a putty color (instead of blue-gray), since there are plenty of colors in the rug and the bedding already. We tried one of our favorite smoky gray colors (Gray Horse by Benjamin Moore) which is under the chair rail in the office and also tried the darker and moodier color that’s more of a browny-gray that we used in our attached bathroom (Rockport Gray by BM). Let’s just say that we were definitely surprised by our swatches. See how dark Gray Horse looks in our office under the chair rail (especially on the left of the pic)? At least in person it feels pretty dark since it’s a few shades darker than the Moonshine color that’s above the rail.
Well, check out how much lighter/less obvious it reads in the bedroom (the one on the top)? Meanwhile Rockport Gray was awesome (the one on the bottom). It was love at first swipe. This picture doesn’t quite capture the putty-ness of it (it’s almost equal parts mocha and gray) but it really is an awesome color.
I painted some test swatches of each one in three places in the room (just to be sure we liked how it read on a bunch of different planes) like:
- the wall next to the bedroom door
- the wall next to the bathroom doorway
- the wall behind the bed (since we wanted something dark to help the headboard really pop)
See how you can barely see the Gray Horse swatch under the right half of the mirror, but the Rockport gray one further to the right makes the headboard look awesomesauce? At least in our imagination when we picture it on that whole wall…
Bingo. Rockport Gray it is. Especially since it’s already in our bathroom, so it makes sense to bring it out into the bedroom. Plenty of main bedrooms have the same color in the bathroom as the bedroom, and it totally lets the headboard be the star (while there are still some bright colors in the other bedding and the rug). So although it’s a neutral, it’s not a boring choice when you look at the room as a whole. We’re also thinking that we could add a very soft light blue tone to the ceiling to compliment the moody gray walls someday. Could be fun, right?
Rockport Gray is the darkest color we’ve used in this house except for the dark teal in the guest room and on the back of the dining room built-ins, but that’s kind of what’s nice about it (the whole house feels balanced with some pops of color, some lighter tones, and some darker colors all working together as one big master-palette if that makes sense). It’s fun to have a nice mix going on. Like the soft pink in Clara’s room…
… some greeny-yellow in the kitchen and laundry room…
… dark teal in the guest room…
…and on the back of the dining room built-ins…
… and light gray in the living room and dining room.
We’re learning that the rooms with more neutral walls (like gray) are usually the rooms that we have fun adding a lot more color with accessories (like a bright rug, headboard, pillows, art, etc). See how the bright art and accessories in the office (along with those happy chairs) layer over light neutral walls and give the room a vibrant feeling – even with soft and neutral walls?
Same deal with the living room (neutral walls + bright pops of color in the rug, art, and pillows = a nice balance). The dining room follows suit too (soft and neutral walls + colorful curtains + dark pops of color in the back of the built-ins + our new/old painted buffet).
In other words, rooms with more neutral wall colors seem to free us up to more color-possibilities, so we can layer in a lot of things “over” them if that makes sense.
So that’s where we are. We picked a color. Actually we’re here…
Be back tomorrow with the after pics (and a time lapse video) once it’s all dry and put back together! What have you been painting lately? Do you repaint rooms when the urge strikes? Thankfully repainting is one of the cheapest ways to change things up, and it usually only takes us around a day to complete. So you don’t have to live with a paint color that you don’t love since it’s usually one of the easiest & most inexpensive changes to make. In our first house we painted every single room twice to get it right except for our bedroom, so it’s hilarious to us that the first room that we’re repainting here is none other than our bedroom!
In other words: we’re definitely still just using the same method we relied on six years ago when we moved into our first house: trial and error. It sounds kinda risky, but it’s the best way that we’ve found to learn what we like and don’t like (and inch towards a house that feels even more like home). We’ve definitely learned that being frozen in indecision or trying to love something you just don’t (by forcing yourself to work with it) don’t work nearly as well as being brave, diving in, and making a change. So here’s hoping we can knock the rest of this out by the end of the day…
Psst- We took our favorite monthly picture of Clara ever. That girl has officially gone diva. Check out her moves over on Young House Life.
