The “Grand” Room

I find that I choose my projects as something to do when my husband is working his one weekend a month! I decided that next up to be repainted was what I like to call the “grand” room – for the grandkids! It was painted a very dark blue on three walls and then what looked like a black chalkboard paint on another wall. It seemed very, very dark in there, which isn’t very inviting for a child’s room. The first grand just turned 3, our second grand will be 3 in November, and a third grand will be arriving in late August! 3-3-3!

Dark blue . . . and what’s with the fan? It looks a little small and outdated for this room.

See what I mean? Super dark. Although it might have been cool to have a chalk board wall, one of our grands would have likely not known the difference and written on ALL of the walls!

I had a hard time choosing paint for this room. I like the “khaki” color for walls, a neutral color that’s not too yellow. I ended up choosing Rust-Oleum’s Studio Color in Sesame Seed in an eggshell finish. It didn’t look too yellow but still seemed warm with its undertones. Once again, I was nervous as to how much paint it would take to cover this. Once I got started, I knew I had my work cut out for me – literally! I cut in, rolled, cut in some more, rolled some more. . . .Three coats later for the main walls – FIVE coats for cutting in. Even with primer it took A LOT. But that’s okay, because I had anticipated it, to some extent, and it was still within 2 gallons. What certainly made it easier, however, was having the entire room empty to move around in, and I wanted it done by Easter weekend, when we were hosting two family events. It’s good to have goals, right?!

You can see the stark contrast between the chalkboard color on the left, the corner with the new paint, and the right side with the dark blue.

I am amazed how bright the room now looks! I fell in love with this line of pictures a while ago, but we had nowhere to hang them so they were admired from afar. In fact, now that I was looking for them, I couldn’t find them! We searched the usual places we had seen them, Home Goods, TJMaxx, Marshalls, and eventually found a couple of smaller ones from Hobby Lobby. I cringed at the fact that we actually paid full price for them. I try to use coupons or wait for sales as much as I can but since I had my heart set on finding pictures like this, I had to bite the bullet. I wanted to get new bedding but since I couldn’t find what I wanted yet, I decided to use some existing bedding that was like new (much more frugal and made up for paying full price for the pictures).

I don’t think was the best time to try to take a picture . . . even so, doesn’t it look much brighter?

Cooper photobombed this pic! Much better version of seeing how bright it looks now! That big wall used to be the chalkboard wall.

I still have a couple of more things I’d like to do to the room such as either change out the fan or paint the blades and something needs to go above the bed. I’d also like to get a bookshelf of some kind for the book collection but the biggest part is done – painting!! A curtain would make it seem a little cozier as well, I think, and perhaps a small rug at the side of the bed. The train table that’s in the room was my son’s, as is most of the cars on the table. We have the Thomas the Tank Engine train set to go on it as well but at the moment he tears it all up!

Did I make it in time for Easter weekend? Yes, without the pictures, and the grands had a place to play while the adults were visiting in the other room. So this makes two rooms down and . . . . too many to count left! I expect the changes to be slow going but it’s exciting to see things coming together!