Nursery Reveal Part 2 – Finding Inspiration & the Perfect Paint Color!

Did you catch part 1 of our Nursery Reveal?? If not, you can check it out HERE. I’ll be revealing a bit more about the design, sources & techniques I used to put this special little space together, each Thursday night.

Before I get into this, can I just vent a little? Can I give another shout out to all you moms?? I mean, I thought I was strong, I thought I was patient, I thought I was ready. Cue eye rolls… My goodness, this really is THE toughest job in the whole wide world. Some days, on the rough days, I think I was bat shit crazy to believe I could actually be a driven entrepreneur & mom at the same time. I’m dragging myself out of the house at 11am, after feeding baby twice, working out, taking a shower in between naps & tears (it’s teething time!), putting together a healthy lunch so I can keep up my supply, remembering to drink water & of course to bring the 97 supplies I’ll need for the 4 hours I’ll spend at work with my little angel, at my dream job. Do I have the nipple shield, a pacifier, an extra outfit, diapers, her seat, so when she gets restless she can hang out with the gals on the table, my Baby Ergo, so I can strap her to my chest while I move things around & help customers? Oh, can’t forget my own stuff, my computer & planner, the fabric I want to use on that chair we just got in. Man, it was beyond a full day before I even left the house. And now here I am writing, thinking of all of you. And even though I feel like complaining, I won’t. I will instead focus on the fact that I GET to do this, I GET to bring Madison to work, I GET to continue living my dream. I feel so incredibly thankful to all of you, each and every one of you that has supported Suite Pieces. I hope you all realize that every single thing you’ve ever purchased from us really means the world to every one of my team members and me. Every piece of sand paper, every brush, every cotton stem, every can of paint & stain, every piece of furniture…everything matters. And everything has had so much love & testing & thought put into it. It is now, at this moment that I remember my strength, and all the hard work that went into preparing myself before this all began, before Madison was even a twinkle in my eye. When I’m weak, I think of my creator, but I will also think of you, and this journey he has me on because of all of you. Thank you so very much, from the bottom of my heart.

OK…enough serious, sappy stuff, we came to learn, right??

Let’s talk about finding the perfect paint color for the wall. I’m sure you’ve been in the same boat…it is not an easy task. Since I’ve been on a redecorating kick for the last year, preparing for the arrival of little miss Madison, I’ve had a lot of experience failing at finding the perfect shade. Let me share what I’ve learned along the road. I know I’m not the only one who’s had no less than 12 different paint swatches on the wall before I made a decision.

I tested, no lie, about eight shades of grey in her room before I found the right one. Color is very relevant to lighting, so I suggest that you spend the few dollars on some sample jars and test the color in your space, on several different walls in the space, AND at several times during the day. It is going to look completely different in your room versus a showroom.

What I’ve found, in general, if there isn’t a lot of light in the room, a warmer tone is going to take on a much darker shade as opposed to if there is a lot of light in a room. The opposite is true as well. A cooler shade, in a room with a lot of light, will take on a brighter, lighter shade. For example, Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint® in Paris Grey, when in a room with a lot of light, appears more blue. In a room with less light, it takes on more of a true grey tone. Make sense?

Hubby and I visited LA for our baby moon (since Zika kept us away from the Caribbean) and lucky for me, Restoration Hardware Baby & Child has a showroom in Santa Monica (score!).

OMG…I was drooling the entire time I was in the space. I fell in love with the wall color in the “nurseries” and of course it was one of theirs. Here are some of the shots from the showroom…so fun!

I bought a tester of the RH color and tried it at home. It looked awful…like poop. The original RH color I tried is on the bottom right here.

See, her room doesn’t have a lot of light. The original RH color, is quite warm, so it really felt very dreary in my space, instead of dreamy, like in theirs. I wanted to find something that would have the same “look”, the same “feeling” I felt while I was in the showroom and so the hunt began. I started looking for a shade, that when compared to the Restoration Hardware color, was a bit cooler and a little lighter.

Just bringing the swatches home and comparing them to the first sample helped. When you compare colors, you can see the difference…is it more green, more blue, more red, more yellow, more neutral? Comparing colors helps to make a final decision for sure. I finally settled on Greige by Behr Marquis. The paint applied beautifully to the walls, and it did cover in one coat like the can promised. I did have to do 2 coats on the trim work. And for the ceiling, I went with My Sweetheart by Behr (mixed at 50% because it was just a bit too strong as is), a beautiful soft pink. With the crystal chandelier, it casts the most beautiful relaxing pink hue on the rest of the room. I love it. Think of the ceiling as your fifth wall…you don’t have to just paint it white!

The chandelier is vintage, from our shop in Massapequa. I highly recommend visiting our boutiques for unique items just like this!

So that’s it…another peek into Madison’s nursery and my crazy brain. I hope the tip about comparing the colors to each other and looking for their undertone will help guide you on your next paint color decision. I hope you’ll join along next Thursday when I detail a tutorial on how I recreated one of the finishes from RH for Madison’s crib & hutch. You won’t want to miss it…wink wink.