I’ve mentioned this before, but I LOVE gray paint colors. Gray is so versatile. It comes in so many different undertones, red, blue, green, etc. It’s just so easy to pick a gray! But easy is boring. Easy is predictable. Easy is just that, not challenging. So for this master bathroom makeover, I will not be using any gray paint. I will step outside of my gray, neutral comfort zone and once again spread my wings.

I am no stranger to picking vibrant, rich paint colors. Take the powder room at my house for example. The wall color is called Aqua Chiffon. It’s not what you’d expect for this room, but I love the way it looks with all of the white fixtures and accessories. It’s bold to say the least, and extremely hard to capture the true essence of this color in a photo.

Picking a paint color can seem like a daunting process, especially when you have no idea where to start. I like to find some sort of inspiration to get me going. It could be a piece of fabric with a coordinating color scheme, a colored accessory to incorporate into the space, or an inspiration design picture. For this room I fell in love with this picture on Pinterest and knew it had a lot of the elements I wanted to incorporate. The vanity color was my favorite part.

What I liked about the vanity color was the mutedness (I know that’s not a word) of the teal. I like that it wasn’t blinding (like aqua chiffon) and that it was more green than blue. When went to pick out paint chips I steered more to the greener teals that were closer to the neutral tones. I probably picked up 10 different paint strips of teals from the various brands of paint. It’s hard to tell, in the store light, a color’s true tones. I like to look at them in the room I’m going to paint with natural light and overhead lights. I tend to carry around paint chips in my purse and pull them out to look at them in various lights too. I settled on 3 different colors to get samples.

While I was carrying around all of these teal paint chips in my purse I was also trying to figure out what to do about the walls. The inspiration picture has stark white walls, which I’m not opposed to. BUT white is the same boring crap as gray. It’s hard to find a balance of staying true to yourself while also challenging yourself to step outside the box and do something different. Sometimes with the creative process you have to go where it takes you…..even if it’s white painted walls.

But don’t worry, white is my last resort. I’m considering an accent wall on the vanity/mirror wall and painting the all the other walls a different color. I came across these coordinating paint colors on Pinterest.

I was intrigued by the color ‘Dark Night.’ It’s bold, rich, and daring; everything I was looking for. It’s completely outside the box. I picked up a paint swatch, along with some similar colors, at Lowe’s. My first instinct was, Eek! The swatch looked wicked dark. I felt like it could easily appear black on the walls with the overhead lighting. But I gave it a shot and purchased a sample can.

For the remaining walls I picked two samples of some whites with green/blue undertones. I didn’t want something stark white, but the room is small. The boldness and the dark paint of the accent wall could be overwhelming. I didn’t want the space to feel smaller with the wrong paint color.

Spend the time and money on some sample paint cans. Buy more than one color. It’s hard to compare something, when it’s the only option on the wall. In total I’ve bought 7 paint sample cans for this room (only because I have 3 different colors I’m working with). Spending $3 on a sample can is definitely worth it. You truly never know how a color is going to look in a particular room with the lighting that is available. I’ve loved a color in someone else’s house but when I tried it in a room in my house it looked completely different.

When you’re painting a sample on the wall, paint a good size square. It should at least be 1’ X 1’ so that you can get an accurate picture of what the color is going to look like. DO NOT paint a 2” X 2” square and call it a day. Also, paint 2 coats and paint samples on multiple walls to see how it looks with all light angles.

I think picking a paint color can be one of the hardest parts of a makeover. There are so many to choose from and until you’ve narrowed down your focus you could go in a thousand different directions. Sometimes it comes down to carrying around 20 paint chips in your purse for a month until you even decide on which paint you want to get samples. But like most of life, I’ve learned to find some inspiration, go with my gut, and take some risks. After all it’s just paint and it can quickly be painted over with a different color.

I know you’re probably wondering which colors I decided on for the vanity, the accent wall, and the remaining walls for the bathroom. You’ll have to check back for the next bathroom update post, soon!