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My Secret Room

OUR 2nd HOUSE

I wish that was true…that I had a real secret room.  Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a little room that was hidden behind a door or an oversized mirror?  Mine would be filled with extra soft blankets and fluffed pillows that had tins of fancy cookies and champagne with strawberries.  There would be no toys in sight and it would have a button I could push that would turn the entire space into ‘nap mode’ where it drowned out all noise and provided a babysitter on site.  It would be amazing.

But that’s not the secret room that I’m talking about.  I’m talking about the dining room.  I’ll explain.  Here’s what it started off like, right…   

and we sprayed the trim and painted the ceiling…

Then came time for paint!  I knew I wanted to go dark.  REALLY dark.  I didn’t know if it was gonna be brown or navy or dark gray…

 

 

 

but in the end, the dark dark gray by Benjamin Moore called SECRET was the winner.  Oh and I do like to try it on all the walls to see how it looks in different light.  It’s good to test it like that because there is always that color that has undertones that might come out in the bright area or might be darker than you like in a corner.

It took me two coats (FULLY MIXING THE CANS!  because heaven knows nobody wants streaks to happen again.) but in the end, it was exactly what I wanted.

It’s amazing how much it pops out against the white. 

I think that in a space that has white halfway up the wall and a lot of white trim work can sport a really dark color easily.  It’s probably the safest space to put a dark color in. 

And some folks were asking about my high vents…I paint them.  I just paint them whatever color the wall is.  It helps them disappear.

This is the view back into the foyer and the staircase and reading room. 

Then came time for moving back in.  I flexed the girl power muscles and did it all myself.  Quick tip…turn FLOR tiles upside down and use them as sliders.  They work awesome!  

This room is definitely a work in progress.  I need a recovery drink though…something loaded with protein after that furniture moving 🙂

So now that you have seen my secret room…I wanna hear about yours…anyone with a fantasy secret room?  Dish.

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  2. Very pretty color! The previous color makes the room light and airy – but leave that for breakfast nooks and sunrooms.. ‘Secret’ is will make that room so cozy and intimate for gatherings. Add some candle light with your new gorgeous table – amazing! Can’t wait to see what’s to come!

  3. English is my first language by the way. It should say ‘Secret will make that room…’

  4. Ooo oo ooooooo! I lurv your secret room! A few things- 1) next time i do a big paint job i’m going to try this sprayer thing- seems brilliant once you get the prep right (thank you for the inspiration!), 2) deep dark grey and crisp white…. heaven, and 3) way to flex those girl power muscles- big kuddos for just gettin er done. Woo hoo for the new room!

  5. I love the new color! I’ve been on a gray kick lately. It seems like everything goes so well with it. And I think I’m going to share your idea of a secret room with tons of pillows and blankets, only instead of an instant babysitter (no kids yet), I’d want bookshelves full of books to cuddle up in the pillows to read. 🙂

  6. You could not have picked a more perfect color. The room feels so cozy, what a great place for long chats after a good meal.

  9. I love the color. I still have some from the living room in a previous house. I might repaint the accent wall in the hallway now. Oh, and I’ll make the fancy cookies for your pretend secret room.

  10. I love it! I always have dreams that I have a secret room in our house. its weird our house is set up just like it is in real life in my dream but if I take a different turn there’s a different room that isn’t usually there and its full of really cool furniture and amazing accessories! I’m sure that’s weird! 🙂

  11. Ooh, pretty! I once knew someone who had a for reals room-behind-a-bookcase room. I’m a big fan of secret passageways. But I also really want a library like the big huge one in Beauty and the Beast. So maybe my secret room would be a bookcase that opened up into a huge library full of bookcases.

  16. Love that gray!

    Amazing how dingy that trim looks on the doorway/hallway compared to the newly painted white trim!

  17. With the white ceiling, the molding, and the trim, that dark contrast on the walls looks amazing. I love how detailed the molding and trim is throughout your house, especially in the doorways. You guys picked a house with some great features even if it’s taking some work to make them your own.

