Feel free to sing the title to the tune of the famous Dolly Parton song. Or our new favorite version by SNL. Anyway, painting our living room yesterday sure was quite the task of endurance, especially given various breaks for Clara-tending and blog-tending. In fact, it took us exactly 12 hours, from 9am to 9pm to fully complete the project. Good news – the living room is officially Moonshine’d. Better news – so is the hallway (what can we say, we were on a roll).
But the day got off to a slow start. Between Sherry squatting the first blog post of the day to answer a bunch of questions, Clara needing some breakfast, and me clearing / taping the room, it was nearly two hours ’til we even cracked the first paint can open at around 11. Here’s the post all about how we deemed Moonshine to be the perfect gray for our house, and it bears mentioning that we chose to get it color matched to Olympic No-VOC paint in a satin finish (which we have found to look extremely close to flat paint with a lot of added durability & kid-friendly wipeability – really it doesn’t look wet or glossy at all, much to our surprise).
Thankfully things got rolling (literally) once Clara napped like a champion (from 11 to almost 1- which she never does!) and we gave ourselves permission to focus on applying color to the walls instead of approving & answering blog comments (no offense to you guys of course). Sherry wasn’t even slowed down by the splinter our floor kindly drove into her left cheek. And I’m not talking about the one on her face. Ouch. She’s a total trooper. And she learned a valuable painting lesson in the new house: not to scoot around on her rear while cutting in baseboard. I realize this sounds like she was painting nude, but she was fully clothed. It just went right through her yoga pants. No lie.
Sherry has always been the cutter-inner (edger) of our relationship and I’m the roller. But she also does extra credit stuff too. In this case she took the time to fill a bunch of gnarly holes in our extra-craggy brick wall – like these right near the trim – with paintable DAP caulk for a much more finished looking result. Love that girl. Even if she is a little obsessive.
Once Clara awoke from The Nap Of Her Life (capitalized as it was truly an event to be remembered), we had to switch off when it came to baby-duty (and drop in on the blog every once in a while too for comments). So our productivity dropped a bit, but it was nice to take staggered bean breaks. As the day wore on, the diminishing sunlight made differentiating the white walls from the wet paint a bit challenging, but we charged on (taking breaks for things like a second blog post, diaper changes, lunch, dinner, and putting Clara down for a less-than-champion worthy afternoon nap). By around 5:30pm we had applied two coats to the living room (all it needed) and started on the two hallway vestibules. And by the time Clara was in bed for the night at 8pm we’d cracked open our second gallon of paint to finish off a second coat in those two hallways. By 9pm we were cleaning up and ready to collapse on the couch that was still clustered next to the TV in the middle of the room and zone out. Btw, it was funny to watch some tube at the distance that we were used to from our last house again.
Being too dark for a photoshoot last night, we waited to take these “after” shots this morning for ya:
We’ll be the first to admit that it’s hard to see much of a difference in the pics. But in person we were both shocked at how much warmer the room looks. We assumed gray would look cooler, but the previous white walls were so stark that the soft silvery gray is nice and cozy by comparison. Kind of like you’re inside a cloud that’s glowing thanks to some sun shining through. In short, we’re both in LOVE with Moonshine. And for those wondering why we didn’t go crazy bright or dramatic with the wall color, we want to bring in some bold textiles (like big dramatic curtains on those sliders) along with some colorful art and maybe even some painted furniture – so we don’t want the walls to compete with that. We even have plans for a large charcoal sectional, so we’re definitely getting away from the white-slipcovered-sofas-and-breezy-white-curtained look of our first house. A lot of the rooms that have inspired us lately don’t have super dark or bright walls, but still definitely read as “colorful” and “bold.” But we do have a few spaces (like the hall bathroom & guest bedroom) that we plan to paint an extremely rich and saturated color, just like we did on the backs of our built-ins. So there will be some o’ that too.
We also thought when one of the walls was brick, a bold color (like deep teal or emerald or plum) might look a bit odd, since it’s more common to see brick painted in lighter tones like white, cream, gray, etc. And we wanted that wall to feel the most unified and un-odd so the whole room felt connected as opposed to disjointed. Oh and we did consider leaving just the fireplace bump-out white while painting the rest of the walls gray, but in the end it looked too unbalanced so we painted it and like the cohesive effect a lot more. We figure we can always add color back into it down the line (like a rich charcoal paint) if we’re feeling crazy. We’ll just have to see how the room shapes up.
