Young House Love

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Painting The Ceiling Pink In Our Daughter’s Room

We did it! We can put three big ol’ check marks next to “paint the walls” and “paint the closet” and “paint the ceiling” in Clara’s room. It was definitely a bit of a painting marathon, but how sweet is the soft pink up there on the ceiling? It’s Pink Cadillac by Benjamin Moore in their eggshell finish. In some of these photos it’s pretty subtle, but in person it’s soft-but-noticeable – so while it’s not the entire room’s focal point, it’s a fun layered detail in the room. We thought clean white walls would complement the fun ceiling color without fighting too much with all of the color and pattern in things like the rug/pillows/curtains, so we went with BM Simply White in eggshell, which is also what we use for trim and doors in a glossier finish. Here are some other popular whites for walls and trim.

Claras Room1010

We also used some leftover ceiling paint in the closet, just to add something in there too. Someday I want to add a built-in bench in there and I even think about doing something interesting to the slanted ceiling (little cedar roofing shakes could bring out that “indoor playhouse” vibe – and maybe even some playful wallpaper on the back wall could be fun).

Claras Room8

Oh and you’ll notice that the rug and the curtains from the living room have migrated up here. Clara’s pink rug was shedding like a maniac (the new hardwoods made the giant pink tumbleweeds especially noticeable) and Clara loves playing on this blue rug (she pretends the light blue parts are the ocean for her toys/dolls) so we rolled it out up here to see how we liked it. When we plopped everything down after moving we figured a bunch of things would find their way around the house, so it’s fun to see things making the rounds, and now this woven rug is in the living room – although the jury’s still out on whether we like it there for the long haul.

But let’s rewind to the room all prepped (we moved everything into the center and covered it with a few plastic dropcloths). Remember those old stripey walls from spraying the doors before we installed the hardwood floors? Well, we decided we didn’t want that primer/paint “flashing” (meaning that it could show through the paint if we didn’t prime) so we took a minute to prime just the areas that we worried about that happening.

Claras Room1

Here’s that area all primed along with the ceiling painted (we painted the ceiling first, then moved on to priming just select areas of the walls where we worried about bleed or flashing).

Claras Room2

Then we broke out the white paint for the walls. I grabbed this shot so you can see the difference between the yellowed old wall paint, the cooler toned primer, and the Simply White wall color.

Claras Room3

Of course we’re still missing a bunch of things on the wall, like something I’m halfway through sewing for over Clara’s bed (COUGHcanopyCOUGH) so I can’t wait to get that done and hung – along with some other art and eventually a light fixture that we’d love to add too. But it’s already a huge improvement not to have the old yellowed walls and to finally be rid of those stripes from spraying the doors! And it’s certainly a far cry from the room full of blue trim that we started with:

Claras Room

We’ve also been trying to work on our photography skillz (picture us both laughing and blushing as we say that since we have such a long way to go) but we shot all of these after photos in manual for the first time! They’re definitely not perfect, but we’re slowly getting the hang of it… I think.

Claras Room5

Clara is in love with her pink ceiling. When she came in and saw it she said “now when I’m sleeping I can look at the pink and the pink can look at me.”

Claras Room6

I love that it’s a balance of crazy and calm in here, thanks to the fun mix of patterns (in the pillows, curtains, and the rug) combined with the white furniture and the white walls to sort of temper things so the room isn’t too wacky.

Claras Room7

Here’s a shot from the closet, looking back at the other side of the room. That wall above the crib definitely needs some art, although Clara seems close to being done with her crib so we might just wait until she’s outta there to move it out of the room and then decide what will live on that wall, which will definitely inform the art above it.

Claras Room99

Ooh look, I focused on the book and blurred the alligator. I feel like I should make myself a construction crown that says “Photoshoot Skillz In Da House” … and then promptly crumble it up after checking out my other favorite blogs, which all have infinitely better photos.

Claras Room11

This cute kid makes any picture better though, so big ups to my girl for making this shot.

Claras Room1212

Oh and if you look closely you’ll see that we didn’t quite get into all the cracks where the wall meets the ceiling since we’re planning to add some crown molding – hopefully pretty soon!

Claras Room1313

What are you guys painting? Any clean walls + playful ceilings going on?

Comments

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It’s about 9 months old and didn’t seem to shed as much before (possibly because it was just in her playroom, which didn’t get as much foot traffic, so when it moved to her bedroom here (we’re in and out all day for naps and playing and bedtime) it was crazy how much pink fur was flying! It’s from Joss & Main which doesn’t accept returns (all sales are final) but I might just try vacuuming it a bunch of times to see if I can “break it in” or we might craigslist it down the line. Sad though – wish it wasn’t so hairy!

      xo
      s

    • Sarah says

      You might want to talk to a rug cleaning company. I spoke to one who said that professionally cleaning a rug can sometimes get out all of the loose stuff so the shedding is vastly reduced. I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s worth a shot since that pink rug is so cute!

