Pretty much from day one (even before we learned that the bean was actually a beanette) I was dreaming of painting the nursery walls a fun pear green while taking the ceiling from bland ol’ white to a light aqua color. But somehow saying “green walls with a blue ceiling” conjures up all sorts of scary Trading Spaces episodes so even my dear hubby wasn’t getting my “vision” until we broke out the paint swatches and I was able to explicitly show him what I meant. There’s a tip for you ladies: many people (especially guys who don’t speak “interior decorating”) are visual creatures. So saying something like “I want to paint the side tables black” can be a lot less effective (ie: scary for a dude) than showing your man an image of a room with black side tables that you know will calm his nerves about the whole deal.
Sure enough, as soon as I whipped out a soft celery-pear-ish tone for the walls and showed John how sweet a subtle and dreamy aqua would be on the ceiling (especially with the white crown molding between them to really set them off) he was on board. Then we just had to get into our trusty painting clothes and finish clearing out the room so it was ready for the big transformation (and speaking of big, check out that belly- it’s quite a feat with four more months of baby-carrying left).
But back to my favorite subject: paint. Just like we did in this old ceiling painting post, we taped all of our potential ceiling paint chips on the actual ceiling so we could see how they would look in that light (colors look different on ceilings than they do when you hold them up to the wall since light reflects differently off a horizontal plane). We decided the swatch on the far right was too bright, the swatch to the left of that was too light and the swatch to the left of that one was juuuuust right (while the swatch on the far left was a bit too muddy). So that’s how we honed in on our final ceiling color after hunting through a bunch of swatches and taping up the ones we liked best. Oh and the winning swatch was called Regency Pale by True Value by the way.
As for selecting the wall color, that was pretty simple. I’ve always loved Celery Sticks by Glidden (it has happy golden undertones and so much personality without overwhelming or sucking the light out of a small space). So of course I was giddy about finally having the perfect opportunity to use it to create a fun and cheerful nursery thanks to the little person that I’m busy growing.
We also decided it was time to take some Mythic paint for a spin- not only because I’m knocked up (and shouldn’t be painting with anything full of chemicals and VOCs) but also for the sake of the baby (since regular paint can off-gas for one to even three years after it’s applied!). Sure it’s $40 a gallon (while a lot of the cheaper Lowe’s and Home Depot stuff is around $25) but it’s known to be the cream of the no-VOC crop thanks to the great coverage, the wide range of amazing colors, and their completely non-toxic and mommy/baby friendly formula. So we hit up EcoLogic (one of our favorite local haunts for all things green) with both of our pre-selected swatches in hand.
We figured we’d hold them up to the Mythic paint deck to select something as similar as possible in both colors but we had no idea that Mythic could actually do color matching (but not with a machine, they store a plethora of other brand’s formulas in their database for easy replication- without the VOCs). The only catch was that our swatch from True Value was one of the brands that they didn’t have in their system and Celery Sticks by Glidden was too new (just introduced a few months back) so it wasn’t yet in the database. Not to worry, we actually found two extremely similar (if not identical) Mythic colors in their deck. For the ceiling we landed on Adanna Aire (in a flat finish) and for the walls we ended up with Autumn Bloom (in an easy-care eggshell finish).
When we proudly returned home after purchasing our new nursery paint we remembered that the kind folks at Frog Tape had actually sent a few rolls our way so we could give it a try. We’ve heard so many good things about their mad scientist tape (which has a patented formula that creates a “micro-barrier” on the edge of the tape when paint comes in contact with it, which seals it and makes bleeding a virtual impossibility). Isn’t that some Bill Nye The Science Guy technology? We were intrigued to see what that magical green tape could really do…
We’ve always been fans of cutting in with a brush (specifically, a special little brush that I love) but we must admit that taping the crown molding off didn’t take very long…
… and it really made painting the edges of the ceiling go a lot faster than it would have if we were carefully edging by hand with a brush.
