Young House Love

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One Of Our Favorite Bedroom Paint Colors

We finally painted the guest room! And Burger, as you can see, is THRILLED.

Chihuahua sitting on colorful bed with Sparrow Walls

No more over-spray marks from door painting forming a lovely “accent wall” over the bed. Huzzah!

Unapinted bedroom with colorful accessories

The color? Sparrow by Benjamin Moore. It’s a color we’ve loved for a while now (it was one of our whole-house-color-palette guesses from last year) and we thought the guest room was the perfect place to try it out since it gets a lot of natural light from that giant triple window along the back wall.

Colorful bedroom with Sparrow walls

Since it’s a deep color we used a tinted primer first, and as usual I did the cutting in while John did the rolling. Oh and we painted the ceiling first (Simply White like the trim, but in a flat finish instead of semi-gloss) just because it’s nice to do that at the same time while the room is cleared for painting if you have the energy. Sparrow is more of a brown tone with gray undertones than a cool/flat gray color (you can see from the paint going on over the tinted primer that the primer definitely had a cooler/grayer tint going on).

Hand using small paintbrush to edge walls in guest bedroom Sparrow

With all the painting done, we decided we were over the blank walls in there, so we dug through our storage room for some frames and a mirror to complement the new paint job. A few old Ikea frames ended up in a grid over the chairs across from the bed.

Seating area in guest bedroom with Sparrow walls

They used to hang over our sofa in the last house, and they contain a few of our favorite instagram photos with big linen-like fabric mats behind them for some texture.

Bedroom wall painted Sparrow by Benjamin Moore

Over the bookcase to the left of the bed we went with another one of those Ikea frames, but we added one of our picture hanging knobs from Target along with some gold ribbon (to tie into the gold mirror we hung over the bed).

Art hanging in bedroom with BM Sparrow walls

Here’s a panned out shot for you. The wall on the left looks weirdly yellow because sunlight is shining in and reflecting green from the trees, so the other photos are more accurate in terms of the color.

Colorful guest bedroom with deep gray walls Sparrow by Benjamin Moore

The gold mirror was an old yard sale find that used to hang in our last house’s laundry room, and when John held it up over the bed we both liked how it looked with the wall color. Originally we thought we might want to hang something on either side of it to fill things out (like some small candle sconces, ledges, or art) but there’s something simple and sweet about the gold mirror without a lot of other stuff going on.

We also switched out the luggage-tray-turned-side-table for something a little more substantial with a drawer for concealed storage and a cubby for a few books and magazines. We found two of these tables for $11 at a yard sale a few years back, and I’m glad to have a spot for this one again – especially since it meant we could add a nice big light that felt more to scale than the tiny one that used to sit on the luggage rack.

Side table in bedroom with colorful flowers and headboard

The flowers are just a grocery store bouquet leftover from Clara’s party (alstroemeria for the win, they tend to live for 3-4 weeks!).

We still have a few things on the to-do list in here, like adding crown molding, eventually updating the seating area to a sewing spot so the room gets more use, and making a new headboard (we’d love something more substantial – and maybe with an interesting shape). I’m sure we’ll also upgrade some of these working-with-what-we-have-items over time (like the art, the bedding, the rug, or the curtains) but for just a gallon of primer and paint and some stuff that was sitting around mocking us in the storage room we’re really happy with the new vibe.

Unpainted bedroom with colorful decor

The guest room is at the top of the stairs, so we both do that “ooh!” thing when we go upstairs now. It’s amazing how blind you can become to certain eyesores (like those over-spayed door marks) but when you finally take care of them it’s like a breath of fresh air.

After photo of colorful bedroom with dark Sparrow Benjamin Moore walls

What did you guys do this weekend? Anything fun? We had a nice balance of work and family time – and spent a lot of time being grateful for everything that Memorial Day stands for. Hope you had a happy one!