  18. It looks really great! All that wood trim everywhere is just beautiful! And I’m cracking up at a “room hidden behind a door”- doesn’t a door make it officially not-hidden? Don’t doors generally say “hey, there’s a room here?” 🙂 I’ve always wanted one of those fancy revolving bookcases with a secret room behind it though…

  20. The gray pairs nicely with the wood floors. Looking forward to seeing the new furniture in there.

  21. Who doesn’t want a secret room?!?! The new color is great! I can’t wait to see what pops of color you bring in! I wish I had the ceiling heights and light to carry a color that dark in our house. Cream trim just got served!

  22. Love, Love, Love the new color. It is so nice to see the clean white next to the old tan trim color. You’ve come such a long way. Can’t wait to see the finished room.

  23. I love, love, love your color! I liked the original dining room, but I am so excited to see what you do with it!
    p.s. For some reason I picture you doing Gangnam Style while you paint. 🙂
    p.p.s. I regularly read your ‘Re-lifeification’ post for inspiration, this semester in college has been rough and your blog is always a bright spot to my day- that and bacon pancakes! 🙂

  24. I love the dark walls with all the bright white trim! This reminds me of our first home’s bathroom that we redid. I just loved it. I can’t wait to see it all put back together and with that new table!

  25. Sooo pretty! I love the dark color. I am in the process of painting our living room a really dark blue/teal at the moment.

    My dream room would be filled with vintage finds and architectural salvage. It would never be dirty. The would also be calorie free macaroni and cheese and ice cream, because who doesn’t want that???

  28. I love it! And I didn’t realize how intricate and beautiful the woodwork was in there from that last perspective. The archway leading out of the dining room into the foyer is gorgeous! Can’t wait to see your new table in there!

  30. Wow, I absolutely love the color for this room. It goes perfectly with the white trim and ceiling and the wood floor. Great pick!

  31. I’d be so happy to have your cream trim. Don’t get me wrong, I adore white trim, but right now I’m so desperate to get away from my brown trim. I am stuck in a rental with ugly deep brown trim 🙁

    My secret room would be a massive loft style library hidden behind a small bookcase. It will have a spiral stair case with Victorian era couches for me to red upon and pretend to be cultured.

    The room looks gorgeous Katie. I’m really enjoying following/stalking/living vicariously through your transformation. 🙂

  35. I acquired tons o FLOR tiles at the arch firm I use to work at when we lived in Atlanta and I always used them for sliding furniture around too! We use them all the time! When my husband spent the summer at camp (worked for the BSA when we lived there) I made a patchwork of tiles for his room!

  38. The room is stunning! I love the color you chose. How tall are your ceilings?? The picture of your boyfriend painting the ceiling makes it look like they’re soo tall!

  39. Love the wall color! We used the exact color in our house as well! Holds up really well for us Yankees up north 😉

  40. It’s just the bright white untinted paint. It usually is called Brilliant White by Valspar.
    xo – kb

  41. Love this. I don’t have a secret room but I was just going to say that our living room is dark gray with white trim and I am so in love with it! Something about it is so dang crisp, don’t you think?

    I think you made an awesome choice, Katie 😀

  42. I wish I lived in GA!! I want your old table and chairs!!! 🙂

    Love the color. I’m all about gray right now…

  43. Love that color! It really makes the room look… sophisticated. As for our secret room… so funny you mentioned it (I always wanted one as a kid) but we are in the process of buying our first house now and in the upstairs bathroom is a second door that leads to a walk up finished attic! My mom and dad stole the idea right out of my head when they saw it- to carry the bead board from the walls over the door so it blends into the walls so you don’t notice it! Although, I like your idea of a large mirror… any ideas on a secret door knob? Wish it could be like an old Scooby Doo or something and have a secret button to push to open!

  46. Will you keep the same yellow curtains? The yellow and gray combo is at the top of my decor list right now 🙂

  49. LOVE it, KB. We painted the dining room at our old house navy blue (also had contrasting whtie tream/beadboard/etc) and it’s still my favorite room ever in the whole wide world. Can’t wait to see your secret room with furniture!

