What paint colors do you like for bedrooms? Right now, our master bedroom is white, but since it’s on the lower garden level of our building, it can feel a little dreary when it’s not super sunny outside. I was thinking a different hue might cheer things up. Since I’m the worst at choosing paint colors — they’re so hard to envision! — I’d love your advice. Here are the four options…
We painted Toby’s old bedroom a medium blue — Benjamin Moore Symphony Blue, to be exact. I loved the way it brought the room together and felt super cozy. The only catch: Do you think our bedroom would feel like a cave since it doesn’t get tons of light?
This pink paint is so pretty! Random bonus: My stylist friend Kate says people always look gorgeous in blush rooms because it reflects on your skin. Potential con: Too pink for Alex? (This one is Benjamin Moore “Yours Truly.”)
Sage green might be really lovely and calming. Plus, it feels different.
Lastly, what about wallpaper? We could always do one wall and leave the others white. From top to bottom, these are Too Much Stuff, Marble and Aurora.
What do you think? What color is your bedroom? I would be so grateful for any advice! xoxo
Update: Here’s our newly painted bedroom!
P.S. A high-rise apartment that feels like a cabin, and a family home with lots of wallpaper.
(White and blue bedroom photos by Alpha Smoot for Cup of Jo. Pink bedroom photo by Zeke Ruelas, via Design*Sponge. Sage green bedroom photos by Stephanie Duval. Too Much Stuff wallpaper photo by Mark Lund. Second wallpaper photo from Rebecca Atwood. Aurora wallpaper by Nicole Franzen, featured in this house tour.)
I have such paint color envy with that sage.. So, sage gets my vote!
i think the sage green is perfect.
Sage green is lovely
Enough with Millenial pink already. Make it stop!
I love the sage green.
SAGE definitely.
Sage green! Definitely! So sweet and calming and natural.
Blush, for sure! The guest room at my mom’s house is painted blush and it’s gorgeous. She’s gotten so many compliments about how amazing the color feels! It somehow manages to be inviting in all situations – sunshine/clouds/reading lamps/middle of winter, etc.
I love white! But to change things up I painted our bedroom black…… But, with all white trims, white doors, white furniture, crisp white bedding with a lot of texture, etc. I love it. it’s really warm and cozy. But for the options you gave in your post, I definitly would go for the sage green!
Sage for sure – it’s nice to have a cool, calming color for the bedroom. Makes it feel like it’s a place to relax and recharge :)
I like the blush! I recently painted my living room a cozy blue/grey color. It’s my favorite color I’ve ever put on my walls. It’s called “picnic basket” by Benjamin Moore.
The sage green!
Sage green for the win!
Benjamin Moore Iced Cube Silver 2121-550
Emily Henderson has a great post about which paint colors to use for dark spaces: https://stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/design-mistake-3-painting-a-small-dark-room-white
I used Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore to makeover my windowless bathroom, and everyone comments on how much bigger it looks now.
I live in a very low-light space, which was the exact same dark blue when I moved in.
It felt like living in a BAT CAVE. It made my SAD terrible during the winter months.
I say stick with a light or bright colour! :)
We painted with Benjamin Moore Parchment — it’s a lovely almost pink color that my husband can handle. In some lighting, it’s blush, and in other lighting it reads more neutral. I love it!
We just painted our bedroom Benjamin Moore’s Balboa Mist, and it is a perfect neutral / warm grey. Love it.
Pink if you want to make out, sage if you want to meditate.
Sage green.
I like the idea of wall color that is the opposite of what I see outside my window. When I lived in Cleveland, where the weather is cloudy and dreary for months on end, I painted my walls grass green. It cheered up the space and added life. Now that I live in Texas, where it is usually hot and bright, I prefer soft grays and blues to make the inside of my home feel calm and cool. If you see sidewalk outside your window, I’d go with green (blush would also be nice).
Maybe it’s just because of my job but all I think when I see the sage is “hospital green”… I’m drawn to the light pink – I think with hits of a contrasting colour, say forest green, you can make it more gender neutral. Emily Henderson did a great job of this in her daughter’s room in her mid-century house – it was stunning (she actually combined #2 and #4 by finding a stunning blush tone on tone pattern!
