The deed is done. Behold, our freshly painted foyer:
It feels about a foot taller and at least two feet wider than it did before. Ah, the power of paint.
This shot’s probably the most accurate when it comes to color. It’s definitely one of those soft neutrals that shifts throughout the day, but I’d say it’s one part sand and one part greige. Not too cool and not too warm. And pretty darn beautiful with white trim.
As for choosing the color, we mentioned a bunch of swatches we were loving in this post, and shared this little makeshift palette:
Can you guess who ended up in the foyer?
Good ol’ Edgecomb Gray. The funny part about that swatch is it’s not really gray (it’s warmer, more like a greige). Another pretty hilarious thing about it is that it looked terrible in our last house, but here it’s gorgeous (it’s crazy how differently a swatch can read depending on the lighting situation, what direction your room faces, etc). So in a sea of paint chips it was an easy choice. Which is nice because it’s a pretty big commitment.
The foyer leads to four downstairs rooms as well as flowing up the stairs and into the hallway up there which leads to six additional rooms – so we knew that whatever we chose would have to work well with any other wall colors we’d be choosing for all ten of those spaces that will connect to it.
As for getting it up on the walls, first we filled in a few nail holes with spackle and then primed those spots as well as any areas that had raw drywall (from our wallpaper peeling adventures).
Then it was painting time. It thankfully only took two coats (as opposed to the trim, which took four). We went with an eggshell finish in BM’s no-VOC Natura stuff, so John got his roll on and I cut in – yes, around chair rail, crown molding, baseboards, and seven (!!) doorways.
As you can imagine it took John about one tenth of the time to roll that it took me to cut in around all of those edges, but it was totally worth it. I love the new wall color so much that I could do a musical number about it. (Seriously, don’t tempt me – I’m a terrible dancer).
It’s one of those colors that changes throughout the day and feels so airy and breezy, like the sky at the beach. Some moments it’s like the lightest part of a platinum cloud, and other moments it’s warmer and richer – like coffee with lots of milk swirling around in there.
We have a devoted post all about this paint color if you want to see more photos of Edgecomb Gray in our house & read why we love it so much. Oh and after our paint job, we switched out the old yellowed outlets and switches for crisp new white ones. Such a cheap fix, but just like fresh paint, they go a long way in making the room feel updated.
Can’t wait to get some art going on. Oh yeah and paint the other fifteen rooms in our house (note to self: don’t think about that, just focus on your musical number).
It’s nice to have a pop of color in the door since all of the white trim and doors around it seem to temper it while the neutral walls and the dark floors and door hardware ground things. And you know the light fixture is on my ORB list.
I like this shot because the blue spindles leading up the stairs almost look black instead of periwinkle blue. Although I think we’re leaning towards white for those spindles (when we can work up the energy to do four coats on them) and eventually we’d love to ebonize the top part of the railing to go with the dark door hardware everywhere. Sort of like this or this.
In the meantime we’re just soaking up the victory of completing a whole lotta trim, doors, chair rail, crown, and getting some fresh paint on the walls in there.
Change is good.
Audrey says
It looks just beautiful!!! hard to believe it’s the same house!!!
I think i’m gonna need to paint something this weekend….
Lu says
It does look fresh and clean and lovely!
Petra says
Amazing!!! Makes the room a lot larger and more welcoming!
Keenan says
Ahh the difference paints makes. I am off to do a second
Coat of red on m front door. I am following ur steps and t
Is turning out great. Happy Monday
Caitie says
Love it! Great choice guys :)
MISSY says
The chair rail is gorgeous.
Good for you for seeing past all the blue trim. It’s going to be a wonderful house when you are done with it.
Sarah says
Oh I LOVE the color you went with. It looks gorgeous with all the white trim & will be the perfect color to welcome you into all the other rooms in the house. You guys are making such great progress on the foyer!
rachael says
So pretty! Did you paint the wall that goes up the stairs, and surrounds the dining room door?
YoungHouseLove says
We didn’t tackle that wall yet since we figure that “zone” will be the staircase (so we’ll paint that when we move to that area and the hall upstairs).
xo
s
Lydia K says
Love it!
Wendy @ New Moms Talk says
Change is definitely good, and the foyer looks wonderful!
We changed a diaper wipe box into a mystery object box this weekend-
http://www.newmomstalk.com/2013/07/29/christmas-in-july-mystery-object-box-diy-style/
Oh, and we also went back to check out the changes at my hub’s HS reunion in good ole Preston, Idaho. We found a few great finds at the DI of Napoleon Dynamite fame, and more- we cherished the visits with friends who are still the same in heart.
Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says
Wow, that looks soooo good! I bet you’re so happy to have that one crossed off and it’s amazing how light and airy it makes it in there. I’m bookmarking that color because we have gray and light gray upstairs and when we repaint down here at some point, I’d like something “greige” in the living room!
