Nursery to Big Girl Room: One Room Challenge – Week Three

We’re halfway through the One Room Challenge and the pressure is really starting to build! I felt like we were flying through our projects but now that we’ve only got 3 weeks left, I’m getting anxious that there won’t be enough time to finish! If you’re new or found your way here from the One Room Challenge link up page:

Hi! I’m Danae! This is our first time participating in the One Room Challenge and we’re transforming our daughter’s former nursery into her “big girl” room. If you missed the last few posts be sure to check out Week One (before photos + mood board) and Week Two (furniture sources)! To stay up-to-date on everything behind the scenes, be sure to follow along on Instagram where I’m sharing daily updates of our ORC successes and frustrations (mostly frustrations, ha)!

This past week we tackled all the painting. I won’t give too much away until reveal day, but the paint is going to single-handedly transform this space. There’s a lot in the room that needs to get painted, so getting this task knocked out early on in the challenge was essential to staying on schedule.

INSPIRATION

If you didn’t already catch on from the Week One mood board – we’re going pink! Emie specifically requested it – which is way outside my comfort zone – but since this is the One Room Challenge, I wanted to stretch my design creativity a bit while still trying to give my littlest client what she wanted.

My biggest fear by going pink is that the room would go baby/nursery real fast which is the exact opposite of what I’m aiming for so I really felt the pressure to nail down the perfect pink. I scoured the internet and dug deep on the Houzz Design Ideas page for pink rooms that felt sophisticated, playful, and fun without feeling too childish and the two rooms below really spoke to me and put me on a good path:

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via Angie Hranowsky / via Silke Zander

GETTING IT RIGHT (preferably the first time)

I pulled about a dozen paint swatches from our local home improvement store and held them up against the rug but quickly narrowed my choices down to 3 shades of pink. I also ordered 3 other pinks online so in total I had 6 paint options. I narrowed down the 6 pinks to 4 and then narrowed it down even further from 4 to 2.

In the end I loved the middle swatch on the left (the top was too light and the bottom was too dark) and the big square swatch on the right. I always, always, always recommend buying the $3 sample pots and testing them before investing money to paint a room. It’s amazing how different the colors can look in your house vs how they look on the swatch in the store.

Case in point: I was almost positive in store that I was going to choose the bottom left swatch but when we got home, it was way too dark and appeared more red than it did in the store.

After choosing the perfect pink – it was time to get to painting. If you’ve been here a while then you know that painting is my least favorite DIY but I put on my painting clothes and got to work!

I ran into one small problem early on which had me rather frustrated for an entire day!

Remember that sample pot I recommended buying a few paragraphs above? Well…in my attempt to color commit to pink, I used the sample pot and edged a good portion of the room. I even had enough to paint the entire closet wall the pink from my sample pot. I’m a very visual person and needed visual confirmation that this pink was the pink before going off and buying a couple gallons to do the entire room.

After I had used up my sample pot and was satisfied with the color, I went to the home improvement store and ordered what I needed to do the whole room. I came home that night rolled the room, and went to bed. The next morning I woke up and discovered that the wall color dried lighter than the sample pot color. WTH?!

I still don’t know what color is the true color (the sample or the gallon) but instead of re-doing the entire thing, I re-cut in the parts that were darker. Talk about a waste of precious time!

SECOND GUESSING

The color has grown on me quite a bit since I initially painted the room but man, that first night after I rolled the entire space was touch-and-go! Check out my IG stories that I filmed while I was initially painting to see my very honest reaction and initial thoughts about the color!

I remember going to bed that night completely second guessing my color choice and stressing about the idea of choosing a different hue and having to repaint the entire room. I got out of bed and did what I always do when I’m having trouble seeing the vision: I started playing around with the furnishings and decor.

It was 11 pm at night but I unrolled the rug, un-packaged the bedding, and played with the throw pillows against the new color and that little exercise really helped ease my worries! I went to bed feeling more confident that I had chosen the right pink than I was going into this task!

Freak-out aside, I’m finishing up the last of the paint details as this post is going live and I can’t wait for you to see it come reveal day! I’m purposely keeping a few of the painting details a secret until reveal day but I’m loving how it’s turned out thus far and I really hope you will too. The paint aspect of the space is taking a tad longer than I expected, mainly because it’s hard to paint when the room is being occupied twice a day by a tiny human for naps and nighttime sleeping and the only working window I have is when she’s awake which isn’t ideal for a task such as painting with a toddler underfoot, but we’re making it work!

TIPS + TOOLS

When it comes to DIY duties – I leave all the electrical and woodworking to Sikmon but painting is strictly my responsibility, so here I’ve spent two weeks painting and there’s still more to come! Oh no!

My step-dad was a painter up until a few years ago when he finally retired so growing up he taught me all the ins and outs of painting like a pro. I painted my childhood bedroom several different awful colors over the years (Barney purple comes to mind) and the rule was that I could paint my room whatever color I wanted so long as I did the work myself. Despite not loving the task itself, I’m grateful to have learned a valuable skill.

Learning how to use the brush, manipulate the paint, and what tools to use has allowed me to paint most rooms fairly quickly without ever having to tape anything off which is such a time saver considering the prep work usually takes the most time!

I know not every one grew up with access to great insider tips like I did so I rounded up all my favorite paint supplies that my step-dad and I swear by. Often times it’s having the right tools that can make or break a successful paint job, because nobody…I REPEAT…nobody (!) wants to re-paint the same room twice in one week.

Here’s a general outline of how I approach painting any room:

1. Clear out the room or move furniture to the middle
2. Paint any trim work if you’re going to – do it now and you can be a little haphazard with your trim color. Any color transfer from your trim color onto the walls will get painted over when you cut in with your wall color.
3. Roll the walls – yes, roll first! It makes all the difference. You can roll really close to your trim and it cuts down on the amount of brush work you have to do which is the most time intensive part of any paint project.
4. Cut in walls with your wall color – because you rolled really close to to your trim, your brush work should be minimal
5. Repeat as necessary

And here’s my go-to paint tools:

1. Short Handle Paint Brush – my favorite for ultimate control
2. Long Handle Paint Brush – my step-dad’s more traditional favorite
3. Mini Rollers – as a woman, I prefer a small roller to roll walls. They aren’t as heavy as your traditional large rollers and I feel like I make less of a mess and have more control
4. Mini Roller Cage – for above mentioned rollers
5. Liquid Sandpaper – wipe this on any trim that you’re painting over that has a glossy finish
6. Paint Tray – I use these cheapies and don’t feel bad about throwing them away after I’m finished which equals less clean-up!
7. Step Stool – easier for me to move around a room than a ladder
8. Wire Brush – a must-have when washing out your brushes!
9. Microfiber Towels – great for the liquid sandpaper application and cleaning up paint drips along the way
10. HANDy Paint Cup – use this when cutting in, painting trim, or for small paint projects when all you need is a small amount of paint and you don’t want to lug around the paint gallon
11. HANDy Paint Liners – for the above mentioned paint cup
12. Frogtape – I don’t typically use tape but if I do, it’s this

UP NEXT

This week we’ll wrap up final paint touch ups, install a ceiling fan, DIY some additional lighting, contemplate a possible molding addition, and trouble shoot the custom closet doors that are giving us a run for our money. It’s all starting to come together and look like a finished room! We’re ready for you Week Four!

As always, thank you for being here and be sure to check out all the other amazing progress that the featured designers are sharing here as well as what the 350+ guest designers are sharing here!