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After

Hi friends! Thanks for stopping by. I’m finally ready to reveal the updates I’ve made to my parents’ guest room. But just a few announcements before we get started…

I recently posted a tutorial on How To Faux Silver Leaf Using Paint. I used that faux silver leaf technique on the closet doors in my parents’ guest room to create a feature wall focal point. The whole thing was sort of an experiment and I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. Luckily, I ended up loving the result.

This is what the room looked like before the faux silver leaf, with the ugly brown hollow doors.

 

diy faux silver leaf
Before

 

Here are the doors after the treatment…

 

DIY Faux Silver Leaf
DIY Faux Silver Leaf

 

diy faux silver leaf
DIY faux silver leaf

 

I thought they were pretty fantastic, but the wall color was really bringing the whole look down. Before I started the silver, I knew I wanted to paint the walls, but I had no idea what color to paint. I hate picking paint color. I think it’s one of the hardest parts of decorating. When I painted my parents’ dining room, I knew I wanted grey (that was me being adventurous). But there were so many shades of grey. I tried six different paint samples!! One was too pink, another was too blue, another was too peach, etc. Then add on top of that that the colors look completely different in different lighting. The color that was too pink was perfect in the morning, but at night is was, well, just too pink! This is why I HATE picking paint colors.

So after finishing the doors, I posted a picture both on Hometalk and on my Facebook page and asked for input on wall color. I got a ton of feedback, including someone telling me that nothing was going to help those silver doors. (That person can suck it.) But I was definitely thankful for all the wonderful suggestions. There were so many ideas I would not have thought of like lavender, chocolate, teal, purple, and even suggestions all the way down to the brand and paint color name.

Well, I picked up paint chips for just about every color suggestion. Then decided to go with something in the blue family.

I went back to the store and picked up paint chips in every shade of blue. I was thinking of going with a teal, but wanted to cover all my bases in case there was something fantastic which I might not have considered.

The colors with the arrows were my first choices…

 

So many colors, so little time.
So many colors, so little time.

 

I tried a color called Jewel…

 

Jewel blue
Jewel blue

 

Way too dark. Then I tried three more colors!

 

Lots of paint samples
Lots of paint samples

 

A friend suggested the brand color from Tiffany.com. So I went to Home Depot to try to match the color. It didn’t work and from that experience I ended up writing the post What I Learned About Paint Color Matching.

 

Paint Color Matching
Paint Color Matching

 

I did, however, find a color that was pretty close to the Tiffany color. It’s called Pantone Beach Glass from Valspar. So I picked up one more sample and luckily it turned out to be my last…almost.

I LOVED the color! In the natural light during the day, it was amazing. At night it was still very flattering to the silver doors, but it seemed like a little too much to do the entire room that color. It was, perhaps, a little too dark or too rich. That’s the best way I can describe it.

I still loved the color so I figured I could keep the Beach Glass color around the doors and then do a lighter color in the rest of the room. So I headed back to the store and asked for a sample with only 50% of the pigment added. I tried that and it was better, but not perfect. So I made another trip to the store for 25% pigment. You can see the different pigment shades here…

 

Pigments
Pigments

 

(That’s my DIY Jewelry Organizer hanging there that I upcycled from an old coat rack.)

The 25% pigment was perfect. So away I went painting my little heart out.

Before finishing the room, I added one more faux paint feature. If you noticed in the before picture, there was no trim around the closet doors. That kind of bothered me. But before I went out to buy trim, I thought I’d try another faux treatment: faux trim using paint!

I taped off 4 inches around the doors and painted in the trim…

 

Creating the trim
Creating the trim

 

Now, remember the before picture?

 

diy faux silver leaf
Before

 

Here is the after!

 

After
After

 

After
After

 

After
After

 

Yes, I need to hang a few pictures, don’t I?

 

After
After

 

Now, you may have noticed that I’ve only showed you one side of the room. That’s because an element of the other side still needs some work. It’s the bed. Right now the other side of the room consists of a red-colored bunk bed and an old scratched up wood stained side table. You know what that means?! I get to flex my DIY creativity some more.