Oh and we interrupt all the tape talk to bring you our sad little nursery closet. We’re actually very lucky to have this pathetic little enclave since this room was originally a dining room so the fact that we could convert it into a bedroom (thanks to an already existent closet) was great. Too bad it looked like this. Wop wop.
We took off the door before we started painting (we’re planning a cute little closet facelift complete with a curtain that we can push to the side since the door swings out into the room and interferes with the main door to the nursery- grrrr).
And it was actually John’s fabulous idea to take the light aqua color from the ceiling and add it to the inside of the closet for a bit of fun. Isn’t he smart? The whole time he was painting the closet I was watching in awe and telling our baby girl what a decorating genius her daddy is (yes I talk to my stomach just as often as I talk to our chihuahua).
Here’s a sneak peek of the closet in progress, but we actually have to add a ton of baskets and bars (and the closet curtain of course) so stay tuned for another closet post when we get to that stage of the ol’ nursery makeover.
But back to the Frog Tape. After we finished painting two coats of soft aqua on the ceiling and in the closet it was time to remove the tape around the molding (we’re all about removing tape when the paint is still wet so it doesn’t peel any dried paint off with it when it comes down). And ladies and gentlemen we can definitively proclaim that we saw a sincere and amazing difference between blue painter’s tape and Frog Tape. It really does create a much crisper edge with zero bleeding or stippling. Seriously, it was such a clean line that it looked like we painted the ceiling before adding the white molding (which is always the goal). In short: it definitely would have come in handy for the horizontal stripes that we added to our half bathroom a while back and we’re extremely glad we had a chance to test drive it for our little nursery paint project.
So here’s the room after we removed the tape. Isn’t the soft blue ceiling sweet? But it’s only halfway there.
John was on a taping roll so he decided to keep going. Within about ten minutes he had taped off the bottom of the crown molding and also around the windows, doors, and baseboards. Then it was time for some warm pear green paint…
Ta-daaaa! Isn’t it a sweet and playful combination?
Oh and it bears mentioning that this photo was taken at night without any natural light (and wasn’t color corrected or anything)- so it’s a bit harsher and less subtle than it is in real life (especially in natural light). You’ll have to stick around for some daytime pics to really see it in all of its green and blue glory. Once we layer everything into the room (furniture, art, playful patterned curtains, a rug, a chandelier, etc) the walls will be the perfect cheerful-but-not-too-scary backdrop. And we love that it works with the rest of our home’s color palette thanks to the blue ceiling (which really relates to the soft gray-blue in our bedroom and kitchen) while the green ties into everything from our guest bedroom’s bright green headboard to our more-neutral-but-still-taupey-green bathroom. We like to think of our home’s newly defined color scheme as “sea glass inspired” since it’s full of soft creams, sandy neutrals, serene blues, and a variety of greens- all colors of old weathered glass that can wash up on the beach.
So that’s a little update on our nursery progress. And we’ll toss in this sneak peek of a few of the fun accessories (fabric and a cozy area rug) that we snagged to layer into our freshly painted space. Stay tuned for those details coming soon.
And since everyone seems to love seeing our house when it’s messy, we snapped this photo of our living room’s console table which was bogged down with everything that used to be in the nursery (namely the nursery closet). The good news is that it has all since found a new home, but we know you love seeing our house all crazy-like, so enjoy!
And while we’re on the subject of painting, we’d love to know what color you guys gravitate towards when it comes to nurseries. Whether you’ve already painted one (or five) or just dream about whipping one up someday, we’d love to know what hues tickle your fancy. Pale pink? Brown and blue? Bright rainbow stripes? Spill the beans.
Kristen says
We painted our son’s nursery the same blue you used for the ceiling! It matches our bedding nicely, but not al lthe baby blue gifts, blankets, etc we keep getting!