My vote is for the sage green but I also liked the pink. I feel like the royal blue would be too dark if the room already gets so little light. That sage color just looked so calming and unique though!
i have a sage green bedroom (very similar to the color you posted), and it’s just “meh” when it’s cloudy/shady/dreary. so if you want to brighten it up, i wouldn’t suggest it. i LOVED our pale gray bedroom in our previous house. we even had one dark gray accent wall that made it feel cozy in the evening but night and bright when the sun came in. my mom worried it would feel like a prison, but it didn’t at all. i don’t have the paint color name, but i remember it did have green undertones, which might still scratch that sage green itch you have!
If I were you, I’d opt for the wallpaper. My bedroom is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Pashmina. It feels like a hug from all four walls.
I’m really drawn to the sage walls. So beautiful, simple and calm.
I’d definitely go with the sage green. If there’s low light the dark blue would make the space feel more closed in. I think wallpapers need more open space and lighting too—plus my personal bias is they are too stimulating for a room where I sleep, I want calm. And the blush could work too but it really depends on the hue of the lighting coming in the room—eg if there’s a tree outside then half the year the light has a greenish hue which will make the blush appear greyish.
Farrow and Ball Elephant’s Breath
I painted my daughters room and it changes with the light – sometimes grey, sometimes taupe, sometimes lavender – it’s lovely
I think the sage green would look lovely!
If there is not so much light choosing a paint is really tricky, you have to consider much more options and probably even ask professional advice. Wallpaper on the other hand is always looks good, less dependent on a lightning. So I would definitely go with wallpaper. Just don’t do anything too big or too “now” that you will get tired of… Good luck!
I vote sage green. It’s so calming and cozy for a bedroom. The blush pink is beautiful too, if Alex is on board! The good news about paint…it’s not permanent. You can always paint over and switch it up if your decision doesn’t feel right :)
I actually have a super soft light green on my own bedroom walls (Behr’s Mystical Sea) and I love it, but looking at your room and the bedding, presuming you don’t want to change that, I think a very light pink/blush would be absolutely lovely to contrast with the bedding. My parents’ bedroom has always been light pink and they both love it and I don’t think it makes my dad any less of a man. (and I don’t think that ever even crossed his mind – when they had to rebuild their house after hurricane sandy he was definitely an advocate for re-painting it pale pink again!)
Don’t paint – invest in good lights! A room should have seven different sources of light. ;) I love fairy lights and it can totally be done in a non-childish/christmasy way. Fairy lights have made my relationship with my husband happier, we have them in different varieties in almost every room (stuffed in a vase/with paper balls around them/hung under the ceiling/as a wall sculpture).
I recently had this issue with our open north-facing living room. We love sage greens but it wasn’t working out, the samples were either too minty or gave off a cold feeling with the blue undertones. I finally stopped reading all the paint blogs, because the colors being recommended were not working in our space. I picked a green-yellow color, it is Behr, “washed olive”… it is a color I didn’t even hear of on the blogs! The open space feels so cozy and not dreary when there is no sunlight. I haven’t decorated the walls yet and it still feels warm and inviting. I learned that It’s important to pay attention to the undertones of the colors. Easy way to do that is to look at the darkest color on the swatch :) You may dream of a certain color, but it will not look right if you don’t have the right lighting in your space. Good luck!
I have always loved a pale yellow bedroom with off white trim. Never gloomy! Yet, just recently I’m looking for a change. The Sherwn Williams Intimate White is a contender!
wythe blue by benjamin moore
My vote is for pink paint or wallpaper. Those are cozy to me and I love a cozy bedroom. I would also suggest Farrow and Ball’s brassica from that same home tour which featured the aurora wallpaper. It’s the nicest purple.
Wow! You got a ton of comments! The master bedroom in our old house was a sage green and after 6 years I was feeling a little “sick” of it.
Our current master bedroom is a blush pink (Behr Vienna Lace)and matches the tile in the fire place. I can totally attest that it makes people look good, especially in flickering candlelight! As a mom of 4 boys I love that it’s my little pink and girly room. My husband doesn’t mind, it’s really soothing.
I love BM Hudson Bay Blue and it’s in our office, I love the rich deepness it brings and it’s one of our darker rooms, and I still love it!
Aurora has the nice benefit of not being too pink for Alex, but I suggest embracing the pink bedroom, buying with pink light bulbs or red lampshades, and bringing some cozy boudoir lighting into your space. Loved the sage green too!
Sage sage sage!
Absolutely love the sage green! In 2nd place…the Aurora wallpaper! Good luck with your decision!!!