Burger looks so cute! I hope he’s all settled into his new home and has his favorite spots all picked out to sun himself! :)
Christina says
I’ve already “stolen” your blinds. Would it be too creepy if i also stole your foyer color? :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, no way! Just bring home the swatch and see how you like it. We still laugh about how not in love with it we were in our last house – so funny how different lighting changes everything!
xo
s
Kate says
Christina, you may also want to test SW Twilight Gray… I tested that and Edgecomb and it was so much lighter than in the online swatch. http://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW0054-twilight-gray/
Jamie says
Wow, it looks amazing! I love how bright the foyer looks now!
Stacey says
Did the ceiling get the same treatment?
YoungHouseLove says
Not yet – we’re trying to decide what color we want up there (white? a half-tint of the walls? the same as the wall color? a very very very soft blue?) so we’ll keep you posted!
xo
s
Krista says
I definitely vote white for the ceiling!
Speaking of votes, it would be really fun if you had some reader input in the other house you guys are designing… like a vew options for kitchen countertops and readers get to vote on their fav :)
Amanda says
Do you ever just sit in the foyer to get away from all the blue trim and wallpaper??
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! John and I definitely have been found just standing in there staring at the walls.
xo
s
Annabel Vita says
Gorgeous! Do you think you’ll ever do anything different above or below the chair rail? (A long way down the line, obviously!)
YoungHouseLove says
We have talked about how we might add wainscoting and paint it white under the chair rail someday, so we’ll have to see.
xo
s
NancyY says
That looks greeaatte! (Anyone remember that good old sugar-cereal pusher Tony the Tiger?). What about the ceilings? I couldn’t tell from the pics if they got the same color as the walls.
YoungHouseLove says
We haven’t done the ceilings yet – we’re trying to decide what color we want up there (white? a half-tint of the walls? the same as the wall color? a very very very soft blue?) so we’ll keep you posted!
xo
s
Betsy says
That’s a whole bunch of trim. ;-) Beautiful!
Shannon [Our Home Notebook] says
Such a good choice. It’s the perfect transition colour. Enjoy all your hard work! It’s beautiful.
Anne @ Planting Sequoias says
Burger is the perfect decor accessory!
YoungHouseLove says
Amen!
xo
s
Holly says
Of course, it looks fantastic! I love how bright and airy and brand spanking new it all looks. I am so excited to see how things progress. Way to go!!
Margret says
Oh man, I *just* got your book two weeks ago…at Chop Suey! That’s okay though, they were doing another deal where somehow I got 20% off. I love that store! We live in DC but go everytime we’re in town. It also helps that it’s so close to Bev’s…an easy sell!
YoungHouseLove says
Sweet! 20% off is awesome!
xo
s
Julia says
I LOVE the new colors your use for this home- well done! One silly question do you use “flat” paint on the walls? In the photos it looks like it has a little gloss… just curious. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
We went with eggshell in this room since it’s a little more wipeable than flat but still not too shiny (in person it pretty much reads as flat paint).
xo
s
Julia says
next time I’ll read the whole post, then comment! Oopsies. Thanks, Sherry!
YoungHouseLove says
No worries!
xo
s
Karin says
Hi there!! How did you guys decide to go after the foyer first? I saw you mentioned how it led into so many other spaces. Do you feel like you needed to nail that down and base the rest of house around it?
Happy Monday :)
YoungHouseLove says
I think it definitely connected to the most areas in our house, so it felt like a smart spot to start so that everything that branches off of it could work with whatever we did in there.
xo
s
Jill says
I was assuming after the move, John and Sherry were trying not to add to the chaos/disaster. They’d just barely gotten their furniture plopped in place all over the house and were exhausted and unsettled. For me, I’d have been like, “We are NOT moving the couch to paint. Are you MAD??? I need to SIT on that couch. A lot and often. SALMON WALLS FOREVER, YO.”
It’d have been the same story in their bedroom, except then, “We are not jeopardizing my use of this bedroom right now. It’s one of, like, two places in this house I can sort of relax. The bed is not moving. YOU move.”
(And then major work zones like full bathrooms and kitchen would be too expensive and require more planning to do immediately.)
But since a foyer is a naturally empty space, they could still easily use it for its main function – to walk through – all the time that they were deflowering and painting it.
YoungHouseLove says
Such a smart observation! I bet the fact that it was naturally cleared drew it to the top of the list!
xo
s
Kate says
We ended up with the same color after so much hemming and hawing, and lots of paint samples… It’s in our entry/living room and up the stairs and the upstairs hallway (because those areas all kind of connect), and I’m IN LOVE with it! It is the perfect paint color, and we’re actually about to do something similar with our front door! (Though I think we’ve opted for Martha Stewart’s Arucana Teal). I’d say great minds think alike, but I think I just lucked out this time around with picking the same paint color! That, or I’ve been reading your blog long enough that your influence has rubbed off on me! Hmm… :)
YoungHouseLove says
Woot, wall twins! I think it’s just one of those perfect colors.
xo
s
Liz says
I love the foyer colour! It’s so crisp and clean looking. I also really like those banister inspiration pictures.
