I still LOVE the dark gray in our moody basement living area, but over time it felt heavy and drab in our bedroom.

A few years ago I decided to lighten things up by installing vertical tongue and groove planks on the bottom of the walls: 

It brightened things up nicely and added some beautiful character as well. 

When I worked on that project, I considered taking down the light gray wallpaper, but my experience with removing it in the past wasn't ideal. I figured I'd have to do a lot of drywall repairs, so I left it up and worked around it:

It felt SO much better in there! But as time went on, I decided the gray wallpaper had to go. 

A few weeks ago I finally decided to try taking down a piece of the existing peel and stick just to see how the wall looked underneath. I was shocked when the wallpaper came off like BUTTAH -- no noticeable damage (only a few spots overall):

After removing a few panels, I got excited thinking I could just leave the walls as is -- the color in this room is Agreeable Gray by Sherwin-Williams, and it's a lovely light creamy neutral paint color. 

It was going so well! I couldn't believe I was going to be able to just remove the wallpaper and get a whole new look with minimal effort!

That didn't last long. As you can see, there were a few holes/anchors I didn't fill before installing the wallpaper, so those had to be dealt with. And then there were the pencil lines I use to hang the wallpaper panels straight. (Note to self: only use a laser level from now on.) 

I also noticed that there was a dark line on the walls where the two panels of wallpaper slightly overlapped. It was so odd, but I remembered later that this wallpaper residue was on the walls in our powder room as well. It wasn't sticky, just a very slight shadow on the wall, and once I saw that I knew they would bug me forever. 

As I worked, I LOVED the original creamy paint color against the white trim on the walls. I knew I wanted to keep the lighter look. 

My dreams of an easy makeover were dashed, but it wasn't too bad in the end. I filled all of the holes with this fluffy spackle -- this was the first time I had used it and I really liked it:

The paint color I had mixed was exactly the same, but the batch of paint was darker than the original. You can see where I cut in around the door trim and vent with the new Agreeable Gray paint: 

The difference could be due to many things -- time, sunlight, the previous wallpaper. I think it was more that our builder used a contractor paint that may have had slightly different coloring. 

The small bit of ceiling that connects to our tray portion has always been white, and it broke up the flow of the room. This time, I painted that part in the same satin Agreeable Gray color as the walls, and now it's so much easier on the eyes: 

Not to mention against the crisp white along the bottom third of the walls: 

Now I wish I had just done this in the very beginning...imagine how much time and work I would have saved! 

But I did love each stage of this room. I love this about decorating and DIY -- it's fun to tweak over time. 

I always felt like the gray wallpaper clashed with the bright white trim in this room, no matter what I did to lessen that contrast:

Years ago I was considering painting the trim a darker color, and I'm SO GLAD I didn't do it. 

We adopted another new pup earlier this year, and our girl Blue has the most piercing, beautiful blue eyes! We adore her. I love how I caught her looking at me in this pic:

Now...the part I've been dreading for years -- addressing the tray ceiling. I have half of that project figured out, but I'm still contemplating some other details. This room will be complete (for now?) when I get that done! 

But for now, the room is so much more serene and calming. We love the change...this space gets a ton of natural light, which made the darker colors work just fine. But I think it really calls out for lighter walls: