Painting the Master Bedroom, Part I: Sherwin Williams Colonnade Gray

The last time I painted our master bedroom (and bathroom) walls was six years ago, in the summer of 2014 to be exact. At the time, I do recall being happy with the chocolate-y brown Sherwin Williams Tree Branch and Tavern Taupe colors that we'd chosen. But as the years have gone on, I've become increasingly turned off by the dark walls, especially since we don't have a lot of natural light in the bedroom (and virtually none in the bathroom). I'd rather be eating chocolate than looking it at on the walls.

These pictures were taken a few years ago after I got a new duvet cover, and before I had painted the trim white in the bedroom. But you get the idea of how dark and cave-like cozy the room is, especially with the dark furniture too.

The ceiling had been painted Tavern Taupe, which was slightly lighter than the Tree Branch on the walls.

Last summer, I almost got the motivation to repaint the bedroom (and bathroom) all again. I even painted a few color samples on the walls. Then, I just couldn't make up my mind and eventually lost the motivation altogether. Honestly, the thought of repainting everything again was overwhelming, and I felt too busy with work and other things to deal with it.

Fast forward to this summer. My disdain for the brown walls had grown even stronger... It felt like they were closing in on us. A makeover could no longer be delayed, if only for my own well-being. Not to mention that if we're ever going to move elsewhere (which I hope happens sooner rather than later), a lighter, more neutral color will no doubt be more appealing to a potential buyer. 

Sooo, back to the agonizing task of deciding on a color. This time I ended up getting four new paint samples at Sherwin Williams: Agreeable Gray, Colonnade Gray, Silver Strand and Sea Salt. I'd researched them all thoroughly on the SW website as well as multiple blogs. If one of these options didn't emerge a winner, there was officially no hope for this project.

After painting the samples in a couple different areas on different walls, my husband and I agreed (ha) that Agreeable Gray was too light for our liking (though I know it's a very popular neutral and for good reason). On the other hand, Sea Salt would probably get too "minty" (though it's a very pretty color with a spa-like feel perfect for bathrooms). That narrowed it down to two options. We both liked the Colonnade Gray, which is a warm gray with beige undertones. Generally speaking, it's way lighter, brighter and more neutral than the Tree Branch color currently on our walls, yet it still has some interesting depth to it. Colonnade Gray would certainly allow for a lot of versatility with decorating the room too.

As for the Silver Strand, I personally thought it was a really nice color although Luke had some reservations about the subtle blue/green undertones. This does make it quite a chameleon color and potentially a bit more limiting as far as decor accents. That said, it would certainly make for a very tranquil and airy bedroom and bathroom! 

I told you the lighting in here is terrible, and it's hard to tell which paint samples are which. Can you see why we need to brighten this space up, pronto? 

The other factor in our decision-making process is the paint color of our living room/dining room/kitchen (Valspar Rocky Bluffs, a cool gray that leans blue). Since our bedroom is right off the main living space, we didn't want a paint color in there that would look either too similar to the Rocky Bluffs, or potentially make the Rocky Bluffs appear even more blue in comparison. So much to think about. Ultimately, after a couple days of inner turmoil and staring at the paint samples on the walls, I opted for the safer of the two colors: Colonnade Gray. (I'm still mentally filing away Silver Strand as a potential color to use someday, maybe in our next house...)

Anyway, it just so happened that Sherwin Williams was having a 30% off sale during the 4th of July weekend. This was all the incentive I needed to buy the paint now, thereby forcing myself to follow through with a makeover this time around. I made use of their curbside pickup option and ordered six gallons of SuperPaint (Velvet sheen) online; the total was about $260.

A couple weeks later, I took off two days of work so I could knock out the entire bedroom painting in a long weekend. But first, the prep work... and isn't this the worst part of any painting project? First I wiped down all the walls and trim to get rid of any dust, dog slobber, etc. Then I painted white down onto the very top edges of the walls, in order to cover up any existing dark brown and ideally make for a crisper ceiling line later on. Then finally all the taping. Ugh. Did I mention prep is the worst part of painting? 

Anyway. Now it was time for cutting in all the corners. Slowly but surely, I was getting closer to the actual "fun" part of rolling the walls... As you can see, we moved the bed to the center of the room so I could work around it, but then had to move it out once it was time to paint the ceiling.

Saving the worst part for last... If it weren't for this tray ceiling (which is 10 feet tall hence the big ladder), painting our bedroom would have been a much less daunting project. Taping and cutting in these corners was not fun! 

Close-up of the taped off and painted tray ceiling

Well, this post has gotten long enough on its own, so I'll have to save the official reveal for my next post. As of this writing, the only thing I've got left to do is put one more coat on the ceiling before we can move all the furniture back in. And I must say, it's looking goooood. 

Until then, enjoy this photo of my ever-helpful painting "assistants" ... apparently this is what you get for free labor!