    • Maura says

      We got a wool rug a year ago that shed like crazy, but using it and vacuuming a LOT seemed to do the trick. It no longer sheds any more than we do. :) I’m hoping the pink rug will learn to behave and find a nice place in the house to live – I love it so much.

    • mp says

      I wouldn’t be surprised if you hear from them regarding a refund or exchange. The blog has reached a point where they’d be risking goodwill to ignore this.

    • Amanda Quam says

      I actually purchased a rug from Joss and Main that fell apart in a few months. They had INCREDIBLE customer service – like out of this world. They refunded the entire cost of the rug and didn’t even ask me to return it. So you never know.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Really?! Wow, thanks for the tip Amanda! I’m not sure if the “it’s been 9 months since I bought this” thing could hurt me, but I’ll have to look into contacting them about it if I can’t use some of the tips folks left on this post to fix the problem myself.

      xo
      s

  4. Manda Wolf says

    Very pretty! I always admire people who go ahead and paint the ceiling a color, I am always to afraid to do that except for our downstairs bathroom which has an oil robbed bronze ceiling. BTW her room looks huge!

    Reply

  5. Lindz says

    So, I’m the freak who sat at her computer refreshing the page until 10 am on the dot… and it was worth the wait! I LOVE THE CEILING! I want a painted ceiling soooo bad. I have this vision of a striped, tent like ceiling in our playroom but I got completely burned out on ceiling painting when we finished it down there… in 2010. Oops.

    And go you wit your mad camera skillz! Next stop, bokeh!

    Reply

  12. Kimberly says

    Her room looks great! I definitely prefer the new, calmer color scheme to the old bright one. And the pink on the ceiling is too cute!

    Your photos look lovely–keep up the practice and you’ll earn that crown in no time. ;)

    Reply

  13. Wendy @ New Moms Talk says

    Does envisioning you’re painting count for painting things?

    The house on which our offer was accepted is being inspected tomorrow, and if all goes well we’ll close soon. In the mean time, I’m dreaming of painting and am hoping my hub will be up for a trip to the paint store today to play with colors and possibilities.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, that totally counts! I remember lying in bed the night before we closed on our first house thinking “if I paint two rooms a day I’ll be done in a week, tops” … cut to us still painting that house a few years in! Haha! Oh how simple it can be in your mind…

      xo
      s

  14. Amelia says

    Loving the polka dot curtains in here. Did the curtains Clara picked out for her big girl room get moved to the living room?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      They’re currently folded up in the spare room, so we’re not sure where they’ll end up! We think they could work in there someday or in the living room or even in the kitchen or dining room so we’ll have to see!

      xo
      s

  18. Faith says

    I love it!! I really want to paint the ceiling in my girls’ room, but I just haven’t gotten up the courage to do it yet. It seems so intimidating to paint overhead. Clara has such a peaceful playful space. Wonderful job!

    Reply

  22. Laura says

    Her room looks so great! Love how fresh and playful it feels. Just the perfect room for a little lady! Thanks for always sharing such useful tips and advice. I’m a new homeowner going through reno’s myself and often come to your site to look for inspiration! If you ever have time i’d love feedback or thoughts on some of the little home projects i’ve posted on our blog. xoxox

    Reply

  24. Lisa says

    Its coming together beautifully! I’m surprised the curtains got switched out since Clara picked out the fabric for the others. Is she over them now? The girl’s got a good eye–who am I to argue! :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We tried the living room rug with the old curtains but they had more ivory and navy (the rug seemed to go better with these since the base is white) so we asked her if she wanted the blue rug and the polka dot curtains up in her room and she was down. Haha! I definitely hope we can use those other curtains somewhere else though (we have so many curtainless rooms to fill that we think they’ll find a place).

      xo
      s

  28. Danielle says

    I love this room! It came out so beautifully! May I ask where you got your curtains & curtain rods? I am currently looking for curtain rods identical to the black ones you used. Any info would be appreciated & once again, absolutely lovely!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks so much Danielle! The curtains are from Ikea a while back (don’t think they sell them anymore, but maybe try ebay?) and the rods are from Target (where we got those ring clips as well).

      xo
      s

  29. Jamie says

    Bummer on Clara’s old rug shedding. We got a similar rug from Joss and Main that did the same thing :( Great design…not real life friendly. Love the changes. Must ask…where did you purchase the cute curtains? I’m struggling to find some in a similar style.

    Reply

  30. Angel says

    Love that you went with white walls!!! I am planning to do that for my sons “big boy room” and everyone keeps saying its not “fun” enough for a kid. The thing is though, kids have colorful bedding, curtains, rugs, and TOYS TOYS TOYS. The white wall is like a canvas that everything else pops against.