Oh how I love Rockport Grey. It’s seriously my favourite colour of all time. We have it through most of our house. I love how in one room I can pair it with dark brown and in another room it goes great with black or navy. It’s so versatile. I think it will look fantastic with your new headboard!
Ooh sounds so pretty with black and navy and dark brown!
xo,
s
Ooh, I LOVE how everything pops against the dark gray! I can’t wait to see the completed room! I’ve been on a furniture painting kick lately. We live in an apartment where I can’t paint the walls – but at least they’re a nice creamy off-white with crisp white trim, so I’m happy bringing in the color with fabric, wall art and painted furniture.
I painted the guest bathroom twice in two weeks – and I’m still not happy with the colour. Third time’s the charm, right? :-)
Haha- you bet! Good luck Barb!
xo,
s
Love the gray color. We bought a new (old-1978) house in May and have been updating it ever since. It was full of yellow/orange oak cabinets, molding and window trim. I personally painted all of it white. Luckily I was off for summer break because not a day has gone by without a paintbrush in my hand. We decided on gray for our kitchen and big great room and at one point had 6 different samples of gray on the walls. We ended up going with Dolphin Fin by Behr which we love. Although I must say that I’m having paint envy. Your gray is beautiful. Maybe we will put in in our master bedroom.
OMG I am already loving it just from the sneak peak. So calming and just perfect!!! I’ve always thought that using the same color (or very very close) in the master bed and bath were the best way to go, especially when the bath is small. Makes for a better flow in a small space. It’s going to look fantabulous, can’t wait to see it!!
We are on a gray mission for my 14 year old daughter’s bedroom walls. She is switching rooms and currently has a bright, fun lime green. And that means 2 rooms to paint since the lime green will now become a guest room and I think I’ll choose a more soothing color when I’m done with the gray in her new room.
We purchased fabrics yesterday with Joanne’s 50% off coupon to make a new reversible duvet that has colors of lime green, blues and gray. Her furniture is white and the carpet is taupey beige. We are headed out later to get some gray samples from our local BM store and I already think Rockport gray may be a winner.
Sounds like the room is coming together already! Love it!
xo,
s
Looks great! Can’t wait to see it all put together.
The Mr HATES painting…like he’s practically convulsing when I bring it up but it looks so good when it’s done he’ll begrudgingly admit it was worth it. (Then swears he’s going to hire someone the next time. Don’t think so bub)
Love the change. We recently painted our master bedroom a dark gray as well: http://livelaughloveandlindsay.blogspot.com/2012/07/house-tour-master-bedroom.html I was a little worried about the dark at first but now I’m definitely a fan of the dark grays in bedrooms.
So pretty!
xo,
s
I love that Rockport Gray. Ever since I saw it on another home design blog I’m obsessed. I really want to paint my dining room that color but I’m chicken and not sure how to even start painting. I need someone who’s good at it to help me so I don’t do it wrong – because believe me, I’m sure there is a wrong way and I will do it… :) Awesome job!
I just painted my kitchen in BM Grey Horse. It actually looks more like the Rockport in these photos though.
I also went back and repainted my dining room. I made a spur of the moment paint decision while my mom was visiting and willing to work. I lived with the colors for about 5 months before deciding it just wasn’t working. I love how the room finally turned out! http://rsmith829.blogspot.com/2012/05/dining-room.html
Haha, I love that you went fast since momma was there to help you paint. Totally something I’d do!
xo,
s
I painted this weekend too! We’ve been in our house 5 years – every wall was a dirty white when we moved in, & it took me a year to repaint every single one. I’ve started over with my kids’ bathroom, changing it from bright circus-y colors to a steely gray (they’re teenagers now). I didn’t think I liked gray, but am thrilled — it looks very sophisticated in there now.
I love how the grey walls pick up in the headboard fabric. It looks fabulous!