Kelly says
Looks great, make me anxious for the day we’ll finally be ready to paint things in my own house! Did you give any thought to going a shade darker on the lower half of the wall to make the chair rail really pop?
YoungHouseLove says
We did consider that, and have also thought about adding wainscoting down the line and going white under the chair-rail, but for now we like the single tone (it makes the room feel really tall, wheras I think two bands of different colors might chop things up and make it feel wider but not as lofty).
xo
s
Lauren says
Wow, what a transformation! I’m currently wrestling with paint colors, and after six years of living with a brick red in our bedroom, I am SO ready to have a nice, light refreshing ivory or something. And after we replaced all of our beige outlets in the entire house (or so we thought) we keep finding more that have been hiding behind furniture. My husband thinks I’m crazy for thinking there is a huge difference between white and beige outlets, but you’re right, it does make a huge difference! :)
Brad says
Love it! We’ve been debating colors for our foyer/main hall/staircase wall for months… and I think this color just worked its way into the mix (among the other 15 or so we’ve talked about). It really is fresh and clean and perfect.
mribaro says
The sandy quality of your new foyer wall color does go great with both Burger and the floor tile grout ????
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, it’s true. We should always consider Burger’s coloring since he’s the ultimate home accessory.
xo
s
kristi says
That looks similar to my favorite valspar color Oatlands subtle taupe (only I get it color matched in another brand). Very nice and fresh indeed!
Laurie Munc says
Your foyer looks wonderful, love the paint colors. Trying to convince my husband to let me paint the interior of our front door a bright yellow. He is going to his Mom’s next week! I will paint when he is gone!
Mary | Lemon Grove Avenue says
LOVE! We have Edgecomb Gray in our Dining/Living/Kitchen space and it’s my new favorite neutral. I love how it looks with the crisp, white trim, and super fun blue door! :)
Jess @ Little House. Big Heart. says
Way to cut in! You had to be so sick of it by the end!
Out of curiosity, what are you planning for the floors? Keeping them? Eventually changing them out? They look much less blue now than with the blue trim, but I didn’t know what you were planning (and I’m nosy).
YoungHouseLove says
We’d love to work with them assuming we can repair some damaged areas and refresh the grout.
xo
s
Melissa says
Sherry, I have to ask how do you manage to cut in without taping off and without using anything to shield the brush? We are going to be taking on a lot of cutting in over our next paint job in our master bath. I bought one of those shields so we won’t have to tape off but they still require wiping every so often. Would love to know your secret.
YoungHouseLove says
I posted a video of my method on our Projects page (in the painting section). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Rene @thedomesticlady says
I did a ton of painting this weekend too. The previous owner of our house painted the whole basement (1200 sq ft) yellowy white. YUCK. So I spent a good part of the weekend updating it. A true white fixed the problem. The space no longer looks dingy.
PS LOVE the new door hardware.
Kirsten says
What are your thoughts on the floors? We have black slate floors in our hallway and kitchen and I find them very difficult to maintain. Of course we have two yellow Labrador-like-objects that shed quite a bit, so the floors always look furry. Thinking I should write a book about matching your decor to the color of your pets.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! So far we have been ok with the slate (it’s damaged in a few areas and the grout needs refreshing, so we hope to work on that sometime to work with them if we can) but I have heard it can be really hard to maintain depending on who lives there/how it’s used (a friend of mine has it in a bathroom and hates it!).
xo
s
Katie says
I’m curious about how you repair the slate if you decide to do that. We have it in our kitchen, and it hasn’t held up at all, but I think it may be due to a poor job installing it by the previous owners. At any rate, pieces of it have chipped away in spots making very sharp edges. Ours look a little different than yours, but if there is a way to repair them, even temporarily I’d be interested!
YoungHouseLove says
We’ll definitely share all the details once we research/try whatever we end up doing!
xo
s
Kelsey says
We purposefully bought a tan colored couch because of our yellow Labrador-like-object. I would gladly contribute to that book of yours…AMEN, sista!
Maggie S says
I can’t believe how nice the floor looks with the new colors.
It is amazing how color changes the look of everything around it.
Cindy says
Looks great! I will have a big painting job ahead of me soon but the trim/cabinets scare me. Are you using oil based paints? How do you maintain your brushes and cleanup? Last time I painted trim we tried the “wrap the brush in foil and put in the freezer method”. It worked okay but not great.