Oh yeah but we can’t forget the hallway. The results in there boosted our confidence even more that Moonshine was the way to go and the change will be much more dramatic in the living room once it gets the white-trim treatment. See how soft yet defined it looks with crisp white accents?
This close up is probably the best demonstration of the silvery gray color we ended up with (and how it plays off that glossy trim):
So the next thing on our to-do list is to paint the trim & baseboard in the living room (which is why the furniture is staying in a nice little island formation in the middle of the room until that’s done). Oh and we’ve decided to leave the ceiling beams unpainted for now. We’re definitely gonna see what the rest of the room looks like before making any decisions about what to do with those. Sherry has this crazy new idea about staining or painting them a rich charcoal color. Could be cool. And we’ll probably photoshop it before taking the plunge and share the madness with you. But before we get to that we’ll hopefully have the finished trim pictures to share next week. Fingers crossed for record-breakingly-fast painting luck and another one of those Naps To End All Naps from Clara.
Psst- The repair guys came out to fix our new washer amid the painting chaos and eradicated the annoying whistle issue. Happy happy joy joy.
Psssst- We announced this week’s giveaway winners, so click here to see if you’re one of them.
Hanna says
It looks incredible! Man oh man… I may have more grey paint samples in my future… my husband is NEVER going to let me live it down. :)
carolinaheartstrings says
You guys have been busy. Great results. The pain is definitely the perfect gray and looks amazing with the whte trim. Charcol gray beams YES!
Rebecca @ the lil house that could says
How did you guys schedule day-long projects like this when John was still working in marketing? Did you reserve them for weekends, or did Sherry tackle them alone?
I’m just trying to work out my own work/house/school balance that’s why I ask :) Weekends are far too short these days!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Rebecca,
We do nearly every project at night or during weekends (we did the back of the bookcase painting at night, painted the mirror over the sink in our bedroom at 10pm, etc). Yesterday was a rare semi-choppy thing (since we were juggling the baby, the blog, the washer fixer guy, etc) but it felt so good to get ‘er done!
xo,
s
Handy Man, Crafty Woman says
I like it; I prefer neutral colors on the walls, so you can do all sorts of things with the curtains, pillows, etc.
BTW, in the last picture, it looks like a doorway…to a brick wall. Am I seeing things? What is that? (some quirky, older house thing?) Believe me, I know old house quirks, but I’m just wondering what that is.
Kristin says
I’ve been following your blog for a couple of months now and you’ve been inspiring me to get more active about making small changes around my own house! We painted our living room/hallway a similar pale gray and our bedroom is a similar color to yours too, so obviously I like your color choices!
We painted all the wood trim in our 1950’s Cape and I just want to tell your other posters that it’s not scary at all! All you need to do is just rough it up a little with sandpaper so the primer/paint adheres – you don’t need to sand off ALL the color/stain. We used two coats of Kilz and then two coats of Behr Ultra Pure White semi-gloss and it gives NEW LIFE to our old house!
Felicity says
It looks great and I’m glad you agree that gray feels warmer. It’s looks really fabulous with the white trim, love it! I love, love, love everything about our gray rooms!
Now that you’re in an new house and back into “big” projects, I’d love to read a post about when you do the work like painting etc. A new “day in the life” kind of post :)
Handy Man, Crafty Woman says
Ok never mind, I scrolled back through the previous comments. Found the answer on page 3: it’s just an angle through the doorway in photo #4.
Kim S says
The hallway looks great! From the photos, I too cannot see a difference in the living room. Can’t wait to see how it looks next to the bookcases in the future dinning room!
candace @ thecandace.com says
Looks awesome! Phew, I’m tired just thinking about how much work that was!!! I love the subtlety of it!
Jennifer says
Looks great! I painted my kitchen gray last month and love how my white cabinets look with it. I have been contemplating what color to paint the hallway, but you guys have inspired me to go ahead and paint it gray too!
Taylor says
LOVE IT! I cannot wait to see it with the painted trim and baseboards!
Beth says
Looks great yall!! Really sophisticated and yet cozy. Very lovely, kudos to you both!!
Kristen says
Ah! I wish you guys would keep the trim & baseboard that dark wood color instead of white! It’s so charming!!
Anna says
I know I am in the minority but I love the dark trim!! I have a hard time deciding if I like white or dark brown better! Either way the rooms are sure to look gorgeous!!
Briel K. says
Looks nice, especially with the white trim!