YoungHouseLove says
Isn’t it funny how many gifts you get in the pastel category (blue for boys and pink for girls)! We have about twenty pink blankets (not even exaggerating) but we hear these things come in handy for tummy time and spit up, so we’re sure we’ll end up using them all the time!
xo,
s
rohitha says
first of all congratulations to both of you.I visit your blog often and am a big fan of your makeovers.when I saw that your are pregnant in your earlier posts,I was so eagerly waiting to see how you guys would setup your nursery and I must say ,you have an awesome room for your little angel.I am pregnant too and am expecting in September and this is my first.I really enjoyed reading your posts on crib hunting and nursery makeover,I felt they were really informative.Since now ,my morning sickness started taking a downturn,i decided to start working on turning my guest bedroom into a nursery.The only dilemma i am facing right now is that,ours is a 2 bedroom home( master+guest) and a loft which is the place where me n my husband hangout most and it also serves as our office space (thanks to ikea’s compact designs).
Our guest BR (celery green)and loft are just about the same size(10×11) .I knew I had to make most out of this room,since it should eventually serve as a nursery/kids room n a guest BR.At present we have an ikea Queen bedset in our Guest BR and as you might guess ,there is barely any room for anything else in there and our loft (lot of ventilation and raffia cream))is the first thing you notice once you go upstairs and there was no way we could make it a BR.But,since we wanted our overnight guests to feel welcome,we ended up putting a couch(with sleeper) in there,so this couch and a chaise are the only two peices we have for lounging in the loft.For now we decided to have the crib in the master suite(thanks to our master BR-its of fairly good size).However,I want my baby to have some personal space(diaper changing station, storage dresser etc) atleast a mini nursery.I would be really really grateful if you could help me with a possible solution that would help me transform any of these spaces to a beautiful ,cozy corner for my little one on the way.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Rohitha,
Our advice would just be to choose items that would work for your baby but don’t read as “nursery” decor- like the dresser we refinished and topped with a changing pad (as opposed to buying a typical changing table which will look very “baby-ish.” Then you can introduce these things into the space (whether it’s the bedroom or the loft) and they’ll fit right in without looking like it’s a kids corner in the middle of your house. You can also consider the idea of selling your current guest bed (the queen one) on craigslist and getting a smaller full sized one or even a twin with a trundle or some other option that’s more condensed to free up more room in there. Heck, there are even great sleeper sofa options that you can add which will give you lots of floor space for whenever you don’t have guests (remember that guests don’t come all that often, so figuring out how to get the most from your spaces when they’re not around is a smart approach). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
rohitha says
thanks sherry for all the helpful tips.
Andrea P says
Hi YHL!
I couldn’t help but notice that fabulous mercury glass hurricane vase sitting on your console in the “messy” pic.
Where did you get it & where is it usually residing in your casa? I havent seen it before!
Thanks :)
YoungHouseLove says
It’s from Z Gallerie! And it actually lives right there on the console table- at least for now. We like to switch things up so pretty much every surface is ever changing around here.
xo,
s
Lissa says
Hi guys
I went to ICI Paints to buy a gallon of Celery Stick but they couldn’t find it in their computer. I’m in Canada. The nearest name was Celery Stalk which colour is very bright green. I tried to find it at Glidden.com but I don’t see Celery Stick. The “Spring Green” looks good though :) I would appreciate if YHLers or someone here who has the paint chip to let me know the chip number? And is BM’s Fantasy Blue chip number 716? Thanks so much.
YoungHouseLove says
Check out this link for what we assume is the formula:
http://www.homedepot.com/Greens/Paint-Paint-Samples/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xg1Zbo8pZ1z13wpt/R-100637187/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Hope it helps! Hopefully you can google any other paint names you’d like to find the formula for. Happy hunting!
xo,
s
Lissa says
Thanks. I did show them that page on my iPhone but they said the GLG15 D5 code is not what they are looking for to find the formula. :(
YoungHouseLove says
Darn! Does anyone know the formula to help out Lissa?
xo,
s
Lissa says
Hi guys
Do you still have the Celery Stick paint chip? What numbers/letters does it say on the chip besides the name?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Lissa,
Since we went with the Mythic paint we don’t still have the Glidden chip. So sorry!
xo,
s
Amanda says
I just wanted to give you a HUGE thank you for the Frog Tape recommendation. We’re in the process of painting/decorating our house and painted our dining room several months ago. We also have an older home with uneven walls, so taping was necessary. I used blue tape in the dining room and there was bleeding all over the place.
