# Bedroom painting question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** tools-electric-diy\ **Created:** [July 17, 2025, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958 "2025-07-17T03:07:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/21 "2025-07-17T13:56:44Z")
Fine. You don’t want to rough it up too much. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/22 "2025-07-17T14:09:01Z")
Our house was built in 1936. The upstairs woodwork (trim and doors) still have the original dark wood stain. I love it. Why oh why did the people before us paint all the main level woodwork and doors? I hate it. It chips all the time and shows dirt and dust. We are doomed to forever paint it. I know we could strip it all but I don’t have the patience to do it. I too am a lover of color on walls. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/23 "2025-07-17T14:26:10Z")
Man, I know I read that as a kid, but not since then. Maybe I’ll go get it. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/24 "2025-07-17T20:38:13Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > This may be to your taste, but nothing depresses me more than beige, taupe and grey on walls. Gawd, me, too. _Especially_ the grey. > [@SanVito](#): > > My hallway. Not beige. I really like it! Of course, we had all of our downstairs minus the kitchen painted in bright scarlet. I loved it. But we had a ton of art on the walls, so not many large surface areas of plain wall. I like your art, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/25 "2025-07-17T20:45:38Z")
I am pretty confident that I have done more painting than the average bear. I would absolutely give the door a light sanding. Unless I missed it…does the door have a finish, or is it bare wood? (either way, I would sand, but especially if it has some sort of finish on it, which I’m guessing it does). Good luck! mmm ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/26 "2025-07-17T21:03:36Z")
It’s not my taste. At all. I have mostly log walls. The interior walls that are sheet rock I wanted to keep a light color(palest sage), because wood darkens. The _sheen_ of the paint will make no difference as to light. It’s all color. Color makes you _feel_ certain ways. Just like you say it depresses you to see taupe or beige. See? You feel something. They paint prisons and hospitals certain colors, for _reasons_. All my sheetrock (high)ceilings are the palest ever shade of pink. It makes a room cozier. I swear it works. And any self-respecting real estate agent will insist if you ever wanna sell this house, better keep the walls neutral. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/27 "2025-07-17T21:31:26Z")
I could never go that “country” blue. That’s very depressing. Blue is difficult to live with. There are so many variations and tonal qualities. The pure blue is so deep, they have to put other things in there to make it less harsh. Then you get faded looking paint or have to apply multiple coats. Not worth it if you then gotta live with it 7 years or something. Good luck trying to match a rug properly. Never happen. Blue is weird. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/28 "2025-07-17T21:47:51Z")
Paging @Paintcharge. Who knows from painting. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/29 "2025-07-17T22:43:03Z")
Yes, blue is weird, there are a ton of variations from purple-ish to more aqua/green to sky. It is hard to find something that will work with furniture and rugs and such. I’m currently dealing with multiple blues on the walls at the museum where I work. Ahh, the joys of years of committees. Yellow paint always sucks. For what ever reason it never covers very well. Especially if you are going over a bold previous choice. Flat/matte on the ceiling is customary, but not required. I think it tends to make the rooms more comfortable if the ceiling isn’t shiny, plus it’s hard to keep from showing any imperfections with a sheen. And flat on walls and trim just looks weird. You want some sheen, at least satin, on doors and trim, just to make cleaning easier. Matte is difficult to scrub without making it look like crap. Yeah, give the door a sand with some fine grit, 200-220 or so. If it’s finished, like poly or varnish, you’ll need to be more aggressive, 150 probably with a random orbital, and then work back to finer grit. Flat door or multi-panel? If not finished, you’ll still want to give it a quick sand and a primer coat. And I agree with taking the door off the hinges to paint, remove the hardware too. Way easier to take out a couple of screws than cut around or tape off doorknobs and hinges. @sanvito Not my first choice for paint in a hallway, (I’m an old school New Englander, so painting my house green was a big step out of tradition) but it does look really nice. The art works well with the colors. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/30 "2025-07-17T22:56:50Z")
Oh yes. You can get a beautiful blue on a wall. Add a few colorful things and it changes. Just goes from a nice blue to vomit green. Gotta be really careful. My experience with yellow is it fades and looks dusky pretty quickly. Nothing more sad than dusky yellow walls. Go to mustard yellow and lighten it with a clean white. That makes a good yellow. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/31 "2025-07-18T04:58:48Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > Yellow paint always sucks. Huh, this is also true when painting small models… ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/32 "2025-07-18T05:04:24Z")
Yep. Paint is paint. Some are water/latex based, some are oil based but the pigment is the pigment and it only does so much. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/33 "2025-07-18T05:54:43Z")