We are working on painting our garage and doing an epoxy coating on the floor. It’s been WAY to hot paint so I’m antsy to start and finish the project. Then we can add in fun ways to organize all the tools and junk.
Then – we’ll move onto our living room that has be completely empty since we moved in to our first home in November 2011. Thanks for all the inspiration and tips!!
Whoa…Did I miss a post about the headboard? Love the fabric on it!
~C.
Oh yes, here’s one and here’s the other.
xo,
s
Thanks Sherry! Don’t know how I missed it!
No worries!
xo,
s
Lovely! And the existing wall color will still be in your sink nook which will be a nice pop of color.
I like to joke that if a room in my house hasn’t been repainted 3 times, it’s only because it isn’t done yet. Maybe I’ll have it all together for our next house.
The darker color looks really great. Can’t wait to see a finished pic:)
We painted our bedroom gray (Behr color matched to Martha’s Flagstone) two weekends ago and we love it. We waited over 2 years to finally decide what color to paint and actually put brush on the wall because we wanted to make sure we liked it. We aren’t huge fans of painting and our room is fairly large with tall ceilings so it was daunting to think of painting it but we knocked it out in just 4.5 hours. The look and feel of the room has totally changed. It is so calming and dramatic!
I love the change for your bedroom! Can’t wait to see the end result.
That’s awesome! I love when you dread something but it ends up being not that bad. Such a relief!
xo,
s
This is so good to hear. I too have a large living/dining area with tall ceilings that I’ve wanted to paint a pretty gray color for the past 2 years. Gives me motivation!!
Beautiful choice! I love it!!! PS: Is this your bedroom rug on Joss and Main today? https://www.jossandmain.com/Delancey-Studios-Marrakech-Rug-in-Gray~RZY2473~E1700.html
That does look like it! But I think it’s the 3 x 5 size!
xo,
s
Yea! I’m so glad! I’ve been hoping you’d decide to go with a darker, neutral color :) I can already tell its going to looks great!
I am also painting my bedroom a darker color–mine is also gray, but quite a bit darker than you’re going. The husband and I like a “sensory deprivation” style of bedroom rather than the bright/airy style, so I think it’ll be awesome even though it’s REALLY dark.
We actually moved into our house right around the time you did, and this is our first coat of paint in the bedroom, so your pace is really putting us to shame!!
Love that color! I’m a sucker for a gray room.
Ha! We just painted our master bedroom this weekend too. Yours looks great!
im loving the greys! but i dont feel like i have a house where greys could work…does that make sense? everything is brown based…..maybe im crazy
Someone commented and said Rockport Gray looked awesome in her room with brown accents! Hope it helps!
xo,
s
i’m in the minority; I miss the blue, which I felt had much more energy. But then, I’m not a fan of grey at all. ah well. your house – and you sleep there, so you need to feel the comfiest!
Last weekend I painted our guest room Tin Lizzy but Olympic – it’s a greyish purple. It had been a blah light beige left by the previous owners. Dark brown furniture, dark brown wooden Indian screen from World Market, white PB quilt and white sheer curtains from Ikea make up the rest of the room, along with some water colors I bought on the street in Paris. Looks a lot fancier already.
I plan to clean out the closet and make it my gift wrapping room ala Candy Spelling :)
Sounds so pretty!
xo,
s
Love. Love, love love. Looks so great and I can’t wait to see the reveal. :)
I’m getting to the point where I really want to paint now that it’s been lived in for a bit and I think a grey similar to that would be awesome for my kitchen/dining/living combo. It would make all the bright things (like an orange rug, teal side tables, and green bench) really pop.
We are renters, so painting is quite a commitment knowing we’ll be painting right back in a few years (and watching the new carpets). BUT, after a year of loving our condo, the hubs and I decided our living room definitely needs some spunk. We’re going with Benjamin Moore’s Soft Jazz. It is going to be scrumptious.
How do we protect our carpets? Can’t drop cloths slip away from the wall?