I’m in the process now of painting our living room (as in, right now; I’m taking a break to post this!), had caught your recommendation and picked up a couple of rolls to see if it worked better. I am AMAZED at how awesome it worked! I have no bleeding anywhere at all and I’m so happy that I don’t have to touch up anything. So, THANKS!! You guys rock!!
Amanda says
Lissa, I think that Celery Sticks is GLG15 (no D5) and Spring Green should be GLG03. I say this because I have a Glidden book of their paint colors (but no codes) and two different shades of green that match up with the book when I count it off, if that makes any sense at all. Granny Smith Apple is GLG02 and is the second color in the book, etc. Hope this helps you!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much for the help Amanda!
xo,
s
Lissa says
Hi YHLers and Amanda
I went to a bigger ICI store which caters more to contractors and lo behold, they have the Celery Sticks formula in their computer. No clue why the other two ICI retail stores don’t have it.
For future reference, the formula code is 90YY 72/225.
I can’t stop admiring the smeared color dot on the cover. It’s really a lovely green!
Amanda says
I’m glad you found it, Lissa!
Katie says
These paint colors are so soothing! I too have recently used Frog tape to paint my living room and it works much better than anything I have used in the past. Spend the extra couple of bucks, it is worth it.
Meredith says
Love it!!! We are actually thinking of using that same blue (my favorite color) in our Master Bedroom on the ceiling- but want to do the walls in a tan or beigy color– any suggestions on a color that would coordinate well? I love picking out paint colors- I even bring the swatches home and tape them to the wall so I can see them in the different lighting-but somehow I can never get it right. You have a wonderful eye for color- so your help would be soooo helpful! We have white crown molding and will either be keeping our white furniture or going with a chocolate brown. Congrats on your little one- she’s beautiful!
YoungHouseLove says
Glidden’s Water Chestnut would look lovely with that blue ceiling. Yum!
xo,
s
Katie says
I love your blog, and am an obsessive reader. I am about to repaint a few rooms in our house, starting in our bedroom (that has sloped ceilings). This is my first time painting more than a piece of furniture, and I am trying to determine the best supplies. What kind of roller brushes do you use? Is there a certain brand or type? Anything else we need to pickup? I actually already had your edger brush that you like. I’m nervous but excited to get started! Any advice you have would be so wonderful!
YoungHouseLove says
Here’s a post all about painting furniture.
https://www.younghouselove.com/2009/02/how-to-paint-furniture/
We like Purdy brushes and rollers so those are good to grab. Good luck!
xo,
s
Sandy says
Just painted my spare bedroom (second nursery for baby #2 some day), and I decided to try painting the ceiling a different color than white. I figured a spare bedroom would be a safe place to experiment. It turned out amazing!!! The walls are a pale yellow, and the ceiling is a pale green. What a great idea- thanks so much!!!!
YoungHouseLove says
So excited for you! Glad it worked out so well!
xo,
s
Joy says
Love your blog. Clara is adorable! Just wondering if it’s ok to paint with the no VOC paint while pregnant if you are planning on painting more than one room to prep for baby? Did you repaint all the trim? and what other non-toxic paints did you consider? I heard about Home Depot’s Freshaire but I’m not sure how it compares with Mythic. We don’t have a Mythic distributor that’s close so I don’t want to order without looking at color chips.