I think you picked a lot of cool detached rather maudlin colors. If you want to warm it up go warm, also what sort of lights are in that room this will shift the appearance of the color (have NO idea if you know this, a thousand pardons if you do) Also for feng shui did you note you are just FULL of water in that room. What is your own element? Do you have aspects of the other elements for balance in the appropriate areas in that room. Perhaps what LOOKS like a paint issue, is an unbalanced one :)
Pink pink pink!
I do love the sage green (our old living room was painted a similar color) but I worry that with little light it will just end up looking a bit gray and dingy. Personally, I would embrace the darkness of the space and go with that nice dark blue from Toby’s old room! I think it will feel modern, sophisticated, and cozy. Looking forward to seeing what you choose! x
This IS a tough decision! Love the blush but I’m concerned you might tire of it quicker than the others. But maybe not, you never know! It is a lovely color. I personally think either the sage green or the wallpaper. We painted our living room sage green and it’s very earthy and calming. We love it.
Gray it’s like sleeping in the clouds! Or sage green:)
I just wanted to add that I love blue, and already had blue bedsheets and coverlet when we had white walls. We painted our room dark blue like toby’s Room above. I had to replace our bedding and duvet with white to prevent it looking like a blue explosion! If you already have blue things that you love in the room, like that gorgeous bedding in the photo or art, I would chose a different paint color unless you want to replace them! I think Emily Henderson wrote on your blog once about using colors you love as accents rather than main, and I totally agree!
i like the wallpaper idea…….it looks like it would suit your style and elevate the feel of the room (although I like it the way it is) :)
Sage, definitely. (But Aurora is really cool.)
I vote sage green FOR SURE. Beautiful, calming, and peaceful.
Sage green all the way! I call it the Copenhagen colour because lots of buildings in Copenhagen have their façades painted in that beautiful greyish green shade! And I looove CPH!!
xxx,
E.
Sage green!!
I love the pink! When we moved in I really wanted to paint one bedroom wall in rose/pink, but it was a big no-no for my boyfriend. So our walls are white. I brought the pink back by integration a pink pillow, though. ;)
If pink’s too much for Alex, I’d go for sage green.
I looove the sage green color so calming and warm…and also very modern.
I also love wallpapers, we had this one in our previous bedroom, which looks like you are in the woods as you open your eyes…plus the tall trees make the ceiling look higher.
https://www.cole-and-son.com/en/collection-new-contemporary-two/wallpaper-69/12147/
Also, it’s British ;-)
Now, we have grey which I also find very soothing and cozy…but maybe not best if you don’t have enough light.
Good Luck!!!
love that blue, made me want to paint my room blue and i’m so happy i did
The navy blue gets my vote. It’s gorgeous. You could do up one wall in wallpaper if you like.
A pale peachy pink. Accents could be copper, soft grey, bold black and white. Those accents together would make it less feminine.
Our bedroom is painted Comfort Grey, a shade darker on the Sherwin Williams paint chip Sea Salt. It is a beautiful calming color . I have the Sea Salt in my living room, kitchen, and hallway. I get so many compliments on both colors.
BM Palladian Blue!
We just painted our master Benjamin Moore silvery moon. My decorator told me it had a spa like feel and I agree! It’s a subtle light blue grey.
Peachy pink or a much lighter version of the sage.
Just painted our bedroom Benjamin Moore Whirlpool. It’s a pale blue, very spa-like. We find it to be calm and soothing and it’s also brightened up our room quite a bit.
One yellow patch of wall for the sunlight, one easy-to-look-at wallpapered wall, and rest of the room neutral colour. Bam!
The sage green is so pretty! Soothing and calming colors are good for bedrooms.
I love the sage green. I wanted a contradictory “icy blue, but with some warmth” for my bedroom, and Farrow & Ball’s Pavilion Blue is perfect.
I vote for green! I say this as a person whose entire first floor, nearly, is one shade of green-gray or another. (Benjamin Moore’s Healing Aloe in the kitchen, Hollingsworth Green in living/dining room and Quiet Moments (one shade darker than the Healing Aloe) in the bathroom with no natural light. I love all of them and none look minty, My bedroom, however, is Benjamin Moore Violet Mist, which isn’t actually violet but rather a blue-gray with just a bit of purple in it. I definitely find cooler colors soothing and was committed to a blue-gray bedroom but I also have a lot of light. One wall of wallpaper would be nice too.