My plan is to convert the bunk bed into a single and paint it. As for the side table, it’s sort of French style with curvy legs and curved feet. I think I can do something fantastic with it, but again I’m struggling with the right color and treatment. I don’t think the room can handle too much more silver, so if you have any thoughts on what would complement the rest of the room, please let me know.

Thank you for stopping by and don’t forget to ENTER THE HIGH HEEL PLANTER GIVEAWAY!

Cheers!

Jenise

This post linked to some of these wonderful blogs and here.

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41 Comments on DON’T BE AFRAID OF COLOR: ROOM REVEAL WITH FUNKY FUN FAUX SILVER LEAF FEATURES

  1. I too fell in love with that color, and the sample was very intense. I never thought to ask for less pigment! The final color is the perfect color for my room as well. I’m wondering if I’m just suffering from ‘color shock’ from living with white walls for 22 years? If I just plunged in and did it, would I ever come to love the full pigment color? With my sharp vision, intense colors just irritate me.

    • It definitely is an intense color so it was a hard jump to make, but just think of it this way: if you don’t like it, then you can just repaint. That’s what got me to go for it and I’m really glad I did.

  2. Your room is really pretty. How about painting the table black? I thought about that just now….maybe white to carry the faux trim.

    • Thank you so much Kim! And thanks for the invite. We are all linked up and I’m loving your blog. :-)

  3. I love how your room has turned out. so retro modern with the vibrant wall s and the silver doors. I love it…. I would have never thought to ask for 25% pigment. It is perfect…. Thank you for sharing! Have a terrific weekend!! :)
    x Crystelle
    Crystelle Boutique

  4. Love that color! Great idea to ask for only 25% of the pigment, I’ll have to remember that. Love how you created a trim around the doors, also! Found you at Party in Your PJs – happy weekend. :)

  5. I love tiffany blue. It’s such a gorgeous color and that room looks so bright and beautiful ! The blue compliments the silver perfectly. And I agree with you about picking colors. It’s one of the hardest jobs in interior decor. You can go wrong in so many levels. I remember painting my parents’ bedroom mint and the color turned out to be bright bright fluroscent green.

    • Thank you Zakkiya. Yes, that’s why I always go through so many samples before picking the final color. :-)

  6. Oh. My. Goodness. I love the color at 25% pigment, too. I didn’t know you could even do that! Such a wonderful post, Jenise. PS Found you at the Mad In Crafts Link party today.

    • Thank you. And thanks for stopping by Sarah. BTW, your little one looks darling in her princess Ana dress. :-)

    • Thanks Rebecca! I’m actually hooked up already at Off The Hook!
      And you can just tell your husband that if he doesn’t like the color, fixing it is as easy as another coat of paint!

  7. I love bright colors in decorating. It is so refreshing to see a post using a great color! I also learned about changing the pigment percentage. Thanks for that tip.

  8. Thank you for sharing this post at City of Creative Dream’s City of Links on Friday! I appreciate you taking the time to party with me. Hope to see you again today :)

  9. That looks fabulous. I’ve just pinned your post! Thanks for sharing at the Say G’day Saturday Linky Party!

    Best wishes for a fabulous week,
    Natasha in Oz

  10. I like the colors you ended up with but I LOVE the first color…”Jewel”. Yes, it is strong & deep but I think with the right color combo of accessories, it would make a wonderful, lux retreat. However, I tend to be a real COLOR type of person (ex. I painted my own bedroom a deep, jewel tone raspberry with cream trim & burnt orange window sills.) & color is certainly a very personal, individual choice.

    Also on the side table, I think you should do kind of a shabby chic, French-country style…Paint it white or cream & either do some distressing or some very light silver gilding on it.

    BTW…love the faux door trimming idea!

    • Thanks Grimalkin! I also really like the jewel color. But it’s a pretty small room that doesn’t get a lot of light so I really thought I needed to go lighter. Your bedroom colors sound amazing. The French-country shabby chic side table is a really good idea, especially with the silver building. I might have to consider that!

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