I saw this and thought of you guys: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2011/01/cute-and-tasty-pantone-chip-cookies.html :)
YoungHouseLove says
We love those Briel! So cute (and tasty looking).
xo,
s
richard says
Hey Guys!!! Looks so great in your rooms!
SO, looking at your beams and knowing they’ll be transformed, I am reminded of old school rules that say when your ceiling is over 10ft, you should do the ceiling darker to cozy up the space, but 10′ and under you should go lighter in order to keep from having them “come down” on you. What’s your take on this rule?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Richard,
Rules are meant to be broken! We have no doubt that the beams would look amazing in white… but we’re wondering how they’ll look in a dramatic smoky gray. Who know where we’ll end up. Just thinking about things for now…
xo,
s
Lauren H. says
Looks great! Especially in the hallways with the white trim.
Christina says
Love the grey. Really love the crisp white molding baseboards and can see why you are going to do that. I want to go more towards the greys, smokey blues, lighter/cooler colors, in our new home (close in February), but all the baseboards in the house are wood. I have not converted my husband over to ‘painting wood can be a very good thing.’ I have never seen a room painted the cool/greys/blues with wood baseboards and am wondering if you have? Would it be a flop??? Thanks.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Christina,
It really depends on the exact color you choose. We bet it can be done if you take the time to find the right one and do those big color swatches on the wall next to the trim to see what complements it. Good luck!
xo,
s
Sarah@grownupnow says
I really like the color a lot- it turned out looking a lot more silvery and subtly than I thought. Looks awesome! The shot of the hallway to the bedroom is a really nice one, and I love how the color of your room and the hallway work together so well (which I’m sure is one reason you chose it). Do you guys have any plans yet for the floor, or ceiling, in the living room?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Sarah,
We’re taking things one day at a time, so while we have a few ideas swirling around in our heads for those things, we’ll just see where we end up and blog as we go!
xo,
s
Erin @ WriteTasty says
I’m impressed at how quickly you got everything painted! I really like the way the gray looks against the white edging in the hallway, but now that I’ve seen it in the living room, I’m wishing that you would have gone a shade or two darker. Still, it’s tough to tell without the full picture, and I can’t wait to see how the color looks against your bold curtains and accessories!
GreenInOC says
Margaret asked my same question about the door seeming to open on a brick wall. How do I know that? I searched the comments so I wouldn’t ask the same question that 473 people already asked as I am wont to do!!
It looks great against the trim.
That’s A LOT of work you did in 12 hours!!
Theresa says
I can so relate to the painting between naps and meals. I was beginning to think you guys were superheros. Thanks for breaking it down in real time because that’s how it’s done in my house. BTW I love the gray. I have so many rooms in my house painted gray and our entry and hallway our BMs Hawthorne Yellow. I love the two colors together. You both give me so much inspiration, your blog is becoming my favorite.
Samantha says
I am in the process of painting our whole house a very similar color, perhaps just a bit lighter, with white trim. I’m loving it! :)
Katie D. says
I just wanted to say…I think you guys are awesome for responding to so many comments all the time! Most bloggers wouldn’t take the time to respond to so many people (which I think is a big reason everyone loves you!!)
<3 young house love
Judy says
Hi Guys
I love the grey! Good choice! I’m in love with your blog its like my morning dose of caffeine I have to log on and check whats new in your house! Thanks for all the inspriation and sharing all your tips!
And as for those negative comments ~ it’s your house, your blog, you guys are just sharing with the rest of the world and I really appreciate that! Keep up the good work :)
xo
J
Stacey says
It looks great guys–definitely warmer than I would have thought for a gray. Quick question: you mentioned that there was taping involved. I thought you guys cut in without tape….just curious as to your technique.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Stacey,
I prefer to cut in without tape, but since I’m short, even on a step ladder I’m not as precise when it comes to edging around the ceiling. And especially since we want to keep the wood au naturale (for now) we didn’t want to take any chances, so we taped!
xo,
s
Ellen says
Looks good! I love the idea of staining the beams a dark gray too. Can’t wait to see it.
Zoë says
Love, love, love the gray. It’s definitely one of my favorite colors, especially when paired with yellow. You two really make me want to get off my backside and finally get round to painting the house we moved into three years ago. I’ve had two babies and gotten a full time job since we moved with a then 3 year old, so I think I have an excuse for my laziness though.