I’m very happy not to have to think about paint colors for my house right now, but it’s fun reading all the suggestions. Also, the person who ended up being most helpful for me in figuring out my final colors was the guy in the paint store who looked at the colors that didn’t quite work and figured out the ones that would. I remain very grateful to him!
BM French White is a really nice option to keep things feeling fresh, but with more warmth than white white. Seems like anything with a much darker value is going to get cave-like!
Love the Aurora wallpaper! Also just painted bedroom blue (just darker than sky blue), and I love it. Cozier and calm, but not too cave-like in a dark room.
I have master with the same issue and embraced it’s almost cave-y lighting and went with a dark dark forest green. At night it looks black. Honestly I love it so much. It calms me after a long day and feels like a cocoon. I always have the impulse to paint it white in the spring but it looks so gorg up against our white molding I never do it. If you have decorative molding nothing will make it pop more then going with a dark paint!!
Growing up I had a bedroom that was a darker colour and I loved it! I hung star lights all around my bed and it made me feel so cozy. My parents have their bedroom painted dark as well and will never go back.
What color? I’ve been dying to paint my room a similar hue!
I love our dark blue (wish I knew the color) and it feels like a cocoon too! It’s almost ocean-like. It was a great change and I love waking up to the intense but serene color every morning.
I love the pink/blush! And I never knew it would make my skin look better, needless to say I am sold. A friend and I were just chatting about paint options last night. You read our minds! It’s always our favorite to check out Cup Of Jo in the morning. It’s almost like our version of a mini “book club” yet more applicable :)
The blush room is my dream!
I vote for pink! I recently repainted my daughter’s room a “grown up” pink, per her request. It is a north-facing room, and she has eaves directly over her windows, so we were fighting the gloomy factor for sure. We picked “Piglet” by Valspar. Cutesy name, but a great color. Valspar calls it a neutral, being neither blue nor yellow, and it holds up to that promise. On dreary days it is a very soothing shell pink, and on sunny days it is a prettier version of white. We swatched dozens of pale pinks on her walls and kept them up for weeks to test all the light conditions, and this color won by a landslide. Anyway — pink! It will be romantic and cozy, and just a little bit preppy with your blue striped sheets.
Our bedroom is sage green, and I find it quite soothing. It warms up nicely when the sun is up, but feels perfectly cozy at night.
Pink! Pink, pink, pink.
I painted my bedroom Pink Bliss, after I saw the color on this website! I love it…very pale pink that looks like a lovely white at first glance.
Pale pink! I painted our dark north-facing bedroom a blue like that (it was white before) and it is definitely very dark in the winter with not too much light (looks very different in full sunlight!). The room also looks smaller now compared to when it was white. I would have chosen a light blue in retrospect.
Don’t paint! A few years ago I painted my bedroom a dark “trendy” color..I swear I didn’t sleep as well! I went back to an all white room (after primer and three coats of paint!). Crazy, yes but I sleep better and I find it easier to wake up in the morning…
I vote pale pink but, more importantly, has the remote been located???
Haha!
I would ask Julia from ChrislovesJulia—-they did a podcast on how to choose colors based on what you want the room to feel like which talked about the UNDERTONES in many paints and if there is anything that will stay in the room that you want to compliment or hide. For example, if you have orange-y wood that you don’t love, don’t paint the walls something with a blue undertone which will enhance the orange look.
My husband and I lived in our sprawling Edwardian flat in San Francisco for 13 years, and we were bold with color in its many rooms. By the end, my takeaway was: I am so happy in a golden room; in the future, I’d just paint all the rooms like sunlight. I don’t particularly think I like yellow. But oh, oh, how my heart soars in a room that feels like sunlight!
Ooh I love the sage green, it seems like it would work well as a neutral for your bedroom!
Our bedroom is painted a similar blue and it is wonderfully dark for sleeping in in the morning.
One thing to consider: color therapy. Blues and greens are calming –> good for rest/sleep. Things from the red spectrum (even mild pinks and oranges) are more awakening/energizing.
Three parts white
One part Guildord Green by Benjamin Moore
Our bedroom doesn’t have much natural light, and has a 14-foot vaulted ceiling. I put off painting it for 2 years after a renovation because I was scared of making it too dark. But then I realized: it felt dreary even when it was bright white. So I embraced the darkness and went with a deep blue accent wall behind the headboard (Benjamin Moore vanDeusen blue), and it feels so moody and cave-like but in a sexy, warm way. Now I can’t believe we lived in that sterile white room for so long because we wanted it to feel bright! You have beautiful taste–can’t wait to see what you choose!
