Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Finding The Perfect Medium Gray Wall Color

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.

Paint Swatch Test 1

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.

Office With Us In It3

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.

Doorway Swatches

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)

Swatches By Sink

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…

Paint Swatch Bed

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?

Headboard Detail

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…

ClarasRoom After Changing T

… some greeny-yellow in the kitchen and laundry room…

Laundry Room Done

… dark teal in the guest room…

Guest From Doorway

…and on the back of the dining room built-ins…

Painted Built Ins4

… 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?

Office With Us In It3

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).

Living Room Prog1

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…

Bedroom In Progress

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.

Comments

  1. Michelle says

    “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 bring brave, diving in, and making a change”. LOVE. THIS! I’ve been stalling on painting our kitchen hallway for YEARS because I’m scared I would regret the color choice. Totally doing it now.

    Reply

  3. Crystal @ 29 Rue House says

    Love the puddy-ness of the color.

    I’m also realizing that more neutral walls can make decorating easier/more fun. I’m actually thinking about going gray in our kitchen (sounds like my hair…lol) (but more light and airy like Moonshine). I’ve definitely found that living with colors that you aren’t feeling is only a temporary solution…eventually you’ve got to change it. Plus I desperately need to paint all the trim in our house…still haven’t done it and we moved in almost three years ago.

    Reply

  4. Eileen says

    I never thought I was a paint fanatic until I started counting how many times I’ve repainted rooms in our house. Now, granted, we’ve lived here 23 years, and have 4 kids who are always doing the bedroom shuffle, but still … we’ve painted rooms at least 25 times over the years. And I have plans to repaint at least one bathroom, maybe two, before summer’s end.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      You can sleep in a room that evening if you paint it that day. It usually only takes an hour or two to dry- and if you use low or no-VOC paint it’s even better since it’s less fumey! If you’re expecting a baby I’d use no-VOC paint only and crack windows, run fans. Ventilation is key!

      xo,
      s

  6. Bella says

    Admittedly I’m not 100% percent sold on the gray yet but I wasn’t on the rest of the gray either but after you guys decorated it, it looked awesome.
    What I’ve been wondering is: Does it make sense to send a single dorm room/student housing related make-over your way? Because I quite recently re-did mine ^^

    Reply

  10. Erin says

    I have yet to take on painting walls myself, but this weekend I finished my very first John-and-Sherry-inspired home decor crafting project! I painted a stained wood console table apricot with a tone-on-tone stencil on the top! It turned out great, so I’m feeling brave enough to take on more. Thank you for inspiring me to make a custom piece that is so much more “us” than anything we’ve purchased!

    Reply

  11. Sara says

    Love it. I was at an outdoor showing of the Sound of Music in Austin last Thursday, and my friends and I started talking about your blog — because we’re all loyal followers. A random woman from behind us chimed in, and said “oh, don’t you just love the Petersiks!” We then talked about your sweet Aunt, and how we had your family in our thoughts. Wanted to let you know that your Aunt was thought about all over the place, and that it is crazy how many people read your blog!

    Reply

  12. renee says

    I love how open to change you guys are!

    Painting question: I picked up a corner bookshelf off someone’s curb and have lovingly given it three cots of white eggshell paint. I let it dry for several days in the garage and now that it’s inside, I find things stick to it a bit(such as candelsticks, lamps).
    Would you recommend some type of sealer? Thank you!
    love from minneapolis

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I would give it some more time out in the sun on a sunny day and then at the end of the day dust it with baby powder (that should absorb any tackiness and then once you get it inside it should truly be cured up and not as sticky). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  14. Elaine says

    I love it! Looks amazing! Can’t wait to see it all done. A bit off topic but would you consider doing a post on how you do your time lapse videos? I’d love to do one but can’t figure out how! Thanks :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We just use iMovie (it’s a free program that comes with macs) and import a video from our Flip camera and speed it up using that program. I think there are equivalents for PCs too. Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  15. Belen says

    I have a question that has nothing to do with paint :-)
    I wanted to know how often do you wash your duvet cover (I have the same one, but in light grey) and if you do it at home or you send it somewhere. I wash it at home but mine looks way wrinklier than yours. Maybe you iron it?
    Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We probably wash it about once or twice a month? My tip is to put it back on the bed when it’s still a little damp, that way it dries “straight” and shrinks up a little, so there are fewer wrinkles. It definitely isn’t perfectly ironed looking or anything though!

      xo,
      s

  16. Heather @ What Does She Do All Day? says

    I’m getting to the point in our house that I want to start painting the rooms neutral. I went colorful when I first started painting and now I’m ready for a change. I’ve already done master bedroom and bath (took it from red to gray) and the guest room. Next up on my list is the half bathroom. It’s bright yellow! Now that I’ve finished painting my daughter’s new bookcases, http://whatdoesshedoallday.com/big-girls-bookcase/ I’m eager to get started on it.

