Taupe-tastic Makeover Part I: Master Bedroom

Painting our master bedroom is one of those projects that’s been on my to-do list for awhile, but there’s been no urgent need to get it done. When we moved into our house 6 years ago, I actually liked the greenish/bluish/aqua color. But over time, I’ve grown tired of it and wanted to move toward something a little more sophisticated and neutral (but not blah-neutral).

Here are some “before” pictures (these were taken right after we got new furniture a few years ago, but we’ve since gotten different bedding).

The other weekend I finally became motivated to make the change and began my quest for the perfect shade. Eventually, the hubs and I decided on two Sherwin Williams colors we liked—Tree Branch and Tavern Taupe. Because our bedroom has a tray ceiling, we thought this would be a good opportunity to try a two-tone effect, with the darker color on the walls and the lighter color on the ceiling.

However, upon making a trip to the Sherwin Williams store, we discovered that SW is pretty pricey (although I’m sure the quality is excellent). It just so happened that weekend that Ace Hardware was having a buy-one-get-one-free sale on their Clark + Kensington paint (which is the Ace brand). We got six gallons color-matched in eggshell finish for the price of three ($90 total), which if you ask me is a pretty great deal.  And if you’re wondering why we bought so much, it’s because I had plans to paint our master bathroom in the same colors (I’ll post more on that later).

I should also say that the people who painted the interior of our house did a pretty sloppy job; all of the rooms have spots of color on the ceiling because apparently they thought taping was overrated. So in all of the rooms we’ve re-done so far, I’ve had to paint the ceiling perimeter white first, before doing the color on the walls. Super frustrating, but the end result makes me so much happier.

Makes you cringe, doesn't it?

Here’s a couple more prep pictures, once everything was taped.  (Thank goodness I have lots of rolls of ScotchBlue painter’s tape.)

Yes, I laid on my floor to take this picture.

Trying out a sample of the new color

Clark  + Kensington is a paint and primer in one, but I still needed two coats to cover everything thoroughly.  On the ceiling, instead of leaving the very top white like it was before, we decided to do the whole thing in the Tavern Taupe. I kind of feel like it almost makes the room appear a little bigger because your eye isn’t drawn up to the big white square in the middle; it just all blends together.

As you’ll see in these pictures, the color looks very different in incandescent light (more brown tone) vs. natural light (more gray tone), but either way I like it. There's just a subtle difference between the Tavern Taupe on the ceiling and the Tree Branch on the walls, but it's enough that you can tell.

The picture frames and mirror on the far wall were an antique silver color before; I spray painted them white so they'd pop against the wall more. 

Tavern Taupe on the tray ceiling

Luckily our existing bedding coordinates fine with the new paint color. However, I still want to get something new that’s white or lighter overall to offset the darker walls, yet still has a bright color such as coral, yellow, orange, or maybe turquoise. Since we saved so much money on paint, might as well put it toward a new bedding set, am I right? Always justifying my cause

And in a perfect world, our trim would be all white instead of the colonial maple stain it is now, but I definitely need a break before I tackle that project!