I love the pink but the sage comes in a close second! Both would be so calming
We have always painted dark/bold colors (like the first one) and never regretted it. I was hesitant when we moved to Seattle, but dark colors feel moody and cozy, and never like a cave.
I vote for sage green! I have painted my bedroom “restful” by Benjamin Moore (a very similar color) in 2 different places I’ve lived (without and then with my husband). It is soothing, peaceful and neutral.
The pink! Will brighten it up and make it cozy. I have this colour in my kitchen/dining area and I love it. Second choice would be wallpaper. I fear the blue is too dark and the sage might not bring the warmth you need!
Ooo, lately I’ve been loving rusty orange colors, kind of like a bright terracotta? Similar to the flowers here: http://witanddelight.tumblr.com/post/135672057509. Might be fun to paint the wall where your headboard is a color like that to brighten things up!
An amazing barely pink is Sherwn Williams Intimate White. It’s so lovely and subtle
thank you, that looks beautiful!
That Auora wallpaper is SO pretty! You just inspired our stairway choice!!
I have a low light bedroom painted Benjamin Moore Tapenade [olive-y green in a good way]- seems to work really well for neutral decorating. Have it mixed right now with a grey duvet and wood tone accents.
Pink for sure!! I just painted my daughter’s room a pale barely there pink and it is everyone’s favorite room in the house. It’s so soft and cozy, and once you decorate it will tone down the “omg I have a pink room” factor.
We have a similar sage in our master (that doesn’t get a ton of light) & I Have loved it!
What color is that sage green? Currently pondering paint for my bedroom too and that one looks so calming and bright
looks similar to Farrow & Ball’s “Pigeon” – which I’ve had color-matched at Lowe’s using behr paint! Much cheaper, and matched perfectly!
fyi, I just painted my bedroom Sherwin Williams Sea Salt, and it is amazing…soft and dreamy… have fun picking a colour…. enjoy the process! :-)
I like the sage-y green. It will be cozy in the winter and cheery for spring/summer.
My vote is for the sage green. Very calming, perfect for a bedroom. We have a light green shade in our kitchen, and I love it! Anytime of day, anytime of year, and it’s been over 7 years now we’ve had it :) I think green is a happy, healthy color!
agreed! I adore green in a home. In any shade, but I have a particular love for sage green because it’s the exact colour of my husband’s eyes <3
The sage is beautiful!
Sage green. It looks so peaceful.
green.
I have a pink bedroom (BM blanched coral) and just looks happy and cheery and amazing. Not girly.
I’m going to do roughly that shade of pink for my bedroom, and though I’m not a man am not the most feminine — I’m going to keep it less girly by using lots of warm medium to dark woods and angularity, like my bed frame and with picture frames. I also have art that would leaven the girliness. The warmth and subtlety of that pink win me over, and will add lightness and just a smidge of whimsy to the more masculine things.
I think the dark blue will be cave like and the sage green looks potentially a little cold and depressing in dim light.
The pink looks great! Or have you considered pale yellow? I’m not a fan of yellow BUT we do have it in one of our shadier rooms for this reason.
For testing the paint: Find white cardboard 8×10 or larger and paint all over them. Put these giant paint chips on all 4 sides of the room. It will look different in different lights AND on different walls. Live with it for a while and hopefully one springs out at you. GOod luck!
A thousand times Navy blue :)
OR wallpaper ALL walls.
Either would be amaze.
Yes, the blue will feel like a cave. I understand your concern about the pink being too feminine, but I think it is only one of your options that will actually brighten the room. If you pair it with pale grey and white or camel and ivory, I believe you will find it to be both bright and neutral.
Benjamin Moore. Antique White.
It has a pinkish yellowish white that would look great with your blue linens.
PINK! I think Alex wouldn’t be any less of a man!
That Aurora wallpaper, 100%! I’ve loved it ever since you posted that house tour ages ago.
Pale pink!!!
I like the pink :) Besides, pink was actually a “boys color” for a long time so you can always pitch it that way haha
I’m for the pale rosy pink or the wallpaper idea. There are so many ludicrously beautiful wallpapers these days….