YoungHouseLove says
We like no-VOC latex paint, which just clean up with water. If we do have to use an oil-based primer for a certain project, I use mineral spirits to clean up. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Theresa says
Check out Cabinet Coat at a Benjamin Moore store for trim and cabinets. It’s a water based product but works like an oil. It self levels so brush marks fade away. If there is a spot that needs sanding, it sands into a powder versus regular latex which balls up and clogs the paper. It’s also low VOC. I love that stuff.
Ashleigh says
I feel your pain! We just moved into our first house and every wall and piece of trim in our 2100 sq foot house needs painted. I have to try not to think about how much painting that is, and my 2 year old and 8 weeks old aren’t the most cooperative when it comes to painting so it’s turning into quite the process lol The foyer looks awesome! I’m loving the light airy color!
Deb says
Looks wonderful! Good choice on the colour – I have Edgecomb Grey on a few walls in my house and I love it too.
Crystal @ 29 Rue House says
The color looks amazing! I thought it was Sea Wind – I’m terrible about seeing a color from swatch to full wall!
I love how the color looks with all the new door hardware and hinges plus I feel like the room looks so much larger with the sidelights white instead of the same door color as before.
Nikki says
Can I just jump up & down for a minute in celebration? Seriously, what a difference just a little bit (or a lot!) of paint can make! Also, I’m just a tad (read: majorly) excited that I’m ahead of the curve. In our last house, I ripped up the nasty blue carpet on our stairs (and just about everywhere else) and put in beautiful brown mocha hardwoods floors on the stairs with white risers. Everyone was all “ooh” and “ahh’s” until I proclaimed that the new stair railing was going to be black with white spindles. “What?!” “But it won’t match the floors!” “Are you sure?!” were all the replies that I got, to which I repeatedly assured “but it doesn’t have to match.” “it’s going to look fabulous!” – and sure enough, it’s my favorite thing in the whole house (disclaimer: I have a lot of favorite things in that house!). Anyway, my point is that when I did it, it wasn’t a trend (yay me for being ahead of the curve and going with what I liked instead of what was “normal”). Everytime someone new comes over, I get tons of compliments on the stairs and the unexpected color. I can’t wait to see how your stair transformation turns out. :)
xo,
Nikki
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome Nikki! It sounds gorgeous!
xo
s
Kristin F says
We had black rails with white spindles on hardwood stairs in our old 1920’s foursquare. This was way back in the late 90’s and I loved it, really made a statement when you walked in the front door. I (obviously) think you should go for it!
Kara says
I’m obsessed with that door. The first picture made me go “mmm” out loud. I’, trying to decide whether it would be way “too much” in my condo since the kitchen/dining room/living room is all one space facing the door. Definitely filing it away for our future house-home.
Tricia says
Thank goodness, the blue trim has been making me stroke out. Love you guys, aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!
Krystle @ Color Transformed Family says
The more work you do to this room the more I love the floors. It’s amazing how much paint can change things.
Sarah says
What is an ORB list?
YoungHouseLove says
We love working with what we have and have a penchant for oil-rubbed bronze spray paint (aka: ORB – Rustoleum Universal makes a good one) so I plan to remove the light fixture and spray it ORB, so it fits our tastes more than the current brassy gold tone.
xo
s
Sarah says
YES! I did that with a mirrored light fixture and faucet in my old house’s half bath. It came out great! I just wish it didn’t smell so bad. Good luck!
Chelsea says
I am pining over the gorgeous trim work and those dark knobs against the fresh white paint! The foyer looks like a different (most gorgeous) room! :)
Stephanie says
LOVE this! Like love-love. It’s such a stunning transformation!
We tried Edgecomb Gray when we were picking paint for our family room / kitchen combo and it didn’t read right in our space (Gray Owl ended up being the solution), but I can’t bring myself to let go of the sample pot because it’s such a beautiful color in so many pictures online.
Suzy says
I love it!! The pops of color look great with the bright neutrals. Are you going to put anything on the wall above the table? I see a nice watercolor by Clara or a bright abstract painting!
xoxo, Suzy
Vintage Amore
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, I can’t wait to add some art!
xo
s
Karen says
Buh-U-tee-ful!! How do you do it, how do you know what to choose, there’s so many options out there! Does Pinterest do it? So many great ideas on there, of course, but that place can be overwhelming too. How do you know??? :-)
YoungHouseLove says
I think the key, or at least what works best for us, is just to go one step at a time. Often we have a lot of ideas swirling around (ex: a soft blue ceiling in here, a darker railing with light spindles, a bunch of different art ideas for over the console, etc) so we just tackle one thing at a time and that helps us to consider all of the other factors in the room as we go (as opposed to doing 100 changes at once, and then if it looks off you’re not sure what was the bad choice and what to fix). Slow and steady wins the race for us!
xo
s