The Ultimate Gray Paint List

Gray has become more popular than ever before. Gray is also a color choice that is timeless.  Guaranteed your home is going to look stylish for another 15 or more years without having to re-paint.

With hundreds of shades to pick from, making the decision on a particular shade can leave every person confused, especially when they begin to look the same.

Warm grays tend to have undertones of brown and beige, while cool grays can look almost blue. That should give you a good head start at what colors will appear more attractive than others.  Do you prefer a cooler tones compared to warmer ones?

Pottery Barn 2014 Paint ColorsPottery Barn Paint Colors- Selected Gray Tones

Mixing my own paint over the years, I have always found that I am attracted to the shades that have undertones of green and beige, as these shades tend to be the ones found on French and Swedish antique furniture. Although, I am finding for my wall colors, it is nice to have a shade that has a hue of color to some degree or another.

Pebble Gray GliddenKrim Danzinger, Senior Color Consultant for Glidden Paint says, “When decorating a bedroom, ‘Pebble Grey’ is a nice choice. More and more the bedroom is where one wants to surround oneself with a sense of peace. We are over stimulated by our busy days and we need a space of respite, a place to fall asleep quickly and soundly. However, a grey selection is also a wonderful backdrop for a spark of color as well”

‘Seal Grey’ is a beautiful expression of quietness in this seating area. If rest and relaxation is on your list for the weekend, this is the area to enjoy reading your favorite book.”

Glidden’s Tips for Grey

  • A grey appears very calming and creates a wonderful contrast with yellows or pinks.
  • Using a grey in your kitchen can be a backdrop to granite, marble and stainless steel.

6 Samples Tried And Tested- Mudpie Studios Gray Pick

Mudpie Studio Blog researched all most of the gray paints that were said to be the very best on the various blogs and settled on trying out six samples. View her post to see the various grays on her wall.

Here are the ones she tried:

Sharkey Gray – Martha Stewart (Home Depot)
Frappe – Valspar (Lowe’s)
Collonade Gray – Sherwin Williams
Agreeable Gray – Sherwin Williams
Seagull Gray – Lowe’s Seaside Retreat collection
Silver Sateen – Behr (Home Depot)

One of the best examples of decorating around the blue tones of gray is Charles Spada’s French Styled home which features an astounding example of a home decorated around many shades of gray and beige

“The color I find most beautiful and chic is gray. But it’s very hard to procure that perfect, soft, luminescent, silvery gray shade you see in gunmetal, silver,zinc, or pewter. To try to get that color in a surface that’s non-reflective and doesn’t have a three-dimensional quality is the challenge. I often try a dozen samples just to find one gray. But if it’s simplicity you crave, there’s a divine gray that almost always works: Benjamin Moore’s Horizon. If a friend calls me and says, ‘Help! What do I do?’ I reply, ‘Paint the walls Horizon and the trim white.’ Think of a gray suit with a white shirt. It’s a nice clean story, and you can go in a hundred different directions with the tie.” —STEVEN GAMBREL Image and quote from House Beautiful

Blue Toned Gray Paint Ideas

– A pale peach and a blue gray work nicely along side one another in this French Home featured in Vogue Magazine. The red furniture work nicely with the tones of peach, while the blue gray acts like a contrast.

Gray that gives off an ice blue appearance can look dynamite next to brown. Look how the antique prints are a perfect match for this paint color.

-Chateau d’Artigny From Grandeestapes- Light Gray with Blue Shades Found In The Door Frame look wonderful paired together.

-In this photo you can see tones of beige gray along side blue gray. Both work nicely with one another. The green upholstery in the French chairs lines up with the pastel tones in the blue gray

– Increase The Pigments While Using The Same Paint Formula– Like most “whites” there is no true gray color, all will have undertones of other colors and take on light and colors from furniture and accessories.  Gray will also look different in a variety of rooms,  houses, and even individual walls.  One trick many designs use is using the same pigment tone from room to room, except making it a couple shades darker or lighter.  Have your local paint company work with the shade you selected, and have the percentage increased or reduced for joining rooms. If you want a certain gray a little darker, ask for 125% increase. It’s subtle difference, but very effective.

Brown & Beige Gray Paint Ideas

-The Belvedere In The Park of the Petit Trianon has a combination of beige and white painted hues.