Thanks for the advice in advance!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Joy,
Yup, it’s totally safe to paint with no-VOC paint when you’re prego. Especially if you open windows and turn on a fan just to keep things even more aired out as you go. We didn’t repaint the trim but we certainly could have (we love Home Depot’s no-VOC line of Freshaire paint, and use off-the-shelf white for our trim in a semi gloss finish). Mythic is still the most pure (it’s the leading no-VOC paint) but Freshaire is great too, just a bit lower in quality (meaning it might take one extra coat or so), a smidge less all-natural (which explains the price difference) and they offer less color options than Mythic does. But it can totally work for you!
xo,
s
Tiffany says
Stumbled across your blog somehow and am so glad that I did! I am in love with colours you picked for your nursery. I have a horrible eye when it comes to picking out paint colours, so my plan is to just copy what you did. Problem is I don’t have a Mythic distributor or True Value paints store. Do you know of a similar colour to Regency Pale/Adanna Aire that would be available at Home Depot?
If not no worries, just thought I’d try and ask! I’m so bad at picking the right paint colour!
Thanks so much!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Tiffany,
Celery Sticks by Glidden is almost identical to our green walls in the nursery. And as for the ceiling, your best bet is to just bring home a bunch of light blue paint chips and hold them up (preferably after you paint the walls) to see what works best (since the lighting on a ceiling can differ so much from house to house). Good luck!
xo,
s
Tanya says
Hi,
I live in Toronto, Ontario Canada and would love to know if True Value paint is available here … I love the ceiling colour for your nursery :0)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Tanya,
Good question! We’re not sure. Maybe go to truevalue.com and look around/give them a call?
xo,
s
Wendy says
Great nursery room!
I have every room painted in my new house except the dining room. Wanted to maybe try something different and paint the ceiling blue with taupe or gray walls, and white box paneling under the chair rail. What do you think and do you have BM color suggestions?
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds lovely! We say go for it (and just grab some swatches and hold them up to pick colors you love). Have fun!
xo,
s
Amanda says
I have another painting while pregnant question. Warning: this might be a dumb question since I have never painted a room before. What do you do about primer when painting a room while pregnant? Do you skip it, is primer ok when pregnant, are there more pregnancy friendly primer options? Also, what do you think of the Olympic Premium paints? I’m thinking of painting my nursery the Aloe Vera color but I haven’t heard much about this brand. Thank You!
YoungHouseLove says
We don’t use primer unless we’re painting over a super dark or bold color (like red or chocolate). Otherwise it’s not necessary! And it’s best to avoid it since it’s hard to find low or no VOC versions so we’d suggest just going straight to paint. Olympic is great stuff for you- they have no VOCs now, so it’s perfect for anyone who’s prego!
xo,
s
Drew says
I love the green color and have been looking for something similar for our nursery. I was on Mythic’s website and the Autumn Bloom swatch looks so light but the color in your pics looks fairly bright. Did you have to do several layers?
Thanks!
Drew Hurst
YoungHouseLove says
Our walls always call for two coats since they’re plaster. I wouldn’t call it neon green or anything though – it’s light, but semi bright.
xo,
s
Jessica says
One of my favorite tips comes courtesy of an interior designer friend, Lara. She recommends buying samples of the 2-4 paint choices you’ve narrowed down and painting white poster boards with the samples. Then, tape them to your wall with painters tape, and leave them up for a few days. I tried this before repainting my bedroom, and wow did it help! I was lost with small paint chips, but the posterboard make the decision easy peasy.
YoungHouseLove says
Great tip!
xo,
s
Susan says
Anyone recommend another good no-voc paint? The mythicpaint link is completely down and I need to paint the whole house (Or Husband does) while I’m preggers. TYIA!
YoungHouseLove says
Ben Moore has a great one called Natura and there’s a line at Lowe’s called Olympic Premium that also has no VOCs.
xo,
s
Lauren says
So what was your verdict on the No VOC Mythic vs. No voc Benjamin Moore paint? We are moving and trying to decide on which no VOC is best for painting many rooms in the new house. Thanks!!
YoungHouseLove says
The Mythic wasn’t as thick/fast to cover, but it was super green (even more natural than Ben Moore’s Natura, which is no-VOC) so if you don’t mind the possibility of an extra coat I’d go Mythic and if you want thicker coverage but something that’s still on team green, Natura is nice.
xo
s