Home & Garden Gray paint for living room? Anyone have a great shade??

designer1

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Jul 23, 2010
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So..we have three living rooms, and this one never gets used, however I wanted to make it a little more cozy for fall. I bought an area rug, red throw, and a light grey chenille accent chair. The wall hanging has a lot of grey in it, so I want to paint a couple of walls grey (leaving the one red accent wall). Trouble is, I can't find a great shade of grey! Has anyone painted a room grey, and can recommend a colour/brand of paint?? I know I don't want really light, as the red tones are a richer/darker red. I don't want really dark (like charcoal) either as this floor of the house is more open concept, and I will have to carry the gray, up and around other walls that can be seen from this room! Thanks so much!

Notice my yorkie?? She seems to love the new warm throw! lol
 

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I have painted our whole house different shades of grey! I use Mythic brand of paint and I love it. Its low voc and water based. Our living room is shades of grey (darker grey), our bedroom and kitchen is fishing dock (lighter grey) and man room and guest bedroom is cane pole (taupe color). I cannot recall the color of the living room. I will try to post some photos when I get home. The fishing dock color may work for you. And by the way, our doggie has his own throw in the bed. Will not go to sleep without it on the bed!
 
painted one of our rentals "natural gray" by behr. cabinets were white, and alaska granite was chosen for counters. used that paint throughout the house.

i had to choose a home depot paint, because we are out of state...and contractor preferred to use them.

everyone loved it, i haven't seen it in person.
 
I painted my exterior house trim benjamin moore gray huskie. I brought in samples of other finishes I wanted it to work with, and the interior designer on staff at the paint store actually picked the color. It really helps to have an interior designer pick the exact color - you'll save so much money by having a trained eye pick the color.

I tend to like cooler (blue) grays, and I really needed to go warmer. The gray huskie blended well with the adjacent concrete, brick mortar, and my driftwood (light beige) and espresso (dark brown) decking. It reads as gray, but blends with brown. It is a mid tone. The interior designer said it was 3 shades darker than white, which is the main color on my house exterior. She said that outside, you want to contrast at least 3 shades in order to provide a minimum amount of contrast; however inside, 2 shades different is enough to create contrast.

I recommend you bring finishes that you want to coordinate with into a professional paint store and ask a professional designer there which color you should pick. It's really hard to develop a good eye for paint colors unless you are in the business. Adjacent walls intensify the color, and gray is never really a true gray anyway.
 
We have a color consultant to help pick colors for our new place and will be using Farrow and Ball paint. They have interesting colors and great grays: cool, warm, light, dark.

DH and I are finicky with colors so we really need a practiced eye to help with wall, ceiling, trim combinations. The consultant takes into consideration not just the amount of light but what kind of light at what time of the day, furniture, artwork, etc...
 
We have a color consultant to help pick colors for our new place and will be using Farrow and Ball paint. They have interesting colors and great grays: cool, warm, light, dark.

DH and I are finicky with colors so we really need a practiced eye to help with wall, ceiling, trim combinations. The consultant takes into consideration not just the amount of light but what kind of light at what time of the day, furniture, artwork, etc...

Unfortunately we don't have the brand offered here…I'm going with Valspar (first time) as I always use Benjamin Moore. Luckily I have some training in colour and design, so its easy for me to see what colours will go with the trim, floors, furniture etc…however selection is limited, and it seems every colour chip of gray I took home to view in daylight, and early evening, didn't "wow" me, however I think the colour I found will be quite neutral and go with everything I need it to. Thanks for all the input ladies!
 
I've used Benjamin Moore Galveston Gray in 2.5 rooms of our house. Lovely Dark shade that works wonders with limed wood floors, white trim and white furniture. For our gallery hallway up stairs its remarkably similar to Knitting Needles from Martha Stewart I believe. This shade complements with our Carrara bathroom walls and floor.

I alway paint a sample on every wall near trim work, in the middle of the wall and near the ceiling to be sure of tonal consistency. Samples, samples, samples...just when you find that perfect shade the light changes warmer or cooler and then its a remarkably different feel within the space.

GL
 
In case you need a backup ... I painted my master bedroom a color called Hailstorm and it's by the brand C2. The number is 488. It's gorgeous and very calming.
 
Our living room is painted in Gentle rain by behr. Awesome coverage- one coat. Color is medium gray towards lighter. You can google it, couple of interiors with the color on the walls should come up. It goes perfect with out gray/black furniture and mint, teal accents. Kitchen cabinets are painted in revere pewter from BM- also a beautiful lighter cream gray that goes very well with the Gentle rain on the walls.

A nice darker gray is Porpoise from Behr.
 
We have porpoise by behr in several areas of the house and we love it. We also had martha stewart dolphin color matched to behr and like that one too. It is a bit lighter than porpoise though.
 
Hi, we've just painted our new house in various shades of French Grey from Little Greene Paint Company (as recommended by a friend with fantastic taste!). I'm really pleased with the result; a perfect shade of grey that is warm enough to stop it feeling prison like everywhere! I know this is a British based company & so not sure about its availability around the world, but there is a great website called encycolorpedia.com and if you put in a name of a paint from one company it will bring up the closest matches from many other companies.
To anyone thinking of using Farrow & Ball, I was thankfully steered away from using their paints exclusively. The Little Green paints went on very nicely with good coverage in very few coats, but the few F&B colours that we used as accents were an absolute nightmare to get complete cover and probably cost us a small fortune in extra paint!
I'd recommend checking out Houzz, as I remember reading an article on there recently about using grey paint, and all the suggestions were primarily American paint companies.
Good luck!
 
Hi, we've just painted our new house in various shades of French Grey from Little Greene Paint Company (as recommended by a friend with fantastic taste!). I'm really pleased with the result; a perfect shade of grey that is warm enough to stop it feeling prison like everywhere! I know this is a British based company & so not sure about its availability around the world, but there is a great website called encycolorpedia.com and if you put in a name of a paint from one company it will bring up the closest matches from many other companies.
To anyone thinking of using Farrow & Ball, I was thankfully steered away from using their paints exclusively. The Little Green paints went on very nicely with good coverage in very few coats, but the few F&B colours that we used as accents were an absolute nightmare to get complete cover and probably cost us a small fortune in extra paint!
I'd recommend checking out Houzz, as I remember reading an article on there recently about using grey paint, and all the suggestions were primarily American paint companies.
Good luck!


F&B paints need people who know how to work with the medium (it's not coverage that's hard to achieve but evenness). They're difficult because of the dry finish, specially Estate Emulsion, but gorgeous in the right hands.
 
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So, nobody liked the gray wall, and I had already put up dark red wall words around a mirror. I had this idea I'd leave a grey matte ( frame around the mirror & wall words), and paint the wall red again. For now it seems okay,however , I may peel off the wall words and paint that entire long wall red again . * sigh*
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