I mentioned before that I was relieved to be finished with a previous project, but I’m even more relieved that this one is done. Standing on a stepladder, leaning back and reaching up to paint three sides of five beams plus crown molding and quarter round in a huge 25 x 15′ room is not exactly relaxing. My thumbs are sore. So are my neck, back, chin (yes, even my chin), calves, glutes, and oddly enough my obliques. For anyone who guessed that painting beams might burn more calories than regular rolling, I can assure you it’s considerably more uncomfortable — and probably burned a few calories along the way. I also pulled a muscle or two and strained a few parts of myself, but it was worth it.
The beams were originally a reddish tone that we tried to learn to love, but they always stuck out to us. We painted them a warm rustic gray that still allows some of the wood’s brown tones to peek through, giving the beams dimension without overpowering the room.
We still have more work to do on the ceiling and some other finishing touches, so this is just the start of the upper 5% of the space’s transformation. We haven’t settled on a ceiling color yet — we’ll share the decision when we make it — but the soft gray wash on the beams is already making the living room feel much more like us. The new finish is charming and dramatic but far less heavy than the old dark, reddish beams. The thin wash has muted those strong red undertones and created a more sophisticated backdrop.
When more light hits the beams, their character shifts: in bright daylight they read softer and more rustic; later in the day they deepen and grow more dramatic. That changing mood is one of the reasons we love the finished look — it makes the room feel swankier as the sun sets.
Keep in mind the room is only about 8% finished. Right now we have a too-small rug and a small media center, oversized fans that are centered over empty space, huge naked windows and sliders waiting for curtains, and bare walls. Adding a large 8 x 10 rug, bold floor-length curtains hung high and wide, and a proper media cabinet will instantly make the space feel much more complete and help the beams settle into the overall texture and color scheme.
Artwork will be essential, too. We plan to introduce large-scale, brightly colored pieces to prevent the room from feeling like a cold gray box. Those bold pieces will balance the beams and create visual layers through color, contrast, fabric, and shape. This is a real renovation, not a TV-style instant makeover, so the transformation will happen gradually, one project at a time and on a real budget.
As for how we painted the beams: this was mostly my project. John helped by watching Clara and handling blog duties while I worked on the ladder. The technique I used wasn’t exactly traditional painting — it was a mix of graywashing, sponging, and drybrushing to achieve a weathered, lightly stained look rather than an opaque coat.
We started by taping swatches to the beams and choosing three gray tones we liked from Benjamin Moore: Shaker Gray 1594, Rocky Coast 1595, and Nightfall 1596. Lowe’s color-matched those shades into small test pots of satin Olympic Premium No-VOC paint. Back home, I tested application methods on a concealed edge of a beam. A watered-down wash ran and dripped, so that method was abandoned. The dry foam brush technique applied directly from the tester produced the translucent texture we wanted. We settled on Shaker Gray 1594 and removed the other test applications with a damp rag.
John taped around the beams and crown for protection, and then I used a 2″ foam brush to lightly drybrush the gray over the bottom and sides of each beam, the trim, and the quarter round. The goal was a single, thin, translucent coat that let the grain and knots show through to look more like a stain than paint. Although the project stretched across three days because I could only spend short periods on the ladder, the actual work time was roughly six hours.
Stretching the paint was a nice bonus — the test pot wasn’t even emptied by the end of the project, so the paint cost for the whole job was minimal. The thin application highlights the knots and grain, creating a softened, aged effect that fits well with the deep charcoal sectional and the layered textures we plan to add.
We’re glad we pushed beyond our usual “paint it white” approach. The weathered gray beams feel stately and polished while remaining surprisingly soft. As we bring in a larger rug, a media cabinet, curtain panels, art, and final ceiling color (we’re debating a soft metallic champagne, a light blue, green, or yellow, or even wallpaper), the room will continue to evolve into the warm, inviting space we envision.
To wrap up, here’s a little reminder of where we started — a photo of the room from when we moved in less than two months ago. It’s been a big change already, and we can’t wait to tackle the next projects and see this living room grow into what we’ve imagined.