    Reply

  17. Erin says

    Everything you do is wonderful. As much as I like the soft blue, the new color I’m sure will look fab as well. When we moved in this house 17 months ago, I painted our upstairs bath a sagey green, and it looks much better than it did before (sponge painted mustard with floral border YUCK!), but I cannot wait to get my hands on a better color than the green that it is now.

    Reply

  18. Leslie says

    I just flip-flopped my husband’s office and our guest bedroom, so I took 2 weekends to prep, prime and paint the rooms and shuffle the furniture. I love it once it’s done, but it is a lot of work!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I made that with wire and faux hydrangeas from Michaels! You can see a tutorial about how I made it on our Projects page (see that link under our header) in the kids section at the bottom. Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  20. liz says

    love rockport grey! our daughter’s nursery is that color and the living room set to turn the same next week!

    Reply

  21. Merideth says

    Yay! I like the new color! As for me…I just finished painting all of the trim in our lower level this weekend. Unfortunately, there’s an upper level waiting to be done :).

    Reply

  22. Brandi says

    I just painted our little girl’s room. It was purple when we bought the house and I thought I could live with it. Once my hubby left out for a bit (military) I immediately got to work. I painted her room Dancing Green by Shwerwin Williams. I was nervouse at first because it looked a bit neon, but now that the full room is done, I love it!

    Reply

  23. Yulia says

    Two questions:
    1) In the photo of you and John sitting in the office, did you plan for your shirts to complement the room? Your shirt is dark and balances out the dark chair on the right side of the room. And John’s shirt is pink and balances the pink picture on the left side of the room. That’s some good coordinating going on!

    2) I noticed that you don’t remove the wall plates when you paint. Do you just carefully paint around them? You’ve got mad skillz $herdog!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha- totally not planned at all! That’s just what we were wearing that day! And yes, I just carefully paint around them. I think after six years of cutting in, I’m good at that stuff. Haha.

      xo,
      s

  24. Brandi says

    I absolutely LOVE that colour, It looks awesome!! (most of our house is a mix of light and dark grey rooms too). I am jealous of how quick you get a room painted though, it would take us a couple of days for sure :P

    We’ve started really diving in this past week with our house… we’ve lived here 4 1/2 years, but we’ve hardly changed anything until this year. I don’t know why we were treating it like a rental for so long (seriously I would feel bad putting a hole in the wall to hang up a picture frame, haha!). Now it’s starting to finally feel like home! As I type the floor guy is finishing up our new hardwood stairs (dark steps with white risers *swoon*) and later this week we’ll be making some built-in bookshelves in the living room. It’s so awesome to start to actually LOVE our house now, and turn it into our home :)

    Reply

  25. Teresa says

    Love the Rockport Gray – I live near Rockport, MA, so it has that New England reference for me. This week, I’m picking paint colors for our kitchen… I’m leaning towards California’s “Bay of Hope”. It is a soft blue-gray, then for the small side entrance I’m looking at Ben Moore’s Pepple Creek. It is a purple and a big changed from my normal neutrals :)

    Reply

  27. Karen F says

    great color! We have a very similar color in our living room (ashley gray by BM) and I love it so much! The Rockport gray is going to tie in so nicely with the rug, headboard, etc! I bet it will also make your awesome Ikea chandelier “pop” more, too. Can’t wait to see tomorrow’s pics!

    Reply

  31. Erin @ WriteTasty says

    I think that the trial and error that you speak of is called “editing.” I think that overall I always love your second and third choices a little more than your first, and I feel that way about my own decision-making as well. Your gray bedroom is going to look wonderful!

    Reply

  32. Cindy says

    Way to get it done! I’ve had swatches up on my bedroom walls for 2 weeks now and just keep staring at the furniture and thinking…I’m going to have to move you aren’t I? I finally settled on BM Pashmina which was a hard to find greige but I love it…I’ll probably love it more once it’s up on the wall!

    Can’t wait to see the reveal! Hopefully it motivates me!!

    Reply

  34. Missy G. says

    So jealous! I would love to be able to paint our bedroom. Heck, I’d love to be able to paint any room in the house! Hubby likes the current color (a basic tan) because it’s so neutral and is consistent throughout the house except for the kitchen. We do not have the same decor thinking AT ALL. Boo.

    Reply

  35. MaKaela says

    I LOVE the rug in the living room! It looks huge! What size is it and where did you get it? Thanks!

