As you know I’ve been working on my master bedroom.
This was the room before we bought the house with, of course, a very pale shade of peachy-yellow on the walls (every wall in our house, along with some trim, was painted in peach tones by the previous owners).
The pet-stained carpet was absolutely vile and I literally sneezed all day, every day, until we had those suckers ripped out and replaced. (The funny thing is that we saw and then put an offer on this house the very first day it went on the market. In retrospect the carpets must have just been cleaned, because they looked absolutely spotless – so if you are trying to sell your house make sure to have your carpets cleaned!)
Ripping out those gross carpets remains one of my favorite home improvements to date!!
A couple days before the new carpet was to be installed, I panicked about the prospect of painting the walls with brand new carpeting on the floor, and made a very spontaneous decision to quickly paint the walls Ben Moore’s Clarksville Grey (#HC-102 ), a color I’d seen in the Pottery Barn catalog.
From the second I opened the can I knew.
I knew it was not for me.
Ben Moore paint is not inexpensive, and when you’re painting every single room in your house those gallons of paint really add up. However, after trying other brands over the years, Mark and I are both partial to BM for it’s coverage. But — at $40-$50 a can it’s not cheap, and so I went ahead and painted the whole room even though I was not loving it.
In someone else’s home this color might be beautiful, but in the lighting of our master bedroom, day or night, it takes on an army green tone that I am just not fond of. Also, I would love to paint our reddish-toned bureaus but Mark is adamantly opposed to it. The combination of the olivey walls and the reddish furniture?? MMMM pretty. But I have invested time and money into painting the room so I tried to make it work.
Last year around this time I tried to love my blah master bedroom more by bringing in shades of the sea during the Color My World Challenge.
In our last house we had a chocolate brown master bedroom and loved it. It was like a cozy cave and that room just felt GOOD to be in. Okay – so we deduce that dark in the master makes us happy. But we were over the brown. And I have been thinking a lot about warm and cool together. In particular – charcoal grey or black with wood tones. Brown leather with navy.
ooooooooh. yesssssss.
{Canadian House and Home}
{Serena and Lily}
{Lauren Nelson Design via Decorpad}
{Rue}
After hemming and hawing and painting 47,937 samples on my wall, my good friend Jenny of Evolution of Style recommended the greeny blue navy, BM Gentleman’s Gray (#2062-20) that she had used in her powder room.
And just like I KNEW when I opened that Clarksville Gray that it wasn’t the one, the instant I opened the can of Gentleman’s Gray (that has not a shred of gray in it, by the way), I knew. We were meant for each other.
No matter how many times I paint various rooms, it’s truly amazing to me how a color can affect your mood and influence the feeling you get when you are in a space. And to me, repainting a space is worth the painful waste of choosing the wrong color if you find a color that speaks to you.
Funny thing? A couple of weeks after I painted the room, we went on our dream vacation with our munchkins to Hawaii and were surrounded by the most beautiful greeny blue waters.
It was like Jenny had some crazy intuition that our master bedroom would come to remind me of one of the happiest times with my family. Pure genius, that girl.
Oh the drama!!
Changing the wall color has inspired me to bring the rest of the room together. So here goes….the to-do list for the master bedroom. I’m posting a list right here to make myself accountable.
@Treat your pets too This is hilarious. I just picked Palladian Blue for our master bedroom, which is a perfect colour for that room because of all the natural light.
The reason I came on this blog is because I accidentally picked antique white for our trim. I mixed up SW Antique White and BM Antique White. Ahhhh! I now have beautiful edgecomb grey-like walls in my living room, a light pewter ceiling... and a peachy pinky trim. Sometimes I tell myself I'll live with it-- mostly because my future FIL painted the trim for me and I can't imagine going over the hours he spent painting it. I might just have to suck it up and paint over it by myself. The room is empty, so I'd rather do it before we put the furniture in.
Cori I feel your pain on the trim that is not the right color. I have been there so many times with paint colors that were not right. I'd paint the trim now instead of waiting because chances are the trim color isn't going to grow on you! BM White Dove is really pretty with Edgecomb Gray (I have it in my dining room) and Decorator's White is a bright white that is really pretty with it too!