MORE PAINT COLORS WE LOVE

You can check out more of our favorite go-to paint colors by touring our homes in the menu at the top of our blog. We’ve also written these detailed deep-dive posts about our favorite paints: 

Psst- Wanna know where we got something in our house? Just click on this button: 

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Comments

  1. Mary | Lemon Grove Blog says

    Ohhh, I LOVE it! It reminds me a lot of the color in your Master Bedroom in the old house. I’ve been craving some deeper/richer colors as of late as well – loving the contrast it adds with the crisp white trim!

    Reply

  2. Mackenzie says

    It looks fab-u-lous! I love that color and will be bookmarking it for when I own a house and can actually paint my walls. (Woe to renters!) Thanks for sharing your guest room makeover. :)

    Reply

  4. Heather says

    Wow, that room is GORGEOUS!

    We spent our weekend taking the dog to the beach (as of Memorial Day the beach has pretty strict dog restrictions) and did an 11 mile hike through Shenandoah National Park… Beautiful, but my legs still hurt!

    Reply

  5. Caitlin says

    I love the punch of bright colors against the paint color. I think any guest would feel happy staying with you in that room!

    Reply

  6. kimi says

    WOW!!!! I love it!! It amazing how quickly you guys can turn around a room!! It takes months over here!!;) AWESOME job once again!!!

    Reply

    • L says

      Kimi, keep that in mind this is a full time job for two people. That’s what I have to do when I see bloggers constantly doing house projects and then remember I work 50-60 hours a week and then have to cram the same amount of house projects into 2 precious weekend days. It’s gonna take a little longer that way ;)

  8. Keeley says

    Your guest room looks great! We’re 11 months into our new home and slowly but surely painting every room. We’re going for rich neutral-ish tones and this color would fit right in with our decor. I like how you recycled colorful items from your last home for this guest space.

    Reply

    • Sheila F says

      Kelly,
      Thanks for posting a picture! Our old Victorian has all dark wood trim and we wanted to go gray without painting the trim. (we love white trim but this trim is too pretty to paint. LOL)
      Grizzle Gray is perfect with your dark wood furniture! You have found our gray!
      Sheila

  10. Manda Wolf says

    I like that color! My master bathroom is currently brown on brown on brown, and it is all my fault. We have brown floor tiles, a lighter creamer wall tile, and mosaic accents that are you guessed it brown. It looks good but I need color (http://ourwolfden.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/master-bathroom-reveal/). As it comes off our purple master bedroom I have been hesitant to add too much color. The color I really liked was a deep bright teal, but I wanted a deeper darker color above the tub in order to hang some Moroccan style lights.

    The hubby and I put in almost 200 linear feet of 6 foot tall fencing this weekend. Even with a friend over to help and an auger to dig the holes it was a lot of work. I am currently sun burnt and sore sitting at my work desk hoping no one makes me move very far today. But we tripled the space our pups have to play (at 80 lbs a piece) and they are happy, the things we do for our fur babies.

    Did I over share?

    Reply

  11. Mary says

    The room looks lovely. I’m a sucker for gray and yellow. And I’m amazed you’re doing so much painting so soon after the barnacle’s birth. Huzzah to you. Question though, how do you decide on placement of the area rug? Can’t tell from the picture if the rug would be under foot when the guest got out of bed, yet still leaves enough at the foot of the bed to fill the empty space.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Ideally this room would have a larger rug, but we just sort of moved this one around until it looked the most balanced from the door (scooted in more meant an odd looking sliver at the bottom of the bed).

      xo
      s

  13. Lauren says

    LOVE IT!! What a great paint color. Couple of questions…how does the mirror look hanging on its side? Also, in real life are the floral pillowcases working with the ikat curtains? I would never have thought to put them together!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We tried the mirror both ways (on the side was our first instinct too) but it seemed sort of squished/squat so we liked the height of it being vertical (it balanced the tall vertical curtains). As for the pillows and the ikat, we don’t mind them together but you’re right about it being a random pairing! We just tried it and said “weird! We like it!” They might not be forever but they’re sweet for now.

      xo
      s

    • Anna says

      Looks great! I was also thinking the mirror would look better turned the other direction, and would take up more horizontal space while still keeping the simplicity of only one object hung above the bed. Plus, when you hang crown molding there will be less vertical space to fill, so the mirror might feel too squished vertically then. I also feel like the mirror hung vertically actually competes with the vertical curtains instead of complimenting them. But hey, it’s a beautiful mirror (did you already say where you got it?) so you really can’t go wrong. I’d love to have a guest room as beautiful as this in my own home!

