Painting the Bedroom

The current plan is to do some basic remodeling in the bedroom over Thanksgiving weekend that will include cutting a doorway for the extra attic, and removing the wall between the closet doors in order to make access to the closet more efficient. The current two-door access will be replaced by bi-fold doors that extend across the closet. Once that’s done, I can putty the four million holes that were left by the previous tenants and get down to putting some color on the walls.


I really like Behr’s ColorSmart web application, even though choosing colors on an uncalibrated computer monitor is just asking for trouble. It’s especially nice that you can order samples online, but still… a monitor’s ability to accurately portray a particular color is a difficult proposition even for the best monitors on the market. That being said, I know what I see in my head, and armed with the color names the Behr application has given me, I can go to Home Depot and see if these colors are on the mark:

Bedroom Colors


Assuming what I see on the screen is a reasonable match to what I’ll see in the store, I’m leaning pretty heavily toward Pebble Stone, Koala Bear, or Granite Boulder. Whatever I choose will be used in the bathroom as well. The ceiling and all of the woodwork (doors, molding, etc) will be white.

The goal is to make the room calm, cool, and crisp. The calm comes from a neutral earth tone. The cool comes from a color that tends to avoid yellow and red tinted tones and leans more toward the blue-er end of the spectrum. As for the crisp… clean lines between the white trim and wall color.

As soon as the paint is done, I’m putting up blinds and curtains… the more they block light, the better.

7 Responses to “Painting the Bedroom”

  1. Comments are still slightly borked for the time being. I can now get all the comment text, but any paragraph formatting is lost. Please comment as normal, and I'll keep working to get things straightened out.
  1. i like twig basket myself. but i'd stay away from HD paint. use a better brand, it'll go on easier and last longer... just my 2 cents. looking good though!!
  2. Have to agree with James on that one. The HD paint, well behr paint it just doenst seem to go on like you want it to. We tried both the HD adn Lowes brands, American Tradition and the AT was a much higher quality paint to work with. Enjoy the fumes!
  3. Thanks for the head's up, guys. All of my painting projects to date have been done with American Traditions from Lowe's, so I guess I'll stick with that. Of course, now that I post the colors that I'm leaning towards, I've seen two rooms online with a deep slate blue that look incredible. I guess I'll go to Lowe's tonight and get some samples to ruminate on.
  4. The color choices you're most attracted to are nice colors but I would say they look more on the gray side. You say your goal is to "make the room calm, cool, and crisp." So here's something I found about the psychology of color for the color gray and how it impacts the mood of a room: The color gray is a combination of both black and white. While white is associated with the light and black is associated with the dark side of things, gray is neither. It is the true neutral color. When people are unsure if something is good or bad, right or wrong they call it a “gray area”. Gray skies are neither sunny nor rainy. Gray has a detached and isolated feeling…sort of like the lone wolf. Gray is non-invasive and reserved and is associated with neutrality, anonymity, androgyny, bleakness, indifference, practicality, conservatism, middle of the road, rock solid, being sturdy, stable and dependable. When a person dies, and all the color and life leave the body, the skin starts to look a little gray so gray is also often associated with being colorless and lifeless. Gray imparts lack of movement, emotion, warmth and identifying characteristics. As a neutral, gray provides an unobtrusive background for an infinite number of color combinations. It can enhance the psychological response of the other colors it supports. Grays on walls are often very livable for a long while, provide a flexible neutral background for furnishings, and can be extremely stylish. Grays can be buttoned down and traditional, modern and contemporary, or beach house friendly.
  5. Thanks for the tips. Actually, the bedroom has already been painted (about a year and a half ago now). But, the commentary about Gray is welcome since I'm thinking that's what I'll do when I finally paint the living room.
  6. I don't know much about the quality of Home Depot's merchandise. I know that 50 yers Behr was a very respected brand that my dad used. Anyway speaking about Thanksgiving… This Thanksgiving when everybody is at the table you can share this piece of Turkey Day Trivia. Did you know that the first Thanksgiving was held in Mexico by the Spanish and not in Plymouth, Massachusetts by Pilgrims? That will surely get some peoples knickers in a knot! Happily Retired Boomer in Ajijic, Mexico, Joel Smith Casa Preciosa, Ajijic, Mexico www.CasaPreciosaAjijic.com
  7. Interesting info on the color grey. Recently remodeled my bedroom and painted the walls in a beige-grey color (as a background for dark wood furniture); it actually ended up the being the most stylish room in the house so far.

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