Love the sage in that photo but with your color scheme I worry about it going too literal spa. I vote for the blush! Note though Orlando reported back that color came out pinker than he expected/photographs (love Orlando and his blog and his hilarious Instastories!!)
Pink! I think that would be flattering to both you and your bedroom!
What would Jenny Komenda do? But I say, wallpaper!
I have been a city architect for 20 years, and chosen hundreds of paint colors for less than “architecturally” ideal spaces. Here’s what l’ve learned: if you want to love a space, pick paint color last. It’s the cheapest and easiest component to change, invest in things that you touch: beautiful carpets, bedding, door handles, etc. And in a space with poor light, the best way to remedy this is to have a lot of lighting around the space that are at varying heights, it will be a relief for the eye, and be less oppressive than overhead lighting. However with multiple fixtures, keep it simple like all white shades, so it feels graceful rather than busy. With paint go more grey to get the feel of a color that you have on a paint chip, be mindful of sage greens as they can easily go minty in a poorly lit space and tends to feel institutional. Deep jewel tone colors can feel very rich and unexpected in a lower level space, and modern with a good balance of contemporary art- look at Steven Gambrel for excellent examples of this.
Great advice.
I agree with all the pink supporters! Plus, pink used to be regarded as a masculine color, so all these associations are highly historically contingent anyway.;)
I think you should go for pink! Not only is it beautiful, it’s also and warm and ‘happy’ color. The sage green might end up looking grey in a dark room. Go for it! No one says ‘is blue too masculine?’
such a good point!
I love sage green. Our first apartment when we got married was painted Dried Parsley by Benjamin Moore. We used it in our current house as well and it seems to go with everything. Our apartment was partially below ground and the only light was from a sliding door but it still looked great. We always get so many compliments on the color!
So … we painted our bedroom black (benjamin moore black ink) and it is amazing !!!! We have light carpet, light bedding, a cream ceiling and cream drapes so that helps to make it feel lighter. At night it is super cozy and restful and during the day the light makes it feel calm and serene.
Sage green. My bedroom doesn’t get a ton of light and I love the serene feeling this gives my room. Plus it acts like a neutral with most colors.
I’d pick the blush, you’re a woman surrounded by men and you deserve one pretty room. I have a blush room and the linens, etc are all navy blue (which I think you have, too). The blue really does tough it up enough for the boys! Both the blue and sage would be too dreary. I think all the wall papers would actually be too much of a good thing!
I love having a pale pink bedroom. As long as you limit frills and keep everything simple it shouldn’t be too feminine.
Sage for sure!
I agree… Sage for sure. Sometimes in areas of low light it’s natural to try and brighten the space with a lighter colour…. but the shadows will persist if you cannot change the light source … hence your feel of it being dreary. Selecting a deeper colour tone which will embrace the shadows will bring mood to the space and make your colour choice feel more intentional.
I love that soft green, and I adore the pale pink. I wanted to do that shade of pink in our bedroom, but my man voted no. I’m trying to convince him to do a pale subtle blue instead. I also love the idea of wallpaper (Mark Sikes’s master bedroom wallpaper is my ideal!), or just one wall papered, with the rest being white. Good luck choosing!
I vote blue:) though I’m very partial to blue. Our living room and bedroom are different shades of navy. They don’t get a ton of light, but feel super cozy and the white molding really shines against it. We couldn’t get away with white walls because we don’t have enough light to bounce off the walls and make them feel bright.
I did my dark bedroom in Excalibur Gray… Benjamin Moore I think. It was a moody gray lavender that changed nicely based on the light. Extremely calming and a bit romantic. Looked excellent with browns and whites (trims, doors, and windows).
There is a vintage Sherwin Williams color circa 1990 named Architectural Grey. It is a lighter color with a hint of aubergine that is unbelievably beautiful and lovely.
The sage green is going to look very muddy in a dark room. I vote for a pale blue.
Agreed on the sage possibly being too grey toned. Maybe a bluer green grey? Like sea salt (Benjamin Moore)? The pink is lovely and soothing.
Agreed on the sage possibly being too grey toned. Maybe a bluer green grey? Like sweet dreams (Benjamin Moore)? Agree that the pink is lovely and soothing.
