Guest Room Update – Paint vs Wallpaper
Between ski weekends, after school sports and busy work schedules, we’ve been slowly chipping away at our not-so-little to-do list. With Carson all moved into his new bedroom, we can finally start working on swapping his old bedroom into a guest room. We finished up the flooring and trim work in here back in January, but things were at a standstill as I debated about what to do with the walls. I think bedrooms are a good opportunity to have a bit of fun with colour and pattern. While you want each space in a home to flow together, because bedrooms are a stand alone room, you definitely have a bit more freedom to bring in some personality.
Our guest room felt like a perfect chance to drench the walls in colour and pattern. I ordered up loads of wallpaper samples to test out, but honestly, none of them felt quite right. I wanted something that would fit our tudor cottage home and, while I think several of them would have looked lovely, there wasn’t a single one that I felt ready to commit to for years to come.
Meanwhile, I’d been testing out colours for our stair railing as well as the doors and trim through our hallway and, as I was pulling out colour cards, I came across one particular colour that I thought could look really beautiful in our guest bedroom. I hummed and hawed about it for a couple of weeks. I’d always thought we’d wallpaper these walls, painting them had never really been something I’d considered. It can be hard to shift gears when you’ve had an idea in your head for so long and I was worried I would regret it. I thought it over (and over-thought it as you do). Painting it would be far easier than wallpapering it, which meant we could have this space finished so much faster. Plus, if I didn’t love it, I could always wallpaper over it still. But the biggest push for paint was that I was so much more excited about this particular paint colour for this space than I was about any of the wallpaper options I’d seen. Honestly, I didn’t have much to lose (besides some very expensive paint and a weekend of my time I guess). So, I ordered up the paint and the special primer that goes with it and got right to work.
I was a bit worried after I got the rose-toned primer on the wall (it was definitely giving Pepto Bismol vibes), but as I rolled on that first coat of paint, I knew instantly that I’d made the right call.
The paint colours we went with were Dead Salmon on the walls and Dimity on the doors and trim. Dimity was the recommended white pairing with Dead Salmon and I can see why – the slight pink tones in it work so perfectly with the pink tones in the wall colour. I love the complexity of Farrow and Ball colours – this one in particular seems to read as beige, pink and even a bit of lilac, all at the same time. It’s the perfect colour to warm up this otherwise cool, North facing room.
And, since I’m not bringing in any pattern on our walls, I decided I’d bring it in with our textiles instead. I’ve ordered up this pretty embroidered bedding and these patterned sheets will help to tie in the pink tones. I’m also planning to order up curtains in a beautiful block print.
With new flooring, trim, doors and paint – this little room feels like a completely different space! I’m so excited to see it finally coming together! I cannot wait to start moving all of our furniture and decor in soon!
Wishing you SUCH a lovely day my friends!
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