Sing the title to the tune of the famous Dolly Parton song if you like. Or use our new favorite SNL version. Painting the living room yesterday ended up being a marathon of patience and teamwork, especially with breaks to tend to Clara and catch up on blog tasks. It took us a solid 12 hours, from 9am to 9pm, to finish. The good news: the living room is officially painted in Moonshine. Even better news: the hallway is Moonshine’d too—we were on a roll.

The day started slowly. Sherry posted the first blog entry of the day to answer some questions, Clara needed breakfast, and I spent time clearing and taping the room. It was nearly two hours before we opened the first can of paint, around 11am. We color-matched Moonshine to an Olympic No-VOC paint in a satin finish. Satin gave us the durability and wipeability we wanted while still looking surprisingly close to flat—no obvious shine, but more kid-friendly than flat paint.

Things really picked up once Clara took a rare, long nap from late morning into nearly 1pm. We focused on applying paint to the walls instead of getting distracted by blog comments. Sherry powered through despite a painful splinter that punctured her yoga pants and grazed her cheek. She learned a new lesson about scooting while cutting in near baseboards—ouch. Still, she soldiered on.

Sherry usually tackles the cutting-in (edging) while I handle the rolling, but she also took care of some extra work: filling several rough holes in the brick wall with paintable DAP caulk to give the trim area a cleaner finish. Little details like that make a big difference.

When Clara woke, we alternated baby duty and painting shifts. Productivity slowed a bit as we juggled diaper changes, meals, and a few blog check-ins, but staggered breaks actually helped. As daylight faded it became harder to tell wet paint from the white wall, but we kept at it. By about 5:30pm we’d applied two coats to the entire living room—just what it needed—and began on the two hallway vestibules. After putting Clara to bed around 8pm we opened a second gallon to finish a final coat in the hallways. At 9pm we cleaned up, pushed furniture back into a central island, and crashed on the couch. It felt funny watching TV from the distance we were used to in our old house.

It was too dark last night for photos, so we waited until morning to shoot the “after” images.

Although the photos show a subtle shift, in person the room feels noticeably warmer. We expected a gray to read cool, but the Moonshine silvery tone softens the space and makes it cozier compared to the stark white that was there before. It’s almost like being inside a glowing cloud when sunlight hits it. We’re in love with the color.

We intentionally avoided a dramatic wall color because we plan to introduce bold textiles—like statement curtains on the sliding doors—along with colorful art and perhaps painted furniture. We don’t want the walls to compete with those accents. We’re also planning a large charcoal sectional, so we’re moving away from the bright white, slipcovered look we had in our first house. That said, we’ll still reserve some rooms for rich, saturated colors—like the hall bathroom and guest bedroom—similar to the dramatic hues we used on the backs of our built-ins. A mix of soft gray and bold saturated spaces is the plan.

Because one wall is brick, we felt a very deep, saturated hue might look odd. Brick often reads best in lighter tones—white, cream, or gray—so painting the brick Moonshine helped the whole room feel cohesive instead of visually disjointed. We considered leaving the fireplace bump-out white, but that looked unbalanced, so we painted it to create a more unified effect. If we ever want extra contrast, we can add a richer accent color later.

The hallway turned out especially encouraging—it reinforced that Moonshine was the right choice. With crisp white trim, the soft gray reads defined and gentle at the same time, giving the space a polished, intentional look.

A close-up really shows how that silvery gray plays against glossy white trim and how the finish reads in natural light:

Next up: painting the trim and baseboards in the living room. That’s why the furniture is still in an island formation in the middle of the room. We’ve decided to leave the ceiling beams alone for now while we live with the room and see how everything comes together. Sherry is toying with the idea of staining or painting them a rich charcoal, which could be striking; we’ll probably mock that up first before committing and share the results. In the meantime we hope to have finished-trim photos to show you next week—fingers crossed for another miracle nap from Clara and speedy painting luck.

Psst—repair techs stopped by during the painting chaos to fix our new washer and eliminated that annoying whistle. Much rejoicing.

Psssst—this week’s giveaway winners were announced; check the blog to see if you’re among them.