Picking the perfect pink (and purple) paint

By PinkElephant Nov 8, 2016

More house questions! I'm choosing paint colors for the house we are buying. DD1 would like a pink room, DD2 would like a purple room, and I'll probably paint the bathroom between their rooms a shade that is somewhat in between the two.

Has anyone painted a pale but still vibrant pink or purple room recently? Any favorite color shades? I'm working with the Benjamin Moore Classic color wheel (but am open to other BM colors). Originally I liked Grape Ice for the purple, but am now leaning towards something lighter, like Sugarplum or Peace and Happiness. For the pink, I had originally like Sweet 16, but am worried it'll be too dark and am now thinking Ballet Slipper.

Floors are cherry wood, trim is white.

Would love pics of your room (or a room you love) if you have them to share!

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19 comments

peachykeen
pear / 1648 posts

Nov 8, 2016

It sounds like you want something a little stronger, but I'm painting DD's room Behr's Bella Mia (pale warm pink). I seriously looked at 20+ paint swatches because I wanted it to be something she could grow into.

In our last house, I realized after a while that the colors that looked muted on the swatch look a lot stronger on the walls and against our white trim.
PinkElephant
grapefruit / 4584 posts

Nov 8, 2016

@peachykeen: Thanks! This is exactly what my decorator friend said. The colors I'm looking at now are the lightest saturation in their "color family" - they look a little light to me on the swatch, but I'm guessing on the wall they'll read more like the colors I originally liked. The color you chose sounds like that, too - I probably wouldn't have chosen it from the sample shown online, but when I look at the room photo, it's super pretty (and a classy color that will grow, not just be a baby color).

The last thing I want is to get into something too dark...but I also don't want to have to squint at the walls to realize they are pink/purple instead of grey like the rest of the house.
catgirl
nectarine / 2018 posts

Nov 8, 2016

My favorite pink is wispy pink by Benjamin Moore. All of these are my inspiration pictures if I get to paint DD's room.
looch
wonderful pear / 26210 posts

Nov 8, 2016

One of our bedrooms is painted Wispy Pink. It's technically my dressing room/ office.
PinkElephant
grapefruit / 4584 posts

Nov 8, 2016

@catgirl: @looch: ooh thanks! That's a similar saturation to what I want (or might use for the baby if DD1 insists on darker). The cherry floors pictured in the grown up room look a lot like ours.
Foodnerd81
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts

Nov 8, 2016

My baby's room is crocus petal by behr (we had it matched in a Benjamin Moore paint, actually, but don't mix it with BM crocus petal purple which is a very dark purple). I love it- light purple without being smack you in the face purple or so soft it's almost gray white. But it depends on the light- in our condo I had picked a different purple (BM winter gray) that looked all gray in this house.
LibbyLou
kiwi / 739 posts

Nov 8, 2016

I just went on Houzz and searched those paint colors you mentioned and looked at rooms. That's how I painted my entire house and I get SO many compliments on how it all coordinates. When really I just found a house with paint colors I loved and copied them. Even search for purple/pink bedrooms and then look for the paint colors in the comments.
Foodnerd81
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts

Nov 8, 2016

Oh and we have carpet (bleh) but her furniture is a warm maple so similar to cherry. I think it looks nice.
PinkElephant
grapefruit / 4584 posts

Nov 8, 2016

@LibbyLou: great tip! Thanks.

@Foodnerd81: pretty! This is very much in the realm of what I want....it looks like I imagine Grape Ice might. Did you custom mix a BM paint, or did they just give you a premix that was the closest match? I'm hiring painters, so I'm kind of reluctant to let them do the matchin g - I need to give them a BM color, I think
PinkElephant
grapefruit / 4584 posts

Nov 8, 2016

@Foodnerd81: oh and do you agree that your purple ended up looking darker/brighter on the wall than the little sample swatch square?
Foodnerd81
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts

Nov 8, 2016

@PinkElephant: yes a little brighter than the swatch- but we had gotten sample cans to test first so it did look like the sample. We did the painting ourselves. We had actually planned to paint in our condo so got the sample paints a while ago, then decided it wasn't worth it to paint when we would be moving soon. So we did things a little out of order. But I brought in the behr (Home Depot) paint sample and the swatch card to a Benjamin Moore retailer and they had it in the computer so it got mixed exactly right. But dh went to get a second gallon without consulting me and accidentally got BM "crocus petal purple". So I would make sure to tell them it's a behr color if that's what you do.
Foodnerd81
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts

Nov 8, 2016

And it looks way lighter when youfirst paint it on. Like I thought it was practically white at first but it dried purple.
SLR
clementine / 824 posts

Nov 8, 2016

I have BM North Cascades 1411 in both of my girls' rooms. It's a pretty purple, not too pale but not too bright either.

We had SW Inspired Lilac in my daughter's room at our old house. That was a nice one too.
LulaBee
pear / 1837 posts

Nov 9, 2016

BM Paisley Pink is the perfect muted pink- did both of my girl's rooms in it. It's not garish, I actually like being in their rooms (and the rest of my house is white, I don't typically like color on walls).
LCTBQE
nectarine / 2461 posts

Nov 9, 2016

@PinkElephant: another Benjamin Moore color for you to consider: Mellow Pink--it's a beautiful blush color, verrrry slightly dirty, so it doesn't have that crayon-box effect. If too pale for you the darker iterations on that same sample card are also nice. I used it for my son's nursery
ETA we also have prominent cherry wood in the room, the pink looks lovely next to it.
PinkElephant
grapefruit / 4584 posts

Nov 10, 2016

@LCTBQE: Thanks! "Dirty pink" (haha) is exactly what I'm after to get that vintage-y look in DD3's room. I'm currently looking at "pink pearl" for that, if they can cut the color saturation to make it lighter for me.

I think DD1 is unfortunately after a slightly more crayon box approach - not what I'd choose, but with the amount of change we are throwing at her right now (new school! new baby! new house! another new school!), I owe her something, and this is an easy place to give in I think Tippy Toes will be a good compromise.

Now I'm just between Sugarplum and Grape Ice (afraid it's too dark) for DD2, and probably Rosemist or Rock Harbor Violet for the bathroom.
PinkElephant
grapefruit / 4584 posts

Nov 10, 2016

@LulaBee: Oh yes - thanks! I was looking at Paisley Pink as an option for my unicorn nursery (on the other thread). Glad to hear you are happy with it
Foodnerd81
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts

Nov 10, 2016

@PinkElephant: definitely get samples and paint then on a couple of walls before painting the whole room (or giving the colors to the painters to buy the paint and paint the rooms). I feel like certain colors can go from soft and sweet to crayola really fast- including pink and purple.
PinkElephant
grapefruit / 4584 posts

Nov 10, 2016

@Foodnerd81: absolutely. I'm trying to narrow down what to buy for samples....I am a little worried that now the colors 'I'm looking at will be TOO white, but a decorator friend tells me they're going to look much more vivid on the walls. I'm basically sticking to the very top row of the color wheel

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Picking the perfect pink (and purple) paint

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