Guest Room Paint Woes

I have a hard time with paint colors. I like cool and neutral tones (see bedroom, kitchen, bathroom). Easy enough. But when I recently tried to get out of that comfort zone, things didn’t go so smoothly. Example: the gray guest room that I wanted to lighten up.

The first paint, Gray Beige by Olympic, was baaad. It was practically John Boehner orange. I’m exaggerating but not really. The camera didn’t pick up just how orangey it was. That said: don’t dismiss Gray Beige just because it didn’t read well in my one room. Who knows, maybe it’s a perfectly nice color elsewhere. Just not here. Not for me. I didn’t even move the furniture or peel off tape before grabbing a new gallon of paint.

The second color I tried is Lacey Pearl by Benjamin Moore. It’s much lighter and the undertones aren’t as overpowering. Ahhhh. Much better. I know, I know – it doesn’t look that different. But trust me. In such a small room (it’s 10.5′ x 9′ or so), color packs a punch.

And I switched the bed back to the other wall. Ignore the mess, we were cleaning the closet and fiddling with Christmas storage bins. So what now? The blue curtains, gray bed and two-toned dresser are collectively hurting my eyes. So that’s on the list. And the light. Oh, the light. I love ceiling fans, but the two spare bedroom ceilings are too low for that business.

We had to move that chest of drawers in this room (making way for nursery organizing). The furniture is WAY too crowded, but surprisingly, the drawers open all the way. The eventual solution is to ditch the chest. Maybe replace it with a long, short and narrow bookcase? As for now, it’s home to our power tools, so until the shed fairy builds us a shed in the backyard, the chest is here to stay.

Overall, mission accomplished: the room is significantly brighter! But the pressure is on to finish this room before we start the nursery, so family can visit and have a pleasant place to sleep.