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Monday, March 30, 2015

Shades of Aqua Paint - Painting the Nursery


Ever since getting pregnant (well probably before that even), I wanted the nursery to be a light teal or turquoise which you can basically call aqua. Aqua encompasses a lot of different shades and could mean different things to people but in my mind it was a lighter shade of turquoise. We already know how much I love turquoise since that is used in our family room.

The nursery is downstairs so it is fitting that it doesn't stray far from the turquoise and teal accent colors in the family room. I  knew aqua would be calming and bright and fun... all things I wanted for the nursery. The room gets great natural light too.

If you've read any of the other Shades of (insert paint color here) posts you would be really proud of me that it only took 3 samples to decide on the final color! Big progress from my usual 7-10 samples. Here is how we picked Light Gray and Medium Gray.

I followed our usual paint color choosing process of researching colors online and looking at how they looked in people's rooms and also looking at paint chips. Then I selected a dozen or so paint chips and cut them out and taped them onto white paper and put them up in the room. I looked at them in different light/times of day and on different walls. Since the paper is taped on it is easy to do this.


Top to bottom and left to right on each paper: Behr Ionic Sky, Behr Spa, Behr Cool Jazz, Behr Glacier Bay, Behr Refreshing Pool, Behr Aqua Spray, Sherwin Williams Aquatint, Sherwin Williams Tame Teal, Valspar Aqua Glow, Valspar Lake Breeze, Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue, Benjamin Moore Sonoma Skies (this one had to be cut out of a book which is why no name is printed on it), Benjamin Moore Lido Green, Benjamin Moore Robin's Nest.

The two samples I wanted to try first were SW Aquatint and SW Tame Teal. Honestly based on the chips, I thought one of these would be the winner. So we painted samples of these two on the wall and they both looked a little too neon-ish of an aqua to me with the lighting in the room. So it was back to the drawing board. I decided to get a sample of BM Robin's Nest even though the paint chip leaned a little to green for me. I loved the way it looked in several painted rooms I saw online so I decided to try it anyway. Luckily it ended up not looking on the green side when painted on the wall. Just goes to show you that the paint chips don't always give you the best idea of the color. Here are all 3 samples on different walls in different light.




Robin's Nest didn't look too neon-ish and seemed to be the perfect shade of aqua for the room! So Benjamin Moore Robin's Nest was our clear winner! And Eric was super happy we weren't trying more samples haha.

We had it mixed by Sherwin Williams (they can match and mix any color... not just their own) because we like their Harmony paint which is no-VOC and has great coverage. And one Sunday afternoon, my parents, husband and I painted the nursery. Even though the paint is no-VOC, I wore a mask too just for extra protection.






We didn't have to paint all the way to the ceiling since Eric and my dad were going to add crown molding to the top to go with the crown molding we have in the rest of the downstairs. That made it a lot easier to paint since no cutting in at the top was needed. They tackled that project (which neither had done before) a few weeks later and it looks great!



Eric also replaced a builder light with a light/fan.




I just love the way the color looks in the room and it makes me happy every time I walk in. I can't wait to make more progress in here... more updates to come!

7 comments :

  1. Thank you so much for this post. I am trying to pick out an aqua color for my daughter's walls. But it is so hard to find one that isn't too bright. We were actually thinking of doing Tame Teal until I read this post. We are going to give Robin's Nest a try! Thanks!

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  2. Thanks for this post, I have been looking at all the Robin's Nest nursery examples online and I love that it can be used for either a girl or boy.. our painter has a discount at Sherwin Williams so I was probably going to go with Tame Teal until I saw this post. It really looks extremely bright in comparison to the Robin's Nest... Question for you - when you have Sherwin Williams match the Robin's Nest, do they need an actual wet paint sample or is just the paint chip enough? Thanks!

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    1. They don't need anything other than the number off the paint chip. They had it all in their system. I called before to make sure. I'm sure handing them the chip wouldn't hurt.

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    2. So pretty! What is the color of the ceeling? I read your article and could not find it. Thanks!

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  3. Just a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw outstanding style and design.

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  4. It’s hard to choose wall colors for kid’s room, because they think differently. Therefore, I carried out proper research and established communication with my children before painting their room. They were excited to know that their room will be decorated as per their choice. ~ Mr. Mick

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  5. Your posting was really helpful for us to choose the color of my daughter's bedroom. Thank you.

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