My Bedroom is Finally Garden of Paradise Green, and I’m Happy as Eve with an Apple

If you remember back to my last post about my master bedroom refresh-in-progress, I had most of the new elements in place and the wall color selected but hadn’t gotten hubs to actually paint those walls from a beige that did nothing for the new bedding to Garden of Paradise (GREEN).

But just this past weekend he gave that paint we bought back in March a good stir and rolled on a fresh start for our bedroom walls.

Before I show you the goodies, though, I want to mention a word about this paint. (And no, no one gave me the paint or is compensating me in any way for this endorsement.)

For the first time ever we went with Ace Hardware’s house brand, Clark+Kensington eggshell enamel, and WOW!!! I don’t think we’ll ever paint with anything else again.

This is the first-ever paint we’ve used that covered in one coat. It’s a gel consistency, goes on like buttercream, and dries to a rich, velvety matte finish.

We bought two gallon cans, anticipating two coats, and never needed to open the second can. Anyone interested in buying an unopened can of this gorgeous Garden of Paradise green?

So come on in, and take a closer look…

No, I’m not done with the room yet, but I’m getting closer.

If you remember back, I was doubting my choices of bedding because the beige walls did nothing for it. It was hard to imagine the green walls would have much of an impact since the only green in the bedding was a bit of embroidery floss in the pillow shams.

Remember, this was my inspiration:

A guest room at the former Marrakech, Morocco, home of painter Claudio Bravo.

I guess I’m used to matchy-match decorating and not taking risks. There’s no green in this room either, except for the walls, so I kept my fingers crossed. From the get-go, I ADORED the paint color. But even as Chris began rolling it on, I was unconvinced the bedding would work with it and took to the Internet to search for bedding with green in it that would.

That was time wasted because all turned out well, as you can see. I really think this was my bravest redo yet. And I. Just. Love. It.

I flop down on my bed a few times every day and admire the view. The wall color looks good in morning and afternoon light, as well as at night with the lights on.

I love how it emphasizes the African baskets hanging over the headboard, as well as the existing headboard upholstery.

The neutrals in the chair upholstery and carpet blend with the headboard upholstery to provide continuity across the room and additional brightness and reflectivity alongside the green. And doesn’t the green also look great with my mom’s needlepoint throw pillows?!!

The green wall color also blends well with the dark wood tones of my furniture, the lighter wood tones of my woodwork, and the off-white of the crown molding.

I know it’s weird to have crown molding a different finish than the rest of the woodwork, but that’s how we found it when we moved here eight years ago. I’ve toyed with the idea of painting all the woodwork, but then I’ve HAD painted woodwork before and find the stained woodwork much more forgiving. As it is, the woodwork matching the ceiling gives the ceiling more dimension, I think…

…since I’m not apt to be able to reproduce the decorative ceiling of the inspiration room.

So what’s new besides wall color?

Well, I restyled the shelves of my vintage end table. The top shelf showcases some keepsakes of my mom’s, while the bottom shelf features a vintage brass cricket box and a vintage bronze apple-shaped trinket box in homage to that first garden of paradise. I’m still looking for a small snake figurine to add to the mix.

And I added a vintage cricket box to my wall shelf arrangement of plates and candleholders.

Also new is the faux verdigris finish on my dressing table mirror. I like how it contrasts with the wall color, as well as how it brings in an additional element from the inspiration room.

The previous finish was a silvertone, though that poor mirror has been just about everything. We bought it for our daughter’s college apartment more than a decade ago, and it started its life as antique gold then went silver, then back and forth again, I think.

The Internet is full of tutorials for various ways of achieving a verdigris (patinated copper) look. I started by masking off the mirrored portion and spray-painting the frame copper. Then I watered down a mix of turquoise craft paint with a bit of green, brushed that into the recesses with a foam brush and wiped off the high points with a rag. I followed with a coat of watered-down white paint and wiped it off, then a bit of watered-down metallic gold and wiped it off. I did not seal the surface.

What’s still to be done?

The biggest task-at-hand is fixing water damage from a leak around the top of the window we discovered when taking down the previous window treatment to paint. Chris also removed the window molding to see the extent of the damage caused by rot and an uncaulked seam in exterior siding. The exterior problems have since been fixed (it helps when your hubs is head of maintenance on the HOA board!). Now we need to apply Kilz to keep the stain from bleeding through, spackle, paint and reinstall the trim board.

And THEN, I need to decide on a window treatment.

If you recall, initially I made this valance to match the pillows shams and spent a lot of time embroidering it only to be underwhelmed by how it looked on the window. So I repurposed it as a dresser scarf on my vanity, which works perfectly.

I did have the darker shawl in this photo gathered into a window valance before. I may do that again, OR I was thinking of trying to do something similar with the elephant scarf below it. The printed elephants tie in with the elephants quilted into my Ink+Ivy Kandula coverlet, and its colors pick up on those in the African baskets over the headboard.

But what I’m thinking I REALLY might prefer is one of these Mindra panels from Anthropologie. I’d get the 63-inch long one and swag it somehow. I like that it pulls in pink an dorange for an overall salmon look, which should match my shams, AND the green tassels are a fun extra.

The only problems is that they’re out of stock until Nov. 24. So it’s one of the scarves or nothing until then.

I’m also not satisfied with my existing lamps, though they don’t look quite as bad as I thought they would. My daughter has a couple of smaller, hammered coppertone dresser lamps she’s not using that I MAY use on my vanity. If those work, I would probably buy two larger, matching lamps for the nightstand on the other side of the bed and the end table between the two occasional chairs.

For that scenario, I had picked out these Safavieh Lani lamps. Only now they’e out of stock everywhere, too. And Target has raised the price on them–if and when they’re available again–from $112 to $144!!

If I opt to stay with one lamp on my dresser that matches the one on the opposing nightstand, I’ll go with something different for the end table.

Like this Moroccan-style table lamp I found on Etsy for only $68 and change. (Free shipping from Turkey, too!) Each globe will accommodate up to a 60-watt standard bulb, for a total of 180 watts of light. I like the diamond patterning in the glass and the light patterns it casts.

So what’s missing from this redo?

I just want to see if you’re paying attention and have been keeping up with the blog.

My mom’s quilt is the major missing element. It had too much personality of its own, I’m afraid, and competed for attention with other elements. Serene, not chaotic, was what I was aiming for, so back it went into its zippered bag in the linen closet.

Maybe I’ll figure out a way to display it someday.

The other thing missing is the sweet little mama elephant with her babies, on the left, which used to sit on the vintage brass tray on my vanity. I neglected to take it off my Etsy site, and someone bought it! I replaced it with the pair of vintage shoe ashtrays on the right, which I found on ebay and use to hold rings at night. They’re cute, but not as sweet as that elephant. I could kick myself for not taking the listing down in time!

Next time I post on this project it SHOULD be to wrap it up with finished window treatments and lighting. But if, like Eve, you’re left wanting more…

Check out my other posts related to this project:

Then trace the evolution of my master bedroom:

Proudly powered by viaqx.com