I have seen folks use painters tape to hold down drop cloths around the edges or use cardboard taped to the baseboards to protect the carpets too. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Just yesterday I got the urge to repaint our guest bedroom. This is the 4th space we have repainted since we moved in 2 years ago. I have a gold duvet in that room and it was really clashing with this muddy blue we originally put up. I thought I was going to have to get a new duvet until my mind went nautical. Now, I’m painting the whole room Simply White by Benjamin Moore and doing the main wall that the bed is up against Chevron (obsessed) in Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore. I have never been this excited to paint! It’s going to look so good with the gold duvet and other gold decor…like a gold rimmed mirror, etc!
Love Hale Navy! We used it for some projects in our book and fell in love!!
xo,
s
I love it! I was torn just 2 weeks ago between the Rockport gray and the Kingsport grat from Ben Moore. I ended up with the Kingsport since it is a bit darker and it was only going into the many niches we have and not whole walls. I love the way the Rockport looks on a whole wall so I might definitely go with that in another room.
Oooh love the colour!! I know exactly what you mean about not being afraid to just dive in and re-paint or change things up that aren’t working for you. We have definitely been doing the trial and error thing at our place too – sometimes what I envisioned on paper just doesn’t come out quite the way I had imagined. Thank goodness for paint and furniture tweaking! :)
We actually just did this to our living room, in a similiar color! http://quacksandwaddles.com/2012/07/redo-to-do-living-room/ When we moved in it had 3 light yellow walls almost pastelish, and one bright baby diaper green wall as the accent i guess? It was hideous, we had to run to home depot to pick out some brackets, and while there i talked my husband into getting paint, and that night i busted out the old sweats and killed the rooms diaper aura.. It’s amazing how a little paint goes the wrong way.. Only problem now, he picked up FLAT paint on accident, didn’t notice until we got home, so hello new coat, in same color as we have a toddler and well, flat paint+toddler= disaster it seems
Pretty!
xo,
s
AWESOME! I have been thinking about redoing my living room color, but I haven’t done anything about it. I love the darker walls in the bedroom. So excited to see how it all comes together.
Oh my, yes. Our kitchen is in a bit of shambled mess this morning . . . got some idea in our heads to paint the inside of the kitchen cabinets this weekend. Nice idea and I’m sure we’ll appreciate the end result, but at the moment it looks ca-razy in there! 3 kids who were not always cooperative means we only got to 2 of the million cabinets, but oh well. Can’t wait to see how your bedroom turned out. :)
Ohhh– perfect post for me. We are redoing a master bathroom and I’m deciding on paint colors. The bedroom (that leads to it) is a lighter aqua grey (Ante Meridan, a Valspar color, I think) and I was thinking of either a deeper aqua greyish for the bathroom, or a grey (was looking at your Ben Moore colors…), or a cool slate blue. If we go with grey on the walls we will do aqua accents. This post of the swatches on the wall confirmed for me that grey + aqua = gorgeous!
YHL readers– what are your favorite aquas or slate blues?
The bathroom is tiny tiny, will have dark charcoal floors (i.e. faux slate, but actually porcelain for ease of upkeep, light grey marbley shower tile to the ceiling, an accent strip in the shower of aqua, slate grey, white and charcoal glass/stone mosaic thingy), white pedestal sink, toilet, etc. There is one small window, so I can add pops of color, texture, etc. with a roman shade and shower curtain… just needing to decide on paint and then will take it from there…
Anyone have favorite aquas or slate blues for Braelin?
xo,
s
My favorite aquas are Valspar’s La Fonda Mirage and La Fonda Mirage Teal!
BM Pale Smoke! Looks very grey on the chip but it’s a lovely neurtal-y but with color slate blue!
I like Prelude from Behr. It appears more gray on the chip, but it reads more blue on the wall (at least in our windowless bathroom).
Ooooh! I love that Rockport Grey!
