I absolutely did not know what colour I wanted to paint the master bedroom. Something light and soothing? Maybe a shade of green or grey? Was this my moment to finally just go with white?

If you take a look at my master bedroom Pinterest board, you’ll see I was all over the map.

When I finally settled on navy blue, it was a snap decision. There was no sampling, no questioning, not even a paint chip. I walked into the hardware store and asked for a can of Hale Navy.

I’d seen it on a couple of other blogs. I liked all of the rooms I’d seen it in. Might as well give it a try.

But when I opened the can, I wasn’t sure. It looked so grey! I thought I’d chosen blue!

Now that the room is painted, I couldn’t be happier with the colour, and I’ve learned an important lesson. Whatever colour you’re thinking of, go a little bit grey.

This insight isn’t anything new. Young House Love did a great post a couple of years ago showing how the colour you envision might not turn out the way you think it will once it’s on your walls.

However, experiencing it myself in front of my own eyes was different than reading about it on my computer screen. I’m going to share my lesson on your computer screen nonetheless.

Here’s the Hale Navy chip from Benjamin Moore’s website. Very grey to my eye.

Here’s the paint on my brush. Still very grey in my opinion.

And here’s the paint on the wall. Thanks to natural light and the vagaries of photography, this looks very blue. (Ignore the random furniture. We haven’t set up the room yet, so we’ve just stuffed some of the guest room furniture back in the room. Although I do love how the wood desk pops against the blue).

Here’s the paint up against the bright white trim. This is a bit truer to how Hale Navy looks IRL.

We’re plodding along ever so slowly on our master bedroom makeover. With my promise to be more flexible this year, I haven’t set any deadlines for myself. But that means we’re still a little ways away from moving into our new room. Here’s where we’re at:

• Buy a new bed
• Remove popcorn ceiling
• Patch ceiling and walls
• Paint ceiling, trim and walls
• DIY a headboard
• Relocate light switch
• Replace light fixture
• Make/find window treatments – In progress
• Paint dresser and replace hardware
• Refresh dinged up closet doors
• Decorate and personalize

Do you have any projects on the go right now? How are you doing on your 2015 to-do list? Do you have any tried and true strategies for picking paint colours?