Now I have a Clara question – how long does she usually nap for if this was the Nap of All Naps (as mom to a 4 month old who is a pretty poor napper, I love to know how other babes nap too)?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Zoe,
She sleeps so solidly at night (usually 9-11 hours straight) that we only get two (sometimes three) 45 minute naps a day. But yesterday she napped for two hours! It was amazing!
xo,
s
Alotta Lettuce says
Question for you John and Sherry:
I see that at last one of your doorways (the one between the hallway and the living room) appears to have white trim around the outside, but stained wood on the inside. ALL of the doorways on my first floor are like this, because when they renovated the house, they put up new trim, but used the original door framings.
I HATE the two-tone look, but as of yet, have not made any attempts to re-paint them, because I’m not sure if the stained wood framing on the inside needs to be stripped first or what.
What are your plans for your own doorway?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Alotta,
We’ll be blogging about how we paint wood trim and doorways soon (with details). Stay tuned!
xo,
s
Kristen says
Love the paint job! It looks awesome!
I’ve recently been wanting to add some gray paint to a few of our bedrooms…do you think it would be weird when the rest of the house is some tone of tan/beige?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Kristen,
No way! They’re both neutrals so it should look awesome!
xo,
s
Sarah K says
Looks great! I have been wanting to paint something gray for FOREVER – maybe now I’ll have the guts?
Hollis says
My rental apartment had similar but lighter gray walls and I had big plans of painting when I moved in since I was planning to stay a while and wanted to make it my own, but after I moved in I fell in love with the gray and the way it looked polished and clean and airy. I have painted furniture and bright colors in my bedroom (bright blue bed, yellow chair, yellow quilt) and they look amazing against the gray.
You can sort of see here: http://www.sassandfrass.com/post/838464003/dressers-im-not-normally-a-fan-of-furnishing-a
(I have the Ed dressers…but not the bed)
Sarah says
Looks beautiful! With it being soo neutral, it kinda puts a lot of pressure on the area rug! can’t wait to see what you pick out… i’m assuming with the grey walls, the moorish tile rug will get kicked to a different room?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Sarah,
Yeah, we’re thinking with a big sectional our beloved 5 x 8 rug won’t be big enough. We’ll see where we end up!
xo,
s
Christine says
I love it and I think it’ll look amazing with white trim!
Pamela says
Just a quick comment for Audrey. I don’t have any experience with Home Reserve, but if it is anything like Custom Sofa Design or Sofa Craft, the prices may be great but the shipping (depending on where you live) can easily double the cost.
Tara Wilhelmsen says
My husband and have been in renovation mode for 11 months now! WOW! We’re just getting to the point now where we are wanting to add furniture to the house. We fell in love with some white leather couches at Ikea, but we’re hesitant b/c we have a large dog (not allowed on the couches though) and will have kids sometime in the future. I’ve always admired your beautiful cream couch and wonder how well it holds up to Burger and Clara? Should we do it? or is white and leather a bad idea?
Love the gray by the way! We painted our bedroom gray and love it!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Tara,
Our sofa is a slipcover so we can just toss it into the wash. So easy! But we have heard leather is great too because it can be wiped down a lot! We’d guess that you should be just fine- as long as your kiddos don’t draw all over it with sharpie or something in the future!
xo,
s
Dave says
check out the homies your nominated again and again
Lonely Wife Project says
It looks perfect! Can’t wait to see how you bring color into the room.
J&JHome says
I love this grey. We chose Sherwin Williams Anew Grey and we love it, but there’s something about this grey that looks so clean. Great choice.
Nicole says
My Hubby and I really like the look of gray but EVERY inch of wood in our house (cabinets, baseboards, door frames, an ENTIRE wall) is that nice 90’s golden oak. :( In your opinions, should we steer clear of the gray for fear of it looking awful? I ask because I spied wood beams but your wood is far darker than ours so probably works a little better.
