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Beige to Greige Before and After

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When we closed on our house four years ago, the first thing we did was grab some swatches, pick out a beige color, and coat our ENTIRE home in 5 gallons of that same color. Learn from me, will you? Don’t buy one color for your whole house without living in it. Scratch that, don’t buy ANY color without first living in your home!

I liked the color in daylight but when it started to get dark out and our lamps were on, it turned into a peachy color. One that made our rooms and furniture and woodwork look orange and dirty.

Painting the trim white did make it better. But as time went on, we painted over that beige color in every room. First in the family room, then in the kitchen, in the dining room, and in the living room turned “mom cave”. But our bedroom still remained the beige “Everlasting” color. When I worked on posts or makeovers in this room (see this sunny bedroom update here), I would cringe while uploading and editing pictures. Everything just looked so dirty and dingy.

I realize this all sounds dramatic, but this paint color was keeping me from loving the room.

We’ve been talking about putting our house for sale (more on that in another post) and I figured it was time to update this room with a new shade of paint.  It needed a new paint job. We prepped and painted it a very light greige (grey-beige) from Martha Stewart called “Whetstone Gray”.

And well, here is the before and after…

Before:

beige to greige before and after, you won't believe the difference paint makes in this room!

During:

beige to greige before and after, you won't believe the difference paint makes in this room!

After:

beige to greige before and after, you won't believe the difference paint makes in this room!

After-After:

beige to greige before and after, you won't believe the difference paint makes in this room!

After-after-after:

(with curtains and all that)

60

Wow wow wow. It is SO bright now! And it makes the whites and neutrals and colors pop. The wood flooring (original to the house) and old doors look less orange and more updated.

I keep thinking there is a light left on in here because it is SO bright.

We devoted a Saturday to prep and painting, on half of Sunday we caulked and put everything back in. And the kids only watched one movie. I probably spent more time thinking about how much I disliked this room than we spent painting it. Is that a stretch? Maybe.

No… probably not. 😉

 

 

What do you think? Worth painting it?

Is there a paint color in your home that you dislike this much? What would you do to it?

 

Comments

  1. What color is the trim? I am having to worst time finding a white that works with this color. Thanks!

    • Valspar’s Bistro White! I was super happy with the color, we ended up using it on the trim in our whole house. If I remember correctly it looked like a warm white when on the color chip, but is so crisp next to warm gray tones.

  2. Hi, the color looks great! Did you just paint the greige over the beije or you applied a primer before doing it?

  4. Love the transformation. Have you considered placing your bed at an angle? It really makes a difference, even in a small space and it’s easier to make the bed and change the sheets. Plus there’s a space behind the headboard to store some things.

  5. I LOVE that color! That is exactly what we have been trying to do in our master bedroom, but every light gray I get has this horrible blue undertone. That color is perfect, thank you for sharing. Is that upholstered headboard kind of a greige color as well? would you mind sharing with me where you purchased it? Thank you. Best regards, Kara

    PS our entire house was done in a beige, including the ceilings…yikes! ?

  7. I absolutely love the new look. I have done the exact same thing when it comes to disliking a room for way too long before painting.

  8. I love the transformation!! The accent colors are PERFECT!!!! Huge fan of this change.

  9. I love how this turned out! I wanted to see if you happened to have the trim/ceiling color you used in this room as well? I am trying to implement this same kind of look in my house.

    Great job!

  10. It looks great! We hope to move next year, and if life works out that way, we would like to buy a house. I will have a room that is purple and yellow because those two colors together make me happy. My husband retired from the Air Force two years ago, and he served 26 years. I’ve lived in all white/off-white houses for almost 28 years, so I can relate to the “blah”. Granted, we could have painted rooms, and we did once or twice when the kids were young, but sometimes painting a room back to the original white is a big challenge when you’re trying to clean out for a move! Anyway… Color just makes a house a happy, restful place in my opinion.

  11. I did the same after my kitchen / living room remodel 8 yes ago. Painted it all 2 similar shades of beige. 2 years ago I couldn’t handle the blah anymore. The living room is now deep red and gold, the kitchen is a 50% lighter saturation of gold to keep it bright and airy. Years ago we had a white with blue tint, made everything dark.
    Your house is fabulous, I wish I had researched floors before I went with red oak and picked something like hickory or a but darker.

