24 Shades Of Grey

Get  your mind out of the gutter.  I’m just talking about paint shades.  Sheesh.  But did you hear Charlie Hunnam backed out of role of Christian Grey? I can't wait to see who's cast next for the steamy role!  Although, let's be honest...it's going to be quite the feat to see how they're going to pull off this movie without...umm, shall we say a VERY adult rating?!  Anyway, let's move along, folks...

After giving Holden’s room a brighter look, I figured I better keep up the momentum and tackle Sebastian’s very similar room as well before the weather got too cold and opening up the windows wasn’t an option to air it out.  Here is his room before:

Here are some more before shots:

As you can see, he has the same exact 6” oak shelving Holden had that covered all of the walls as well as cornice boards atop the windows.  I’m sort of a why-reinvent-the-wheel-if-you-don’t-have-to gal, so I followed the same steps I did for Holden’s room here and here.  Off when the cornice board, down came the shelving, all furniture got moved to the middle of the room, and out came the spackle and sand paper. 

And maybe it was because Sebastian’s room was just on the heels of Holden’s room or maybe it was because his room is a bit larger and I had the built-in desk and porthole window to contend with, but it seemed to take much longer.  Sigh.  But the show must go on, so after slacking for a few too many days, I re-motivated myself to just git ‘er done, cranked up the tunes on my iPhone, and started priming: 

With priming done, I had to pick out a paint color.  Enter my 24 shades of gray.  I picked out a ton of chips at the store, taped them up to Sebastian's wall, and started whittling down my choices.

The winner ended up being Benjamin Moore’s Gray Cloud.  It was light enough to keep the room bright (yet still bring some color into the room) while also maintaining nice neutrality to withstand the changing décor surely to come over the years.

As luck would have it, though, the forecast was NOT looking awesome.  We’re talking flash flood warnings, thunder that woke the kids up from their naps, etc.  I knew opening the windows to air things out wasn’t going to be an option, so I opted to try (for the first time ever) no VOC paint.  Benjamin Moore’s Natura line fits this bill.  I ordered my gallon at the hardware store and about had a heart attack when I got to the register and it rang up as $56.99.  Wow.  Apparently, you ditch some smelly solvents…along with your entire paycheck.  Ha!  But that was my fault for not even looking at the price before ordering it up.  I knew I’d pay more, but I just figured around the $35-$40 mark.  Nope.

BUT, it was awesome to have a room with ZERO smell as I painted.  No airing out required.  So while the cost gut punched me, it was sort of nice to be done with it all, smell and all, once I brushed my last stroke.  

Similar to Holden's room as well, I spray painted the vent covers and we installed new 2" faux wood white blinds to spruce up the room as well.  Here are the after shots:

And now for the lovely side-by-side:

Now that the room is at the "blank slate" stage, it's ready for some decorating.  Sebastian is a HUGE fan of trucks and other vehicles (hence the bedding that follows suit), so I'm sure the decor will stick with that theme for now.  Stay tuned!

Total Project Cost: $128
Screwdriver: $0, already had
Spackle (for nail holes): $0, already had
Spackle knife: $0, already had
Sand paper: $0, already had
Kilz 2 Primer: $0, already had
3/8” nap paint rollers: $6
Benjamin Moore Natura Gray Cloud, semi-gloss, gallon: $56 (ouch!!!)
Disposable paint tray liners: $0, already had them
2” angled paint brush: $0, already had it
Rust-Oleum’s White spray paint, semi-gloss: $0, already had some
Two 2” faux wood white blinds: $66

Has anyone else tried No VOC paint before?  Did you think it was worth the extra coin?

♥,
Anne