HAGUE BLUE BEDROOM

Bye bye bright and airy bedroom…

Painting the bedroom | Hello Victoria

Helloooooo drama!!

Hague Blue bedroom | Hello Victoria

While Richard was away for work, I decided to tackle painting the bedroom. As discussed in earlier posts about dark bedrooms, and my plans for this room, we had chosen to paint it Farrow + Ball’s Hague Blue (using Valspar paint) a few months before, and I am so glad about that decision. The paint has such a lovely teal-y green undertone to it, that makes it feel warmer (in my humble opinion) despite how dark it is.

Now painting without Richard meant lots of time spent on a ladder, with no one to see if I fell… but the worst part of doing it alone was not having a vehicle! Unfortunately, Richard took it with him when he left… not that it really mattered as I still haven’t learned to drive on the left side of the road!

Carrying liters of paint on a bus is fine, but I had plans for updating that closet a bit and they required much larger items…

closet before

I decided to remove the silly lights that someone put up (they didn’t actually illuminate the inside based on where they were installed) and make the closet look more original. To that end, I removed any of the plastic capping on the MDF and decided to add some molding. I couldn’t recreate something exactly like the rest of the trim in the room (three different styles, all different sizes) – but thought that anything similar would blend in fine.

Plans for a cozy and inviting bedroom | Hello Victoria

useless plug-in lights and fake wood trim

Now, one thing I found frustrating was the lack of ready-made molding at home improvement stores (that wasn’t plastic). So I decided to buy a few wood trim pieces and build my own. I used the following pieces from my local B&Q in combination – D shape trim (x2), coving, and regular planed timber (x2). However, these pieces were like 7′ long and I was carrying them on a bus!! I got quite a few funny looks taking them home.

Adding molding to built in closet | Hello Victoria

closet now (wow that mirror looks dirty!)

I assembled the molding by simply nailing it up, one piece at a time, staggering the long pieces with the short ones so that I didn’t have the joins all in the same place. Since the wood was so soft, it was quite easy to cut with a hand saw. After they were all in place, it was just a matter of filling in the nail holes and joins with some putty, and sanding it smooth.

Adding molding to built in closet | Hello Victoria

iPhone photos at night are terrible!

Unfortunately, I don’t have any good photos of this process as I was doing it all at night after work. There is still a small gap where the wood meets the metal of the sliding door track, which I need to fill, but otherwise, it looks great!

Adding molding to built in closet | Hello Victoria

still need to fill this gap

I painted the bottom of the track white as well as the sides but saved painting inside the closet for another day. It still looks like a modern sliding door closet, but I think it’s getting to the point of looking more built-in. Now I just have to figure out how to make the doors themselves, and the metal track, look nice. Sure, in my dreams, I could replace the sliding doors with proper ones (three sets of doors that open) and they could look amazing but… time + money!

Adding molding to built in closet | Hello Victoria

close-up of the new closet molding

After getting the closet all ready for paint, I prepped the walls as well. The top of our room, above the picture rail, was painted Farrow + Ball’s All White (using Valspar paint). While the ceiling and walls only took a couple coats to cover, the closet trim took about 3 or 4 as the wood and putty soaked up the first coat or two.

Now one thing that I discovered, when painting the walls Hague Blue, was that dark paint splatters! I’m not sure if this can was just a bit different than our last ones, but unlike the light grey and blue paints, the dark blue splattered all over my nice white trim. I ended up painting the blue walls, before going back over all the white trim again… sigh.

IKEA sinnerlig pendant | Hello Victoria

The only other change we’ve made in here so far is adding our new IKEA light! I have been in love with the SINNERLIG pendant since the collection was previewed a few years ago. When we moved into this space, I knew the warmth of the bamboo would look great with the dark blue, and have been waiting for a chance to put it up.

The only thing missing is the ceiling medallion, but I didn’t feel confident installing it without Richard to help. We’ll have to add it later on.

Hague Blue bedroom | Hello Victoria

We’ve only changed the paint, added a light fixture, and some trim – but what a difference it makes! I am so excited for the potential that this room has. Next up – DIY upholstered bed…

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