We just painted our dining room a peachy pink – Sherwin Williams Peach Blossom. It turned out so beautiful! My husband actually likes it a lot, too. :)
I have this same issue with my bedroom, which is also painted white and doesn’t get a lot of sunlight, especially in the winter. Instead of changing the color of the walls, I added lots of little lamps all over the room — it makes the room feel warm and cozy. I also just strung up little white Christmas lights around the window which adds even more coziness! If I were to go with one of your ideas though, I would choose blush pink or wallpaper –the other colors might make it seem darker? The blush would give off the nicest glow…
I personally like the pink or blue. Even the purple that someone mentioned sounds very romantic and snuggly! There are also different tones of colors, so that might be something to think about. (ie : more red, less blue) that would make it warmer. The green reminds me of a old hospital. Not warm and inviting, imo.
Another vote for sage green!
Last summer I painted my bedroom pale pink based on a past cup of jo post and i still love it. It feels soft and cozy :)
The pink is my favorite! I think with the right accessories it wouldn’t be too girly. The sea green also seems lovely! I love wall paper but it seems too busy/exciting for a bedroom (to me).
Sage Green!
The ombre wallpaper is so beautiful. For paint it’s a hard choice! The pale pink is so attractive and flattering but a dark room to sleep in is nice. You could lighten it up with lighter color accessories.
Check out Benjamin Moore “Gray Owl” we painted our master that color. It looks sage green, gray and bluish in different lighting. It’s so calming. We love it!
Ditto! I live in a tiny one bedroom in Manhattan and we painted out back bedroom (which receives no light) Owl Gray. It was white before, and was sad and dreary. The Owl Gray worked really well. It’s not very saturated but it reads as “alive” rather than dull and flat.
I once painted my bedroom a sage color and I liked to think it was calming and but after a while it reminded me of a hospital room or hospital scrubs. It looked dreary when there was no sunshine. Maybe paint some swatches on the walls of each of your potential colors?
I vote no on the sage green for the same reason. I also don’t buy bedding that’s close to that color.
The book “The New Bohemians Handbook: Come Home to Good Vibes” has an entire chapter on how to choose wall colors/wallpaper for rooms based on what you want the feel of the room to be! For example, do you want your bedroom to feel like a beach because that calms you or would you rather it feel like the mountains & crisp cool air? All that said, I LOVE the sage or blush :)
Oh wow! This is a great way to think about that!
I think the sage green looks good, but a blue paint that is lighter would be nice and restful. I guess it matters what you want, do you want to feel rested and relax or do you need vibrant colors to wake you up in the am. I like stark white (like in galleries) Then everything pops against the white. It is also like waking up to a blank canvas no matter what weather is outside it will be bright and light indoors.
I’ve made the mistake of painting a suite dark blue before and it felt kinda dungeony (but not in a Nicki Minaj way). I definitely vote green or wallpaper, but keep in mind that sage greens (bc there are yellow undertones) can look sallow in low-lit rooms. A blue-green is safer…and studies say blue bedrooms are great for sleep!
Sage green!
And I love the blush throw cushions and other blush accessories with the sage green :-)
Restoration Hardware’s Silver Sage – it’s the perfect blue/gray/green color that changes with the light. You will love it!
I was going to leave the exact same comment. This color is absolutely lovely in all lights. The RH paint is also super thick and velvety. It looks great on a wall.
Also, I was going to say that wallpaper on one wall looks best in a space where it would be difficult to imagine all four walls being wallpapered, rooms that run into each other or have incomplete boundaries. One wall being papered can help define a separate space in a larger space or a focal point for a big room. A normal 4 walled bedroom with one wallpapered wall wouldn’t just feel complete to me. Go all 4 or go with paint.
Wallpaper accent wall and pull a color from that. Think expansive.
I once saw a bedroom on CoJ with the most gorgeous soft navy walls and I’ve been obsessed with the idea ever since! I love the sage color and the pink is really lovely too.
aloof gray by sherwin williams is the most lovely green-grey. our bedroom can be super dark as well, and it’s gorgeous and cozy in there.
The sage color seems lovely and, as you said, calming and different!!!
PINK! I have recently embraced pink in the master bedroom and loved it so much the exterior walls have been painted Potters Pink (Dulux) outside too. Brightens up a dreary November winter x
Pink or wallpaper all four walls!
Farrow & Ball’s “Pink Ground.” It’s a pale dusty pink. So gorgeous and neutral.
yes! Our bedroom is in Pink Ground, and it’s a lovely muted pink colour!