    Reply

  36. Sarah says

    I love the gray! We just painted our bedroom that color too! Well it was going to be our room till we realized it was best for our 3 girls to take over that room and we get the smaller room of the 2 bedrooms. It just made sense to us after we were done with the painting… Oh well I still love the gray!

    Reply

  37. Martha says

    I love that color in your bathroom, I always was surprised by the blue in your master bedroom–it just didn’t seem like “you”. And it looks amazing next to the headboard!!

    Reply

  39. Sarah says

    Ok I am not sure if it is that I am horrible at painting or I hate it or what, but how are you all able to complete the whole job in such a timely fashion? It seems to take me days if I even make it to finishing the painting project, sometimes i just give up and leave it incomplete!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I think we’re just two people who have painted a lotta rooms in the last six years. So we have our method down. We don’t have carpeting so we don’t cover the floor much, we only tape off the ceiling because I can freehand around baseboards and windows and outlets, etc. I think practice gets you faster every time!

      xo,
      s

  41. Johanna says

    I LOVE the gray!!!! We painted our daughter Viennas nursery gray (with nice clean white trim!) and I love it, it’s so relaxing and calming! I’m currently trying to convince my husband to let me paint the living room gray too because i love her room so much, it’s quickly becoming my favorite color! :) I love how the rockport gray makes your headboard really pop! Is the ceiling in your bedroom light blue? Are you going to leave it or paint it? Can’t wait to see the after pictures!

    Reply

  42. Katie BH says

    What a coincidence – I was just thinking that I needed to write to you guys to rave about how you inspired me to take on my first painting project! (Really, you inspire me all the time since we just moved into our first house and are realizing that there’s a lot to do and we are a bit novice…)

    The master bedroom was a not-so-great minty green so we just transformed it to our own neutral gray – Behr Ocean Pearl, with the help of your “how to paint a room” post. The room is still a work in progress but when we finally finish it, I’ll send it your way. Thank you so much for all of your wonderful ideas and fun commentary!

    Reply

  44. deb says

    Love the grey!

    I so wish we could be as carefree with paint here in New Zealand.

    For reasons I don’t really understand paint here is soooo expensive.

    We pay $100+ for the equivalent of a gallon of paint!

    I have to be much more careful in our choices. Having said that, we’ve made some rather bold choices in renovating our 1920 bungalow!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Wow- that’s a lot of money! I hope it gets cheaper somehow (maybe over time the formula will become less expensive?). Someone in the states should start shipping it over for a $20 shipping fee- it would still be a lot cheaper!

      xo,
      s

  46. Casey says

    Ooh I love it. I loved that light blue, but this looks great too. How close is it to that Flagstone by Martha Stewart? I remember (because I used that in my son’s room and bathroom) that you were going to paint the hardboard that color and this looks pretty similar… maybe just a little more brown?

    Reply

  47. Mona O | Renters In Love says

    I’m loving the gray these days.

    We mixed our own shade of gray for the bathroom using someone else’s dark gray castoff from the bargain bin and contractor white.

    By the way, looks like there are some letters missing from today’s post – the first letter of “since” in the second paragraph and the E in the second “being” of the last paragraph was replaced with an R.

    Reply

  48. Kelley says

    It looks awesome and you are going to love it. Greys are my favorite new neutrals. I have recently painted my dining and living room awesome shades of grey (hehe) with a third shade of grey as an accent wall around our fireplace. It’s so soothing – if you can find the perfect grey, that is! It’s a challenge. I love your grey – can’t wait to see it all come together. WIth your new headboard and rug – I think the room is going to feel 100% different in the best way. Happy painting!

    Reply

  49. Lindsey Bedford says

    You sound just like us! My husband and I have been in our new home for just over a year, and already we are repainting some of the rooms. Our house was plain chalky white when we moved in and so we chose a light neutral to paint the main portion of the house in. We have NEVER liked it even though all our friends and family seem to think we are crazy. And we have TRIED to like it but still just don’t. Well, now we are changing it up to perfect greige by sherwin williams and so far are loving it!!! One second it looks gray, and the next minute it looks beige!!! One room down, 3 to go, plus some hallways! And the feature wall is a lovely warm and bold blue that took 3 times to get right!!! To us this is fun and we like to paint! It takes a day and barely any money, so let our friends and family judge away and call us crazy! As long as it makes us happy, because we are the ones living in it!!

    I just love your blog. I need to send you some pics of all our projects going on right now. We just finished some pottery barn knock off toy storage shelves and my husband just built some new window moldings around our boring front windows! It is a totally new toy room in there!! thanks for all your inspiring ideas!!!

    Reply

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