Alternate title: Breaking Out John’s Painting Belt
It felt like old times. For anyone unfamiliar with the painting belt reference, there’s more background elsewhere. As we mentioned yesterday, we painted Clara’s nursery. Rather than recreate the exact look from our previous home, we used the move as a chance to update the wall color. Since most of the furniture, the light fixture and the curtains came with us (I was too sentimental to leave them behind), a new paint color makes the room feel refreshed — subtly evolved rather than completely reinvented or copied from the last house.
When choosing a color we considered several directions: blue (which would have competed with the blue bedding, changing pad cover, capiz chandelier and blue in the curtain fabric), green (too similar to the previous version), yellow (felt random given the existing textiles), a neutral (too safe for a child’s room — we wanted something playful), and pink (appealing but potentially overly girly). In the end, we settled on pink — but with care.
There are soft pink tones in the curtains and in our DIY mobiles (still waiting to be hung), so a muted pink felt like a good fit. We wanted to avoid a bright or candy-pink and instead chose a subtle hue with gray and lavender undertones. It’s a nuanced choice that adds depth — not just a straightforward baby pink. The swatches helped clarify what we were aiming for:
The swatch we picked leans gray and lavender, offering a muted sophistication. We didn’t want the room to read as strictly feminine or pastel; we still love Clara’s room being anchored by greens, blues and other non-gender-specific colors. This paint has those subtle shifts — a little pink, a little gray, a little lavender — which was exactly the direction we wanted.
In person the color reads layered and subdued, with soft gray-lavender undertones that don’t scream “pink.” The original color is Benjamin Moore’s Affinity line shade called Proposal, but rather than buying from Benjamin Moore we had it color-matched to Olympic’s No-VOC paint at Lowe’s. Their formula has no VOCs in both the base paint and the colorants, which makes it a safer option for a nursery.
Photographs don’t always capture the subtle undertones, but we tried to show the progression. Here’s the room before painting:
During painting we pushed furniture to the center and covered it with a tarp so we could work freely:
And here’s the room now:
The space will feel more layered and less pink-washed once we hang art, shelves, curtains and the mobiles, and swap the ceiling fan for the blue capiz chandelier. For now, we’re enjoying the soft new tone and the way the room reads calmer and more finished already. And because every nursery post needs a cute kid photo, here’s Clara sleeping on her daddy — impossible not to smile at:
Clara’s room has always been our priority — a settled, comforting space where we can escape the rest of the house, which will likely feel “in-progress” for a long time. We’ll share more photos once we hang everything and finish the styling. Until then, you can find us surrounded by about thirty paint swatches in the living room, still deciding on the next small detail.