YoungHouseLove says
We’d do the paint test method and just see how it looks. Maybe a warm gray would work? Good luck!
xo,
s
John says
A. Where is the sectional that you are considering from…ikea? Can you post pics of what you are looking at?
B. Where is the white slip cover from?
THANKS!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey John,
We’ll be blogging all about the sectional we’re considering (it actually won’t have a white slipcover though, we’re going with something in a deep charcoal gray this time). Stay tuned for that info soon!
xo,
s
Liz says
Love the new color. I, too, have exposed wood beam ceilings, which I love. I bookmarked an apartment therapy blog post from a while ago about exposed beams, and thought I’d share if you need inspiration: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/bedroom/exposed-ceiling-beams-in-the-home-096196
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Liz,
Wahoo! Thanks for the link. Off to check it out!
xo,
s
Devon says
Love the gray. I also love the sofa floating the middle of the room instead of up against the wall. Any thoughts on keeping it out there?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Devon,
We actually have plans to upgrade to a sectional so we’ll see where we like it when we get that (and a new rug) in there down the line. It’ll definitely take some time, but we can’t wait to see where we end up!
xo,
s
Karla says
Just gorgeous! Love the vision you have to add some bold colours too. Can’t wait to see the rest :)
Ginger says
You will be oh so happy with Moonshine. My new house is Moonshine inside and out, with the exception of the master bedroom. I would definitely keep the trim white. The combination of the two just scream crisp and clean. I can’t wait to see what bold colors in accessories you add. I have all neutrals in furniture and can’t decide where to add my color.
Sasha says
A bit off topic, but it makes me giggle that everyone keeps say “i love the moonshine!” Makes me think of a whole different kind of moonshine (that you surely deserve after painting that huge room!)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Sasha,
Haha, us too! We’re giggling like school kids over here.
xo,
s
holly says
Hey there-love your blog! I have had fun watching what you have done to your new house. I just moved and feel a little overwhelmed by it all-decorating, putting my old stuff in my new house etc.
My question to you is-what kind of flip camera do you have? I love how you are documenting your life with your little one and I saw in a post that you did have a Flip (?). I am just curious because I would love to document my boy’s lives in a similar way!
Sorry so long!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Holly,
We have a Flip Ultra HD. Love it!
xo,
s
Deborah says
I am loving the gray on your walls! I have a similar gray (with more taupey undertones – Revere Pewter by BM) in our entire house, and I’m thinking of painting an accent wall or two in our office in the teal color you used on your bookcases. Do you think they would work together or are the gray and teal too different. . . or is the teal way too dark to use on the walls period? Also, what do you think about painting two adjacent walls the same dark accent color (so the room would have two gray walls and two teal walls)? The room is not really large, but it does have 10 or 11 foot ceilings. Thank you!!! Great job, as always!! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Deborah,
We’d totally mix gray and teal. It sounds amazing! Just paint little squares on the wall to see how it looks (and then decide whether you want two walls of each color or what)! Good luck!
xo,
s
Alison says
I know that I’m one of those type A sort of people, but please tell me that you wash the walls before you paint! I always envision painting over dirty walls to be the same as putting a clean, long sleeved turtleneck over a dirty, sweaty body and it totally grosses me out!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Alison,
Nope, they hired a professional cleaning crew before we got the keys to our house and it was amazingly spotless! I even used a new paintbrush to cut in and didn’t get a single dog or human hair on it (which used to happen all the time at our house). Haha.
xo,
s
Jami says
I’m the one who had a question some time last week about the VOC free paint issue. I can’t remember which post it’s on, so I didn’t get to see a reply.
This explains what I’m concerned about:
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/home/2008/04/vocs-in-paint.html
“The base of other paints might also be free of VOCs, but when any pigment is added at the point of sale, the VOC level climbs as high as 150 g/l…”
When you are tinting your paint… are you tinting it with VOC free tints? (Which is possible, since “Moonshine” is available in the Natura line)If not, I think you’re being misleading by constantly saying “Olympic Premium VOC free paint”. If your readers are running to Lowe’s to grab a can of Olympic Premium paint, then tinting it… they’re no longer getting a VOC free product. And if the dangers of VOC are truly important to someone, that’s a terrible way to be mislead. My husband has some unpleasant respiratory issues, and we haven’t been able to justify spending the $50+ per paint can for the Mythic or Benjamin Moore Natura lines yet. So I understand the desire to have a less expensive option… but why spend any extra on VOC free paint just to add them back in?
http://www.consumersearch.com/interior-paint/low-voc-paint
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Jami,
The good news is your information that colorants have VOCs is not true anymore when it comes to Olympic Premium paint! They reformulated. Check out Lowe’s and you’ll see that the new pamphlet and signage for Olympic Premium paint (which is the no-VOC kind) says that the base paint and all added colorants are 100% no-VOC. Not low- none at all! Love it!!! Here’s a link to their site where you can read that ” Olympic Premium Interior Paint in any color is totally Zero VOC.” Hope it helps!
xo,
s