Nursery Renovation Part 2 – Colour Matching & Painting Walls

Welcome to the 2nd instalment in my Nursery Renovation Update series! If you missed the first part, (Making the Most of Small Spaces) you can catch up HERE.

As soon as the plaster was dry, we were in a position to start painting the walls! 🙂

We are very lucky that Mike’s parents are absolute legends and enjoy painting, and they very kindly offered to come and help! As soon as the plaster was dry, Mick was round to quickly white wash the walls as a base coat for whatever colour we chose.

We decided we wanted to paint Neve’s room in a colour with some meaning behind it. When she was born it was all a bit of a rush and Mike forgot the hospital bags – as such, she was given some donated clothing by the hospital as her very first clothes. We wanted to incorporate one of these colours into her room, so I trundled off to B&Q to get some match pots. It is SO frustrating how paint looks SO different on the wall to how it does on the swatches! After buying four and groaning with frustration at how dark and PURPLE they looked (when I was expecting a subtle shade of lilac), Mick suggested we check out the Valspar Paint colour match service. I didn’t even know this existed, but Valspar can match and create paint of ANY colour from a sample as small as 0.5cm, whether it be fabric, paper, or clothing. I was reassured to learn it has recently been rated by Mumsnet, with 94% of their 118 Testers stating they would recommend it.

We took Neve’s first clothes along to B&Q with us, and they used a special scanner to read the colour. Their in store machines were then able to whip up two sample pots for us to go home and test out on the walls. They then saved the colours on their system, so that the information would be ready and available if we decided to proceed, or indeed if we wanted to order more of the same colour at a later date. They were much much lighter in the tub than I would have ever been able to have matched up myself (they looked almost white!) but once on the walls looked fantastic and were just what we were looking for.

We decided to opt for the pale Lilac colour for Neve’s room, which matched the knitted hat that she wore in hospital. It was a pale and airy pastel shade, that I knew would be subtle and light in a small space. Erin then jumped on the painting bandwagon, and decided she wanted the rose colour in her bedroom too! It now appears we are doing up two bedrooms simultaneously… we must be mad! 🙂

We ordered one 2.5l tub to paint Neve’s room, and we have plenty left up for any touch ups and filling in that may be required. With the white base underneath, we have only needed to use one coat and I am over the moon with the finished effect! Mick, who has painted a fair few rooms in his time, said it was the best quality paint he had ever used, thick and and good quality and easy to apply using a roller or brush. Unlike some other paints we have had which would give me a terrible headache, with the Valspar paint there was hardly any odour – something which was a real positive considering our daughter would be sleeping in there soon afterwards. We opted for the scrubbable Premium Walls & Ceilings paint, which also means that if the walls get scuffed or marked with sticky fingerprints, they can be easily wiped down.

Come back soon for our next instalment which is the finishing touches… we  have marked out where the furniture will go, and are waiting for my chair to arrive next week. Poor old Mike is then back on flat back building duty whilst I get to focus on the finishing touches!! 🙂

*Disclosure – Valspar very kindly gifted us two tins of their Valspar Premium Walls & Ceiling paint for our renovation project, however all thoughts and opinions are my own*