An Airy Guest Room with the Perfect White Paint

Barebones to bright white and woodsy. The Lilly guest room offers a calm, neutral and layered oasis for friends and family during the upcoming holidays—or now!

Our new-build townhome was semi-custom construction. We had three packages to choose from, which included cabinet colors, tile options, light packages, flooring, upgrades, etc. In typical Heidi fashion, I showed up on selection day, having picked elements from all three packages. That was not how it went. It was my first time buying a house and it was naive to think I could pick and choose from each package. I also asked for all the interior walls to be painted white and was met with a stare. (The only option is Agreeable Gray by Sherwin Williams) Okie Dokie, gray it is!

This ensuite guest room is the third room I’ve painted Extra White by Sherwin Williams—which is my favorite, neutral undertone, crisp white paint color. Extra White is bright, but warm when paired with wood and cream without leaning yellow. It also pairs nicely with cool undertones which makes it a great base for any room.

One Saturday, while in quarantimes and the closet project on hold, I found a gallon of primer I forgot I had. I pushed all the furniture to the middle of the room, laid down drop cloths and started painting before Andrew even woke up. I was over the gray and itching to start a new project. The room sat primed for a few weeks and when we picked up crown moulding for the closet we ordered extra and also ordered two 16-foot sections of (Queen City Lumber’s) Wilmore chair rail.

My parents recommended drawing a level line around the room where the moulding should rest as a baseline. I lightly penciled a line for the crown and decided to use the golden ratio for the chair rail. I used this golden ratio calculator and placed the top of the chair rail at 37 inches from the floor.

The Step-by-step

Andrew cut all the crown moulding using a custom jig that he made. The jig helps keep the crown at the same angle it mounts to the wall. This saves time (and sanity!) so he only has to cut 45º miters instead of a compound miter and bevel cut.
For the chair rail, he held it against the back guard of the saw and cut 45º for the corners and straight for the ends that run directly into casing.
Andrew marked studs and ceiling joists with painters tape so he’d know where to drive the nails for the strongest hold. We used a nail gun to shoot two and a half-inch finishing nails into the crown and one and quarter-inch brads for the chair rail.

Side note: since we are still new to moulding, we can measure several times and the corners won’t come together perfectly. We’re okay with this and just do the best we can. We wood fill and sand to match up the outside corners and use backer rod on the inside corners with large gaps.

Helpful tip: my mom always used a little dish soap in water to smooth caulk lines and I’ve adopted the same method. It definitely takes patience and time for the bigger gaps. I find it really helpful to keep small squares of paper towel and dishwater in hand while fixing the corners, working from the top and bottom towards the middle.

I caulked the crown and chair rail using the dishwater and paper towel method above. (Focusing first on the easy straights—I leave the big gaps and corners for last!)
After caulking, I primed the chair rail, let it dry and gave it a light sanding.
Next, I painted two coats of extra white on the walls and let it fully dry for two weeks before taping off the trim.
For the trim I used Benjamin Moore’s Advance Interior paint in satin (color matched to Sherwin Williams Extra White). It’s self-leveling and after using it on the custom nooks (and crown and shelves!) in the closet I knew it was essential for future projects.
Andrew hung the brass curtain rods and the curtain panels are pinned for right now… I’ve noticed that sometimes the panels settle over time and I have to adjust the hem again before sewing.

I fell in love with these linen and velvet curtain panels (and priced watched them for an entire year before pulling the trigger when they were 20% off in April).

The room feels completely different and I am so happy with the vibe—calm, neutral and layered—the perfect oasis for guests!