    • Marisa says

      Love the wall colour! I agree that the mirror looks too small above the bed. I was thinking it would look better horizontal as well. Personal preference I guess.

    • Melanie says

      I agree on the mirror, my first instinct was that it needed to be horizontal. Maybe when you do the crown.

      But the room looks great!

    • Bethany says

      I think the mirror would look a little squatty hung the other way. I like how there is still room for the headboard to “breathe” – I think it would look a little cramped if the mirror was any wider and stretched almost the whole width of the headboard. I love how everyone has different preferences though! If everyone had the same taste the world would be very boring. :)

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yes! That has been my plan unless we end up using that in the office as a craft/photography spot, in which case we hope to find something else with a nice clean look and small-ish footprint.

      xo
      s

  15. Mary Lee says

    Looks great and love the sparrow wall color. Quick question – where did you get the pink & green chevron pillowcases?
    thanks!

    Reply

  17. Rosie says

    Isn’t the headboard new? When did that happen? I love how that shade of green looks with the new wall colors and plays with the curtains. Also, I LURVE! the floral pillow cases. Where are they from?

    Reply

    • Rosie says

      huh… I”ll have to go back and look again, but it must just look all fresh and new with with new wall color. :) BTW, I’m amazed at you’re ability accomplish things with a newborn around, even if he’s chill. It was always months after baby came before my brain had enough function restored to accomplish much. :)

    • Madge says

      the floral pillow cases are from pottery barn a few years ago. i have the same ones, plus a duvet cover, and LOVE. they are organic cotton and the duvet cover has held up pretty well after several years of constant use (we wore through the pillow shams after about 4 years).

  19. Emily says

    We spent more than 5 hours mowing the grass in our yard. We’re training a second dog on our invisible fence so we have 150 flags up. It wouldn’t be so hard to pull them out and put them back in except the hole we dug 7 months ago to install the fence is now covered with green grass. So, we push mow around them… I’m hoping this new dog gets trained quickly so the flags can disappear!

    We also wanted to power wash the house but our nozzle broke and I need to go buy the special screw that’s needed to fix it. Maybe we’ll get amazing weather again next weekend and get to use it.

    By far, the highlight of the weekend was taking the dogs to the park and buying them a baby pool. Water fun for the win!

    Reply

  20. Lesley says

    Beautiful! I used BM Sparrow in a small laundry room because it’s so high traffic I wanted a color that would t show dirt. 3 years later it’s still perfect! Great to see it used in a sunny room as well

    Reply

  21. sarah says

    Love your paint colors do you always use Benjamin Moore. I’m buying a house in a few weeks and I have to paint the whole place just wondering what the best paint would be

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We have tried nearly every brand of paint and really like Ben Moore although we don’t use it exclusively (we hear awesome things about Sherwin Williams too, which is what we used for the exterior of our house). We really like Olympic Premium too (it’s cheaper and not as thick so the coverage isn’t as amazing but two coats usually do the trick).

      xo
      s

    • Steff says

      I LOVE Sherwin-Williams paint, it’s my favorite, hands down. But they don’t have as many shades as Benjamin Moore, so when I can’t find the shade I’m looking for I turn to Benjamin Moore.
      I also like Behr from Home Depot. Much less expensive and covers well.

    • Kelly says

      We don’t use anything other than Mautz which is a division of Sherwin WIlliams. If the color we want is made by another manufacturer, we have them color match for us. Our last house was painted using Mautz and when we had to do touch up ten plus years later, the paint was a dead on match.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That’s from HomeGoods (we got it a few years ago but it moves around – we stole it off Clara’s bed since she has a ton of pillows going on).

      xo
      s

  24. Melissa says

    Looks fab. Loving the grey and yellow still! I too heart alstroemeria. I used them for the table tops at my wedding, given their long life and super cheap price. Good pick!

