I’ve been planning for months to paint the bedroom pink, but, as with most of my DIY projects, I have really, really good intentions and less than perfect follow through. So, in a moment of ambitious motivation, I went to the Farrow & Ball showroom here in D.C. and picked out a few samples that caught my eye.  

The first option, Middleton Pink, read very bright and cool. Pretty, but more ballerina than blush. Pink Ground was nice, but with the abundant lighting in the bedroom it leaned a little toward coral, which nixed it from the list. Pegnoir is seriously gorgeous, but more lilac than I thought I could handle in the bedroom. (This would look great in a dining room with traditional crown moulding and sky-high ceilings, I think.) So I settled on Calamine. It was the dusty hue I was looking for and stayed subtle even in the generous lighting in the bedroom from the large windows and bright chandelier. Decision made, I went online to price out my impending purchase and found that 2 gallons of Calamine would run me a little over $200. As much as I appreciate good paint, and Farrow & Ball definitely makes great paint, I really, really didn’t want to spend that much. So, back to square one. Sort of.

Project stalled, fast forward to this week, and an upcoming visit from my fiancée’s parents. We really wanted to have the bedroom painted before they arrived, so we had to get this thing moving! I procrastinated thoroughly, per usual, and then went to Ace Hardware, per usual, and finally bought some paint. With Calamine in mind, I picked through their selection of dusty, blush pinks and landed on Rose Silk by Benjamin Moore. It had enough gray in it to feel sophisticated and calm, but it’s still a very obvious pink. A very sweet man walked me through how much to buy, what other supplies I would need, and what finish to choose. I went with an eggshell finish, which is a nice compromise between a flat color and and a shiny one, and has the added bonus of being totally wipe-able, great for those, like me, with rambunctious pups and a severe aversion to daily dusting and cleaning. 

Two gallons rang in at just under $70, a vast improvement from my original pick, and with roller, brush, tray, tape and drop cloth at the ready, I went for it! 

What a difference a little paint makes! The room feels so much more put together and intentional now. Plus, that blush goes soooo well with all of the brass accents in the room. 

In less lighting it goes a little moodier, which I really love. We also chose not to paint the upper portion of the wall on two sides, the areas that jut out from the wall above the windows and TV wall, and I love the way that turned out. I love the look of 3/4 painted walls (and the added benefit of disguising less than perfectly straight ceilings), but was not interested in laser levels and all the extra work that comes with achieving the look. This was a happy coincidence, and we got the benefits without the breaking of our backs.

All smiles and heart eyes aside, and in the spirit of total honesty and forthrightedness, let me just lay all the cards on the table. There was a moment, right at the beginning of the process, when I had a complete and utter, earth-shattering meltdown. I’m talking tears folks. Many were shed. When I first saw the color on the walls, butted up next to the bright blue painter’s tape, in weird lighting (it was 9:00 at night when I started painting), I felt I had made a terrible mistake. For those first 20, (ok, maybe 45) minutes, I looked at that paint and all I could think was Pepto Bismol, and later, Granny’s kitchen. It went on much darker than I anticipated, and  I seriously considered stopping with a half painted wall and calling it a fail. Thank goodness for the calming abilities of my fiancée, (they’ve been thoroughly honed over the years, let’s just say), because without his level-headed encouragement, we’d be having an entirely different conversation right now. 

I’m so pleased with how the room is coming along! That wall with the haphazard shelves (a real DIY fail and a story for another day), is meant to become the wallpaper accent wall, but I’m thinking of nixing it altogether now that I see the pink on all four walls. What is happening in the near future is we will be replacing those ugly shelves with a small, narrow desk and chair, and turning that area into my vanity. 

Clockwise from top left: Remini Narrow Console Table, Euro Console Sofa Table, Go Cart White Rolling Table, Mid Century Modern Console Table, Lydock Console Table

These are some of the options I’ve been considering, and they’re all available for less than $200, and all but one are sold on Amazon (the other, the rolling desk, is from CB2). Obviously the question is what will work best with the new pink walls! Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. 

Before this becomes the longest post in history, I’ll end by saying that if you’re considering painting a room in your home, and aren’t already a color pro, do your homework! Buy samples! Test your paint! This project could have gone way, way wrong if not for sheer, blind luck. So embrace color, go bright, go dark, go cheery, go moody. Just remember that the actual painting is the easy part. And that’s saying something.

xo – Cassie