Ooh, it’s looking grand! Amazing how those swatches brought home the difference in those 2 colors! I’m on the hunt for a brownish grey myself – we’re repainting the powder room, but am hoping to work the grey into our kitchen as well. But first, we’ve gotta finish the hardwood curved stairs! Oh Summer, how I love thee! (Hubby’s a university administrator, so he can actually take some time off in the summer for home improvement!)
I’ve been following your blog for 3+ years literally EVERY DAY. It’s such a simple, small part of my life, but I love it. This past week we went on a cruise and I didn’t have internet for 10 days. It was hard in general, but you should have seen me at a small fishing town in Greece standing in a really weird pose like a crazy person to pick up an internet signal at so I could see YHL. Worth it ;) Just wanted to say great color, and great display of all you’ve done with your house. Missed you guys!!!!
Haha- you’re so sweet! Missed you too Kathryn!
xo,
s
I am actually taking a break from ripping everything off of the walls now! The previous owners creating a rainbow in here, including multiple colors in one room. Most of the colors are bold too…ahhh. I know what needs to be done, but I’m nervous! You guys do give me more confidence though :-)
Grays are the way to go for neutral walls. I love them and almost any color looks great against them. Paint it up :) Kristin
Ooh, I think the new color is going to look awesome! Can’t wait to see the “after” photos tomorrow!
Grey is such an underrated colour – we have it in our living room and I find both calming and inspiring to look at.
Love the new color– it really makes the headboard stand out!
I’ll be honest I loved the previous blue color and was sad to hear that you were thinking of painting over it but now that I see that lovely putty color, I think – way to go guys! I never doubt that you’ll do great things.
I’m painting bathrooms and finalizing the color I want for the rest of the house. I’ve been terrible at making any decisions about color.
Thanks for detailing your “let’s see which color will work” process. Very informative & great pics. I do find that the lighting in each room will interact with a color differently so that’s why swatches are a must.
I love how the BM Rockport Grey picks up the darer grey tones in your headboard – it’ll be a great background color.
I also love the color combo your have in your guest room – dark teal with lime green. Lively!
I need to finish my hallway wall painting project – this hallway has EIGHT doors – so A LOT of cutting-in around the doors. I am loving my little angled brush for cutting-in.
Do you have little nifty tips & tricks for painting? Do you already have them somewhere where I should look or will you share them in tomorrow’s post? Thank you.
If you check out our Projects page we have a painting section and a post we wrote about how we paint a room. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Beautiful color , it really goest great with yellow pillows ………..Love Love Love bold color …………last week i painted my living room with banjemin moor’s BLACK ….yess ;) and dinning room’s accent wall with summer plum………..they both looking great , black with white trims and purple with silver mirror and ghost chairs… now would deffinately go for grey in family room .
Sounds awesome!
xo,
s
We just bought our first house and we’re having a blast painting! We were actually inspired by y’alls guest room and painted our master Plumage by Martha Stewart. It’s definitely riskier than I ever thought we would do, but we LOVE it.
http://thewalkerfamilytalks.blogspot.com/2012/07/master-bedroom-updates.html
So pretty!!
xo,
s
I absolutely love the gray walls! Rockport Gray is going on my list of must-use paints. In fact, I’m thinking about bringing it into our master bath, which adjoins our bedroom like yours (no door). Will light beige walls in the bedroom look odd with a darker gray in the bathroom?
I don’t think so, they sound like they’d layer nicely.
xo,
s
I love the Rockport! I have been loving my greige in my current open floor plan home, though I used C2 paints, including Pale Granite, Coco Malt and Houdini. I am moving on Friday, and am getting ready to paint the new Master Bedroom Benjamin Moore Abalone and the Dining Room Revere Pewter.
I love all those colors!
xo,
s
I so prefer the old color! But I am totally a light & bright color person. I find gray depressing, although I am SLOWLY coming around to a light, warm gray. I’ve never understood why hospitals use gray – so depressing when yiu are supposed to be healing! But I have a friend who wants darker walls; she finds them cozy. I crave the natural light reflection in lighter walls. To each their own! :-)