Various shades of gray are present in this fabulous Swedish room. This picture should be a reminder of how wonderful frames can look on the wall. Consider painting your frame mats a few shades lighter or darker than your walls. Punch up the colors in throw pillows and accessories. Several pieces of furniture dote different shades of gray. Look how wonderful it looks against a lighter colored fabric.

Light beige with undertones of yellow are seen on the walls. A gray/green is used on the base trim. The pedestal features a light gray with gold detailing. A white urn finishes off the room.

-Magnus Lundgren’s home is bathed in light grays. Who says gray needs to be heavy and dark? A floral arrangement in lilac shades works so nicely in this arrangement.

-Silver candlesticks balance out this gray room. A very light gray is used on the ceilings and walls creating this almost white effect. Darker gray painted furniture pulls the room together, while yellow is used in florals for a pop of color. Notice one brown chair against the wall provides a nice break against the gray.

Dark gray works nicely with pewter accents. Consider painting your window frames in a very dark gray. Dark gray can be a bit too dark on the walls, but combined with a lighter gray on the walls, and dark charcoal on the window frames and trim could be a very attractive combination. The wood gives this room a well needed balance. With this scheme, it would be important to include natural wood furniture or lighter colored picture frames on the wall.

Several shades of dark beige-gray with undertones of green are used in this picture. Look how wonderful dark blue tones can work with darker grays. A mixture of brown can look terrific in this scheme of colors.

grey-kitchen-island

Kitchens Painted With Gray Tones- Painting Furniture In Gray

Kitchens Painted With Gray Tones- Painting Furniture In Gray, Inspiration - Designer Tobi FairleyKitchens Painted With Gray Tones- Painting Furniture In Gray, Ideas

Inspiration – Designer Tobi Fairley

Kitchens Painted With Gray Tones- Painting Furniture In Gray, Inspiration - Designer Tobi FairleyKitchens Painted With Gray Tones- Painting Furniture In Gray, Idea

Apartment Therapy’s Best Shade Of Gray Answered

Apartment Therapy answered an email from a reader who was asking for advice for the best shades of gray. Read their advice in the link above, as well as the answers from fellow readers as they reveal some of the best colors.

  • Forde Abbey – Ralph Lauren ” Forde Abbey is my favorite grey but it’s from Ralph Lauren. My good friend and my boyfriend used it in their bedroom and living rooms respectively and it’s a lovely rich fairly dark grey. It was also featured in a recent Domino color palette article”
  • Benajamin Moore’s Stonington Gray “This I’ll jump in for — the BEST grey ever is Benajamin Moore’s Stonington Gray. It’s a light and neutral grey — not blueish, not greenish, not purplish — very clean, a perfect contrast to bright white. A really great color”
  • Benjamin Moore Grays-“My place is 5 colors of BM grey. From darkest to lightest, Graphite, Gunmetal, Hearthstone, Timberwolf, and Silver Lake”
  • Moonshine & Gray Horse By Benjamin Moore –Our house is painted in Moonshine and Gray Horse. Both are beautiful grays with green undertones. Gray Horse is rich and peaceful, and works best in larger rooms with plenty of light.
  • Benjamin Moore’s Iced Cube Silver -“……is a pale gray that takes on a bluish tone in certain lights. You would never know from the paint chip what a beautiful, versatile color it is.”
  • Gosling By Pratt&Lambert-“I used gosling by Pratt&Lambert, gray with a blue tinge, looks almost lavendar in some lights. Always get loads of compliments”
  • Benjamin Moore’s Cement Gray “I have just painted my living room Benjamin Moore’s Cement Gray. I am so thrilled with it, I can’t even begin to tell you how great it is. It is a clean, crisp, soft gray that looks fabulous in the day or evening”
  • Benjamin Moore’s Titanium – “Two greyish tones I am in love with are Benjamin Moore’s Titanium. I have it on three of my living room walls. It’s a pale gray with just a hint of green undertone. I asked my paint genius at Powell Paints in Portland for a gray that looks like “a newly dried cement sidewalk”. We stepped outside with the color chart, found a new sidewalk and I’ll be damned, she matched it. With two red knoll chairs in boucle wool and a blue accent wall in Ben Moore’s Kentucky Haze, alongside clean white trim and ceilings, it is so balanced and calming”Jamb LimitedJamb Limited

Bruxelles Antiques A Boutique Home In France Seen In Bruxelles Antiques

Bruxelles Antiques: A Boutique Home In France Seen In  Bruxelles Antiques

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