Treat your pets too
Wednesday 20th of January 2016
Just had serious painters remorse in my powder room. My house has mainly gray or griege colors and the master bath I just finnished in Palladian blue cut to half strength. Loved it all until the powder room...i thought i would be different and since i had punches of coral in the family room the powder room went to coral! I spent hours looking over samples and swatches and painted some on the wall. I went with vintage coral by Behr. First wall it looked nice but by the last was hideous neon..the room has no natural light. In that room awful so it may just become something to paint furniture with. Then i rushed out to get a peachish color crisp straw by benjamin moore and neon orange! Sigh! Again probsbly be real nice it a light and bright room. Now looking at the direction of navy..which was my first intinct and am going to paint gentleman's gray what an interested color and no neon i hope! Started out thinking hale navy but gentlemans gray is winning. And going to get natural lights that might cut the horrible neon glow it turns the colors in there. My colors are currently BM abalone-guest room lavender gray and quite serene. BM edgecomb gray living room, loft and halls of open concept home, BM revere pewter- office, BM 1/2 cut Palladian blue master bath. BM Azure water-daughters room-very pretty sophisticated teal. Looks great with woods and white. Family room- BM jute (nice but not a slam dunk) with silhouette acent wall(love similar to kendall charcoal) Still to do..daughter bath-likely a lavender white?, master bedroom- still thinking looking at SW collanade grey but i have a lot of easy greys already so not quite enough difference room to room with the grey. and possibly do something with the laundry room maybe a old white with bright trim...though staying away from coral on walls!
bluehydrangea
Saturday 9th of November 2013
I can't believe I stumble upon your blog today of all days, I am trying to decide between several shades of blue for a small den in my house and one of those colors is Gentleman's Gray! I may have just picked the winner! Thx!
Jennifer @ Dimples and Tangles
Monday 1st of April 2013
That color is absolutely gorgeous! You're moving right along on your bedroom...I'm jealous! :)
Susan Maclean
Friday 22nd of March 2013
Oh yes! here's our downstairs toilet (half-bath, I think you may call it)on my blog.... try scrolling down a couple of posts. The original colour I hated the day it was finished - TEN years of hating! and now, I am keeping the grey for ever. SO I understand completely, and that new colour - Fabulous! http://mac-adventureswithbooks.blogspot.co.uk/
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Cori
Monday 15th of February 2016
@Treat your pets too This is hilarious. I just picked Palladian Blue for our master bedroom, which is a perfect colour for that room because of all the natural light.
The reason I came on this blog is because I accidentally picked antique white for our trim. I mixed up SW Antique White and BM Antique White. Ahhhh! I now have beautiful edgecomb grey-like walls in my living room, a light pewter ceiling... and a peachy pinky trim. Sometimes I tell myself I'll live with it-- mostly because my future FIL painted the trim for me and I can't imagine going over the hours he spent painting it. I might just have to suck it up and paint over it by myself. The room is empty, so I'd rather do it before we put the furniture in.
[email protected]
Tuesday 16th of February 2016
Cori I feel your pain on the trim that is not the right color. I have been there so many times with paint colors that were not right. I'd paint the trim now instead of waiting because chances are the trim color isn't going to grow on you! BM White Dove is really pretty with Edgecomb Gray (I have it in my dining room) and Decorator's White is a bright white that is really pretty with it too!
Treat your pets too
Wednesday 20th of January 2016
Just had serious painters remorse in my powder room. My house has mainly gray or griege colors and the master bath I just finnished in Palladian blue cut to half strength. Loved it all until the powder room...i thought i would be different and since i had punches of coral in the family room the powder room went to coral! I spent hours looking over samples and swatches and painted some on the wall. I went with vintage coral by Behr. First wall it looked nice but by the last was hideous neon..the room has no natural light. In that room awful so it may just become something to paint furniture with. Then i rushed out to get a peachish color crisp straw by benjamin moore and neon orange! Sigh! Again probsbly be real nice it a light and bright room. Now looking at the direction of navy..which was my first intinct and am going to paint gentleman's gray what an interested color and no neon i hope! Started out thinking hale navy but gentlemans gray is winning. And going to get natural lights that might cut the horrible neon glow it turns the colors in there. My colors are currently BM abalone-guest room lavender gray and quite serene. BM edgecomb gray living room, loft and halls of open concept home, BM revere pewter- office, BM 1/2 cut Palladian blue master bath. BM Azure water-daughters room-very pretty sophisticated teal. Looks great with woods and white. Family room- BM jute (nice but not a slam dunk) with silhouette acent wall(love similar to kendall charcoal) Still to do..daughter bath-likely a lavender white?, master bedroom- still thinking looking at SW collanade grey but i have a lot of easy greys already so not quite enough difference room to room with the grey. and possibly do something with the laundry room maybe a old white with bright trim...though staying away from coral on walls!
bluehydrangea
Saturday 9th of November 2013
I can't believe I stumble upon your blog today of all days, I am trying to decide between several shades of blue for a small den in my house and one of those colors is Gentleman's Gray! I may have just picked the winner! Thx!
Jennifer @ Dimples and Tangles
Monday 1st of April 2013
That color is absolutely gorgeous! You're moving right along on your bedroom...I'm jealous! :)
Susan Maclean
Friday 22nd of March 2013
Oh yes! here's our downstairs toilet (half-bath, I think you may call it)on my blog.... try scrolling down a couple of posts. The original colour I hated the day it was finished - TEN years of hating! and now, I am keeping the grey for ever. SO I understand completely, and that new colour - Fabulous! http://mac-adventureswithbooks.blogspot.co.uk/