    Reply

  25. Katie says

    The paint job really freshens up the space. Part of the fun of reading your blog has been seeing your style grow up, and it’s also taught me a lot about looking at rooms in general. For example, I can see that the the homemade headboard that looked great in your first house looks a little out of place in your more grown up house, and I see that given time and $ I would switch it out for something a little more substantial. (I don’t mean this as criticism, but as praise that reading your blog has taught me a lot.)

    Reply

    • Kati says

      Oooh this makes me think how great it would be if you did a post on how your style has evolved/grown/changed between your three houses- that headboard has been in all three guestrooms! (Right?) It’s neat to see the different applications.

    • Amanda says

      That could be fun! Like a post showing all three guest rooms next to each other, explaining how your tastes/style has evolved as you’ve gotten older and your wallets have gotten bigger! Sounds time consuming, but might be good for when you want to take a break from diy for a few weeks!

  26. Tracy says

    Love this color! What a difference!

    We actually painted our master bedroom “Going to the Chapel” this weekend — it is absolutely beautiful! We had originally painted it SW Silver Strand (a few years back) but it was never the right color. After 3 years of trying to make Silver Strand work, we finally pulled the trigger this weekend. I remembered the name of Going to the Chapel (and assumed I read it on your blog) but couldn’t place what room you had painted. It is such a soothing color – no wonder it is perfect for Teddy’s room! Thanks for the paint tip guys! xo

    Tracy

    Reply

  27. Diana says

    Love the color, and how the whole room turned out! Could you please share where you got those bright floral pillow cases? Thanks!

    Reply

  28. Jessica says

    Beautiful room! It’s amazing what a little paint can do!

    My big weekend project was FINALLY starting a blog. It’s still in the VERY beginning stages, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do for awhile now. You’re blog is such a huge inspiration, so THANKS!!

    Reply

  31. Laura says

    Loving the grey/yellow palate! Beautifully done.

    In other news, I had no idea that a tinted primer should be used for darker/richer colors – did you find that out through trial and error? I’m thinking of doing a darker accent wall in my office (likely navy blue/black) and it would be great to know if a tinted primer would make a noticeable difference.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      A while back we heard that tinted primer helped when using deep/rich colors so we have used it and it seems to save you a coat of paint and help keep the color vibrant/rich.

      xo
      s

    • Jamie D says

      Another nod YES to getting tinted primer for any dark color, especially navy/black/dark tones! The store will tint it for you and it may be a gray-ish tone.

    • Aimee says

      Painting dark over light or light over dark is going to use up a ton of paint and take a minimum of 3 coats if not more for good coverage. So if you want to paint a brown wall white, or a white wall brown, for example, primer or paint with primer in it is the way to go. Less paint needed and less time involved.

      I once painted a 70s *improvement* of a brown paneled accent wall golden yellow to match the rest of the room. That was because the paneling was put on with an excessive amount of Liquid Nails (peeked to see) and you’ll destroy the drywall taking it off, and drywalling wasn’t something I wanted to undertake at the time. Took 2 coats of Kilz plus 2 coats of paint. If I hadn’t primed first, it probably would’ve taken an entire gallon of paint for that one wall. Also used primer when I took a bathroom from a pastel blue to a midnight blue. It’s an extra step, but worth it when you consider how expensive 3-5 coats of just paint would cost!

    • Blaze says

      Years ago our local Home Depot had a display in the paint department. Four squares on a big display board showing one and two coats of dark red paint over white primer then one and two coats of paint over tinted primer. The only combo that matched the sample card was two coats over tinted primer. FYI – the tinted primer for red paint is bubblegum pink…

  32. Julie says

    Recently saw (on Pinterest) an intricately shaped wicker headboard painted Rustoliums Apple red, and it looked amazing! Something like that in here (maybe in green still?) would look brilliant.