  51. I have a color like this picked for our laundry room, which also has a lot of white ( built in shelves, linen closet doors, etc) and my hubby was afraid… I’m showing him this! It’s stunning!

  52. Beautiful! I love the contrast of the colors! Can’t wait to see how it turns out!

  53. WOW!!! Love it so much… home run on color choice.. love the ceilings and the color pops against the white white trim… great job Katie!! xo

  55. LOVE IT – just a request —– can you put a before/after either side by side or one right on top of each other in your pics so we can easily compare the greatness that is KB?!?

  56. Be sure to post a pic of the room all loaded back up (can you tell I’m from the South, or what??). I want to pin it on Pinterest. The color is wonderful!

  57. oh my! I cant wait to see how this room turns out!! I seriously love it so far!! And from all the ideas im stealing between your house & YHL my house is going to come together really nicely 🙂

  58. The dark walls are so pretty! I think I want a secret tree house instead! I have always wanted a tree house. Filled with books! And a zipline!

  59. Pretty color!! Do you have any plans to pain the inlay (not sure what that’s called) but the recess between the molding and the inner-molding? Like it was before? So nice!

  60. Though I love the SECRET color, I thought for sure it would darken the room to a dungeon-esque point, but you still have lots of natural light thanks to all those windows in the reading room and the two doors in the dining room. And it really pops against that stark white trim, too. Quick question. I just mentioned the two doors in your dining room, and I know you have at least half a dozen other doors that wrap around the first floor of your house. How many times have you actually entered or exit through those dining room doors? How many doors do you actually have? How many of them do you actually use? Silly questions, but I’m just curious.

  62. I would have two secret rooms, one just like yours cause that sounds AMAZING! and the second would be full of cash (clean straight from the press), that I could count and roll around in and pretend that I was the uncle duck from Talespin (was that the name of the cartoon?).

    and I LOVE YOUR style! I was hesitant about the paint samples but it goes so well with the white, you are definitely right about dark colors needing brightness. You are doing a beautiful job with your house.

    Trish

  63. I’m sure someone else already pointed this out, but the white trim looks so good on that decorative entryway. I really like seeing the difference with the picture where you can see the ugly tan colored one in the background. It just stands out so much better. Why would anyone paint their trim tan…good job on the painting. I think I need a paint spray thing now!

  64. Love that dark color! I was thinking of something similar to that for our bedroom. Something dark and cozy.

    My secret room would be similar to yours with endless plush pillows and blankets but I would have to include a TV, a cupcake switch that would give me endless cupcakes, a window for gazing, and a canvas and paint in the corner. Yes…heaven…

  66. LOL I knew you would pick the gray before I even scrolled down! Do I read your blog too much or what?!!

  68. Do you use a high gloss or semi-gloss for your trim paint? I love how it gleams in the photos. I have a house full of white trim, too.

  69. I painted our dining room the same exact BM color (Secret) a little over a year ago, and still love it – it’s a GREAT color! (our seems a blue-ish grey most days) Enjoy the “new” room!

  70. At first I didn’t really understand why you didn’t like the trim color, because from your earlier pictures I couldn’t tell that much of a difference, but with the latest picture, when you see the dining room and your front door – wow, what a difference! I L-O-V-E LOVE the update you did. The dark gray color is awesome, and you’re right, the trim needed a desperate change.

    I wish I could do something gray in my house, but I have beige carpeting and beige tile throughout the entire house =(

    Not sure I’ve ever commented on here at all before, but I love your blog!

  72. LOVING the dark. You are so right about the huge white moulding anchoring a rich dark color. Brilliant. I love that southern, classic charm in your mouldings. Our place was built in the 80s in a more angular, modern vein, and I just want chair rails and mouldings everywhere but I have to be cognizant of the actual architecture we have to work with. Annoying. I want frames over every doorway. Which doesn’t work when the top is a triangle. Ug.

