Alternate title: Breaking Out John’s Painting Belt
It felt familiar, like old times. For anyone unfamiliar with the painting belt reference, that bit of DIY nostalgia explains it. As we mentioned yesterday, we painted Clara’s nursery. Instead of recreating the exact look from our previous home, we saw the move as a chance to update the wall color. Since we’re using the same furniture, the same light fixture and the same curtains (I couldn’t bear to leave them behind), a fresh wall color would help the room feel gently evolved rather than completely reinvented or merely duplicated.
When we started narrowing down colors, a few obvious choices came up and were quickly ruled out: a blue tone felt like too much given the blue bedding, changing pad cover, capiz chandelier, and curtain accents; green was too close to the previous palette; yellow didn’t tie in with any existing elements; and a neutral felt too safe for a child’s room — we wanted something playful. Pink was tempting, but we worried about it feeling overly girly. In the end, we decided to embrace it.
There are soft pinks woven into the curtains and in our DIY mobiles (we haven’t hung them yet), so a subtle pink would coordinate nicely. But we didn’t want a simple ballet or baby pink. We were aiming for a pink with gray and lavender undertones — a moodier, more sophisticated shade that wouldn’t read as sugary or one-dimensional. The swatch cards helped make that choice clearer.
The swatch we chose reads a bit grayer and more lavender than the others. It brings a muted, understated elegance while still feeling soft and feminine. We wanted the room to maintain some of the greens and blues that have always been part of Clara’s space, so the color needed depth rather than a straightforward pastel pink. It also echoed a tone from our whole-house color exploration, where one swatch combined pink, gray, and lavender — exactly the look we were after.
The final color is Proposal from Benjamin Moore’s Affinity line. Because we often choose more budget-conscious options, we had that color matched to Olympic’s no-VOC paint at Lowe’s. This formula not only has no VOCs in the base but also uses no-VOC colorants, making it an excellent choice for a nursery. The paint reads differently depending on light, so the subtle undertones can be tricky to capture in photos, but in person the gray and lavender notes add a layered, dimensional effect. Here’s how the room looked before:
During painting, we pushed larger pieces to the center of the room and covered them with a plastic tarp to protect them while we worked:
And here’s the room now:
The space will read even more balanced once we hang the art, shelves, curtains and mobiles. Swapping the ceiling fan for the blue capiz chandelier will help the room feel finished and cohesive for our little one. Also, mandatory: a photo of Clara sleeping on her daddy — there’s nothing sweeter.
This nursery has always been a priority because we want Clara to have a calm, settled space where we can pause and escape the rest of the house, which will be “in progress” for quite some time. We’ll share photos once everything is up on the walls and the room feels complete. For now, you might find us staring at the thirty or so swatches still tacked to the living room wall as we fine-tune the rest of the house palette.