    Reply

  33. Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says

    I like the color! I know what I think is important to you, so I just wanted to let you know. HA! ;-) I need to print some of my Instagram stuff, so you’ve reminded me to get on that.

    Our weekend was exhausting getting the patio ready for the season and throwing together an impromptu patio to show it off. But now giving the Mr and I are both working from home on it today, I suppose it was worth it! :)

    Reply

  34. Lauren says

    Where is the rug from? And do you have any suggestions on where to get decent stylish rugs but don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for? We are ready to start replacing rugs but still have a 1 and 4 year old so I know spills, etc will still happen.
    Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      The rug is from Pottery Barn (it was a clearanced floor model around 6 years ago). HomeGoods and local outlets have some great rugs on occasion too.

      xo
      s

    • jenna says

      I love overstock.com for rugs. I hoard coupons for them, wait for the rug to be discounted, then pounce. I haven’t had to return anything, but I’ve read that overstock is really good about it, if you do need to return an item.

  38. Sarah says

    I am loving the beautiful, floral pillow cases, and the ikat curtains. Where were those from? They are such great pops of color!

    Reply

  39. Chaney says

    Man, what a difference a few simple updates can make! LOVE the paint color and those big, square frames. Y’all always show great ways to update rooms on a budget (hooray for shopping the house!).

    Reply

  41. Kristin says

    How lovely! We have a similar stone brown/grey color in our eat in kitchen and family room, which also get a TON of natural light.

    I finished a final coat on my husband’s old wooden high chair this weekend–can’t wait to get it in the house. I went with a lovely mid-tone blue, but kept the tray in the original wood tone. Just have to get a new strap put on it and it will be ready for baby!

    PS – Thanks to your post title, I now have that darn song stuck in my head!

    Reply

  42. Jess says

    It looks so nice! I love the mix of patterns. Funny that you say you’ll eventually really tweak it cuz if I had a room that looked even half that put together, I’d be thrilled! LOL

    Reply

  43. Tamara @ Rovident Home Design says

    I love your guest bedroom! It is so cheerful and inviting! You guys are a great team! I am going to be redoing my boys room sometime this year and I’m leaning towards doing a gray color on the wall with pops of green ad yellow (their favorite colors). I’m pretty sure you guys are the ones who inspired this color combination, thank you!

    Reply

  44. Ortisse says

    I love the room like this, it looks really fresh! The brownish grey is great.

    I am in vacation this week so with my dad, whose building me bookshelves (or may I say a library room, I went to pick some paint to make an accent wall in the living room and in the same time be the color of the bookshelves whose going to be on the other side of this wall. I picked a really pretty blueish grey (I read 10 times your post about “how to pick a color” and went for the muddiest one!).

    I did a try on the wall and I think I’m going to paint right after visiting my sister to the lovely city of Bordeaux (France).

    Reply

  45. Crystal says

    Love the quick and economical update!

    We installed a french door (after making a new hole in the house since there was no door before), worked on our chicken coop a bit but did get some time in at the beach, grilling veggie kebabs and the baby pool out for the kids. :)

    Reply

  46. Cara Barbieri says

    Its so bright and cheerful! That’s the same look I’m going for in my house, though I’m in more of the trial and error phase, than actually achieving it phase! Thanks for providing some great inspiration!

    Reply

  49. Beth says

    This looks so good! This weekend our basement-in-progress of 4 months finally got its last coats of paint, and the “holes” in the wall waiting for built-ins got their custom built-ins. EXACTLY what you said about ignoring the eyesores and then it’s a breath of fresh air when it is done! It’s like you say, Sherry: Built-ins = stuff of dreams

    Reply

  50. Heidi says

    Oh. Wow!!! I LOVE that paint color! It looks amazing!

    We spent the weekend tearing out the toilet and vanity in one of our bathrooms in preparation for putting in new ones! Can’t wait to see the end result :)

    Reply

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