  12. Well worth it! The new paint is beautiful and it does make a huge difference 🙂

  13. I would love to see the entire room pulled together with all the furniture in place! Love that color. We are currently an all beige house too and am wanting to paint! I have the same dresser as you. Did you keep it in the bedroom?

  15. I love how you painted all your trim. Did you just paint over it as it was or was there some type of prepping first.? Our wood trim is so old and I want to do something to it just don’t know what. I love your paint colors!! Thanks.

  16. We just went through this same. Exact. Thing. The “neutral” beige I picked out for our house just screamed PINK to me every time I looked at the walls for the last four years. We repainted a lovely light gray recently and I LOVE it! So glad we made the change. Living room and kitchen down…next stop, master bedroom! 😉

  17. I love your wall color and the accent colors that you have chosen for your room! It makes me want to redo all of the rooms in my house, but I have decided to not make any of those kinds of decisions until after the baby comes.

  18. We did the exact same thing except I think we used about 10 gallons of beige! Little by little each room has been de-beiged! I love the new lighter grey!

  19. How funny that I happened on this post. We painted our entire home “coconut milk” (I’ll never forget that name) and I am BEGGING my hubs to let me paint it grey. Totally revamping the guest room so I’ll start there and see how he likes it. He never goes in so it will be easy to do 😉 great post, thx for sharing!

  20. I love it!! Our hallway and bedroom is a goldish color that it was when we moved in and I’d LOVE to paint it. I know it can make a world of difference!

  21. I am forever trying to find the perfect “greige”. It’s the chupacabra of home decor!

    When we first moved in and after a ton of swatching, we painted our huge, high-ceilinged formal living room a color I thought was going to be just right. It turned out to read faintly purple in most daylight. I joke now that it’s the exact color of President Obama’s lips. It really is! It’s a gorgeous color, but not the one I was looking for in that room.

    You’ve found the perfect greige here! I may very well use this color when I repaint that room!

  23. Hey AM! I can not tell you how happy I am to see this, you might have my answer! Our walls in one room are beige – but more of a brownish/orangish beige… and I was wanting a lighter grey-er beige similar to the color of a super light colored sand. Is this it? It looks like a really light sand color, do you think so? Does the grey come out more or does the beige come out more? It’s so hard to find the *perfect* color that is in my mind.

  24. Love it! Grey is one of my favourites right now. The only reason I’m not painting my house right now is because we’re trying to move. And I’m not putting any more energy into this place!

    Fabulous “After”, Anne Marie!

  25. Good to know. I want you to write a post about the best neutral colors for homes because we are building our first house this year and I need to know what to tell the builder to paint the house (I will probably paint several rooms different colors tho haha). Looks awesome!

  29. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! When we bought our house in August it was all the same color, ceilings, walls, everything, and it was the same as yours, it was a tan color that was OK (not my style) but I could live with it… but when it gets dark it had this pinkish tint to it. My main priority is painting all this honey oak trim that these people OBVIOUSLY loved. But then I’m painting walls… and ceilings : ( I wish they would have left the ceilings along! Anyways, love the color you chose. I’m on the hunt for a good neutral gray for my living room too. I should probably cover up the primed wood paneling in my dining room before whipping out the next color. ; )

  31. Love it! It looks great. We are getting ready to do the same thing to our entire downstairs. The house we just moved into is completely beige and it’s driving me crazy! It’s ok in some rooms (just a basic tan beige) but I hate having it throughout the entire house. (Ironically we did the same thing in our first house – painted the entire thing beige. Now I want the beige gone!) I’m thinking of a light greige too. Love the one you chose!

    • thank you, Erin! Isn’t that funny how our tastes change? We still have the kids room in a different beige and like you said, it works in there! I highly recommend this color (Whetstone Gray) and the one we have in the rest of our home (MS Sharkey Gray – a shade darker) if you’re still looking for ideas.

      I’m so excited to see your new home come together!!!

    • Hi Ann!

      Do you happen to have the code for the MS Whetstone Gray? It’s discontinued now and I love it and want to paint our nursery in this color! Thanks!!

      Alicia

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About Ann Marie

Ann Marie Heasley

Hello! My goal is to help you seek beauty in your everyday life. Here I’ll share my experiences and offer tips on how to simplify, seek beauty, create a home you enjoy, or declutter through my annual #40bagsin40days challenge.

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