This website goes over some of the differences between ceiling paint (thicker for less dripping) and wall paint (goes further). It also goes over the pluses and minuses of using all ceiling paint or all wall paint. > **[Ceiling Paint Vs Wall Paint](https://www.hillisbrothers.com/post/ceiling-paint-vs-wall-paint)** > > You go to your local hardware or paint store, find the color you want, bring it home, open it up, and paint your walls and ceiling. It is as easy as that, isn’t it?Well, not quite.Yes, you can use the same paint on the walls and ceiling, but you... Note: > [@](#): > > Is There A Difference In Cost? > > Yes, there is. > > Ceiling paint costs a lot more than wall paint (provided you are comparing the same quality), and even though it is thicker and will require fewer coats, you will still be better off financially if you use wall paint [my clarifying note: for walls] instead of ceiling paint. It might take more time, but you will save on materials. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/34 "2025-07-18T09:19:56Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Some are water/latex based, some are oil based but the pigment is the pigment and it only does so much. Can’t agree with you there, the sheen of paint makes a huge difference to the feel of a space. Personally I can’t stand walls with a sheen of any sort, makes rooms feel like a hospital ward. I’m not scared of colour, I’m a graphic designer. Colour is my lifeblood. Gardens full of concrete are depressing, grey skies are miserable, I don’t know why people thing bland interiors will bring them any joy either. We should learn from mother nature. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/35 "2025-07-18T10:10:47Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > All my sheetrock (high)ceilings are the palest ever shade of pink. It makes a room cozier. I swear it works. My late mom was a house painter for 50 years - no matter what shade of white, grey, taupe the client wanted, she stirred a wee bit of red in to ‘warm it up’ - I’m not sure if she ever told them, but folks kept coming back for more. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/36 "2025-07-18T16:34:45Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > All my sheetrock (high)ceilings are the palest ever shade of pink. It makes a room cozier. I swear it works. I painted my bedroom a very pale shade of pink (it is called Ballet Slipper to give you an idea), and in my west-facing room, it just **glows** in the afternoons. > [@Paintcharge](#): > > Yes, blue is weird, there are a ton of variations from purple-ish to more aqua/green to sky. It is hard to find something that will work with furniture and rugs and such. I’ve found the trick with blue (and also sometimes green) is to use multiple different shades. Don’t try to match because you never will. Add several different shades – more than just two or three – in furnishings and accessories and the whole room will pull together. > [@SanVito](#): > > I’m not scared of colour, I’m a graphic designer. Colour is my lifeblood. Gardens full of concrete are depressing, grey skies are miserable, I don’t know why people thing bland interiors will bring them any joy either. We should learn from mother nature. Ha, my soulmate! When we bought our townhouse, there were two things that really made me happy. One, we had in-unit laundry facilities, and, two, we could paint any color we wanted! No more Navajo White (to me, an especially ugly washed out beige). Our kitchen is a toned-down chartreuse, our living/dining room is a mellow gold that my sister used for her bedroom (she’s been talking for years about repainting it a sagey green). Her bathroom is blue with beautiful tile laid in blue and white patterns. As I said, my bedroom is pale pale pink, and my bathroom is the same green as the kitchen with black and white tiles in a modern take on Victorian black and white tile schemes. And, of course, originally our entire downstairs, minus the kitchen, was scarlet. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/37 "2025-07-21T14:26:43Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I’ve found the trick with blue (and also sometimes green) is to use multiple different shades. Blues are my favorite colors (especially turquoise). We painted our bathroom a gray-blue (French silver). I have different shades of blue towels - navy, turquoise, etc. The other decor is lots of different blues too. I think it looks great! ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/38 "2025-07-21T14:40:49Z")
Using two very different shades of blue in my bedroom really helped. It would have been oppressive to have the dark shade on all the walls and kind of bland to have the lighter shade all over. Having said that, I wonder if it would improve the dark green bedroom to make one wall a lighter shade of green. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/39 "2025-07-21T16:20:44Z")
Use different shades of blue and green in the accessories, too. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958/40 "2025-07-21T16:31:13Z")
Well, we are have preferences. I was not above painting a large swatch of a wall to see what light does to it. You can get samples pretty reasonably priced. Check the sheens and see what you like. And, I happen to love multi-grey color ways. It didn’t really work in my house. The caramel colored log walls and light from big glass made grey disappear. I found out by test painting. Grey can be difficult. But if you can do it, its very pretty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bedroom-painting-question/1020958.md?page=3)