    I wouldn’t have thought of it either until I noticed all the kids rooms I was “pinning” had white walls. Anyway, I love it. And I love the “de-pinkifying” (totally a word, right?), but thats just my taste.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Totally! I have pinned so many white walled rooms lately but in my head I don’t even realize they’re white walls because the rooms themselves are so colorful! But when I look closely that color is just brought in with art, bedding, curtains, rugs, and other details like a colorful ceiling or a cool fabric tent. It was such a crazy thing to notice! I thought “surely those walls must be some color” and looked closer and squinted, but nope, all white!).

      xo
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I’m not sure! I was originally thinking of hanging them in the closet but I think they’ll be too bulky in there, so I’d love to find a spot for them in her main room (maybe where the crib is once that moves out and something else – maybe her play kitchen – ends up along that wall?

      xo
      s

  32. andrea says

    I like the softness of it, but I’m kind of surprised at how much white and barely-there colors you seem to be using in this house -I guess I just miss her rooms from the first two houses.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I think it’ll end up being a mix of bold pops of colors in the accessories (like the rug and the curtains and the pillows) in some rooms that have more muted wall colors and other rooms will have deeper or more bold walls (like our bedroom). We’re just getting started, so I think things will get layered in as we go, but it certainly will look more like a blank canvas in these beginning stages :)

      xo
      s

  33. Lauren (in PA) says

    Aww..have to say I’m a smidgen bummed you went with white. But I love the pink ceiling!

    It looks great, but I always think of your style as more creative than just white…but that being said, I’m sure when you add your COUGHcanopyCOUGH and more art and decorations it’ll come together for me.

    I love she plays ocean with the rug…brings back many a memory! Too bad about that pink rug though…I was kind of in love with that thing! I know there’s a plan cooking!

    As I have a 20 year old boy, I have to live girly decorating vicariously through you guys!

    Reply

  37. Kate says

    We just bought a new house and are currently looking for good quality rugs like the one you have here… any suggestions on where to look? (Thanks, and I love your blog!)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We found that one at a local decorating outlet here in Richmond (called The Decorating Outlet). I’m a huge fan of getting to touch/feel/walk on rugs when you can, so maybe checking out some local places would help? We have also found deals at PB Outlet or even just in the Pottery Barn store (we scored a yellow moorish rug on a deep clearance a few years back).

      xo
      s

  40. Kate says

    Clara’s room looks perfect! I love the pink ceiling! Also, I’m in the market for curtain rods- what are your recommendations for color? I know you use black a lot and I really love it. I don’t use a lot of black in terms of decor (I always use white frames, brown or white furniture, etc) but can I still do black rods? Our door handles are all silver so I use to think silver but now I think that’s too matchup and bathroom-like. What do you think? And where do you but you’re?! Thanks! I would value your advice so much!

    Reply

  41. Amber says

    I think the pink rug she had before in her room would really make the ceiling pop. Looks kind of boring in there now with the white walls. Sorry to be a negative Nancy :(

    Reply

  44. Shellie says

    Can you please tell us your sources for pillows, curtains and rug? Love it all!! Thinking of painting my daughter’s ceiling pink and she’s 15! :-)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Shellie! The curtains are from Ikea a while back (they don’t sell them anymore but maybe try ebay?). The rug is from a local decorating outlet here in Richmond (called The Decorating Outlet) but we have also seen it on Joss & Main. As for the pillows, many of them are from HomeGoods and the pink C one is from Joss & Main and the gradient ones are from West Elm.

      xo
      s

  45. Jill says

    Too cute for starters! Fantastic ceiling idea.
    Second, in one of your video’s I hear you mention a particular thrift store here (Richmond) that you liked for furniture……
    The day bed I can’t remember if you DYI’d that or found at some place like West Elm.
    Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That daybed is from West Elm almost 7 years ago (it was a sweet wedding gift from John’s God Mother). As for the thrift store, is it Love of Jesus? Or Diversity Thrift?

      xo
      s

    • Jill says

      Thanks for the reply! Looking for some loveseats for our new den that we can redo – very odd space. Looking for mid-century loveseats…..Can’t wait to go shopping!
      Jill

    • YoungHouseLove says

      These are from Target a while back (it’s also where we got the ring clips) but we got some thicker rods from Home Depot more recently (for the living room) so both places can be nice!

      xo
      s

  47. Dena says

    Totally dig the rug with the blues/greys/teals with the dotted curtains… and the navy dot pillows. I think you could completely work in some grey/white or navy/white stripe or chevron too!

    Reply

  48. Ariel says

    Loving the curtains and rug in her room. I wasn’t loving the living room with them so I’m looking forward to seeing how that room comes together too :-)

    Reply

  50. Ciara says

    Love it! Such a happy feeling room without being in your face pink :) A little off topic but is Clara still in her cot/crib?? If you’re nervous, don’t be! I’ll bet she’ll be just great. We transitioned our son a couple of months after moving (countries- we moved from Ireland to Siberia) and I was soooo nervous that my perfect sleeping 2 yr old (sleeps 7pm until 8am) would not handle it well but he did just great. Hope you’re encouraged and not annoyed by such a random comment!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yes, she’s still in her crib, but I have a feeling she’s close to making the switch. I’m a little nervous but excited too! And your comment definitely helps!

      xo
      s

    • Michele Daggar says

      My daughter slept in her crib until she was almost 4 years old! She just loved sleeping and playing in it. When she wanted a bed, we got her one. Every kid is different.

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