  73. The room turned out beautiful! I agree, the high amount of white balances the dark quite well. Can I have that room for my secret room? I’d furnish it with really comfy couches and books, I think – and perhaps a chocolate fountain with a fruit stand next to it 😉

  74. hate kate, I know this not related to this post but I was just wondering, what happened to your photography updates? I’m not bashing because honestly, I give you major props for finishing a kitchen, fire pit, AND working on the living room while in your last (and past your last) week of pregnancy and TOTALLY understand having your hands full now with two little men running around (literally, soon enough) I was just missing some of your amazing photo session posts you used to do. Are you still doing photography (apart from things for posts?) I read that you were ‘slowing down’ in a way with how many photos you take but does that mean ending it as a job too? I’ma little lost. -.-

  75. After my roommate painted her room navy and yellow (and by that I mean 90% dark, dark navy) I have been terrified of painting anything a dark tone! And now we have to paint it back…but I digress. Th is has completely changed my mind. It looks so pretty when done right 🙂 My secret room would consist of books and probably blanket forts. And endless pizza roles.

  76. LOVE IT! I am wanting to go dark in my future kiddo’s room because the ceiling, trim and future board and batten will all be bright white. But… that kiddo’s room hasn’t been emptied out by big sis (her room also is going to be remodeled) and kiddo #2 isn’t due for 6 months so that’s my deadline. Love this color, if I change my mind from the navy, gray is definitely my second choice! This would look gorgeous in a kitchen with all white cabinets too.

  77. omgeeee this looks amazing!! WHAT a difference!! Love the colour and love the white trimmings. Can’t wait to see this room all done up 🙂

  78. Katie! That color is perfection! Literally jaw-dropping. I LOVE how crisp and classy the trim work looks now that it is white… and that dark gray is so swoon-worthy. Girl. Good choice.

  79. How come my comment didn’t get published? 🙁
    I am such a loyal reader and I made an observation that your color choice is very predictable ..is that a bad thing?

  81. I decided to take this year off. The boys just require so much attention right now and I would rather wait to start back up when I feel like they are getting everything they need 🙂
    xo – kb

  85. We have five doors that go onto our front porch (besides the center double front doors)…and we use one. The one that is on the side of the house to get to the little side porch area. The others we just treat like windows 🙂
    xo – kb

  86. Nope. We actually went back and forth before about it…in the end, I liked the white. I think I knew I wanted to go dark with the walls and I wanted the most amount of white everywhere else 🙂
    xo – kb

  89. No door knob! Just make it hinge so that you could pull the frame and go up! It would be AMAZING!
    xo – kb

  91. Goodness! That’s a lot of “windows” to wash! And that doesn’t even include your kitchen & LR doors to the back deck, garage, and basement doors?! I hope you have all the locks keyed to the same master. You’d look like a janitor walking around otherwise. 🙂

  92. Haha 🙂 I don’t think I even have a key to some of them. Maybe I should get on that 🙂
    xo – kb

  93. I am soo embarrassed about my comment 🙁 I need to have more patience!!! I apologize KB

  94. liked em better on the floor when they were all touching……..look again…..MHO

  96. Yes I did too…if you are talking about the plates 🙂 But the problem was that the plate hangers I used didn’t allow me to get them to overlap like that. I was bummed but still it’s a random collection in a low profile place…so who cares…right?!
    xo – kb

  98. Can time stop in our secret room? Think I’d like to just take a nap in there and no one know. 😉 love love love the dark walls. Contrast is so sexy!

  99. Control time continuam…be in charge things on a molecular level…determine the level of gravity…all yes 🙂
    xo – kb

  100. Hi Katie – where did you get the yellow curtains in the first pic? I’ve been looking for ones that are that same shade of yellow and having a really tough time! I’d actually prefer if they had some kind of pattern (just white and yellow though… although a little gray mixed in would be okay), so other suggestions are welcome, too 🙂

    Thanks!

  102. I love, no I mean love, like seriously LOVE your dining chairs. They are everything. Thank you for this post, I have a very similar dining room (white crown molding & chair rail) and I’ve been considering some off-black tones for a while now. That BM “Secret” looks SO good!

  104. While I adore the gray, my husband and I are looking for more of a champagne color. On your color options wall, do you happen to remember the name of the “definitely not” color? I love that one.

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