My Top 10 Favorite Grays
There is no such thing as the perfect grey. I may have just broken the internet with that one but hear me out….
The truth is that the perfect shade of gray for my home may be totally wrong in yours. And more frustrating still – the color of gray paint you love in your living room, might be all wrong in your bedroom!
A trip to the paint store will lead you to a wide array of swatches with “gray” in the name. The important thing to note and this is where a trained eye can help is that all color has a mass tone and undertone. Mass tone is the first color your eye perceives – it’s what allows you to scan the giant wall of paint swatches and start picking out colors right off the bat. The undertone is basically the hint of another color that’s mixed with the mass tone – and the undertone can completely make or break your color choice and this is where most people go wrong when choosing paint colors.
I recommend choosing a selection of different grays, and laying them down together. When you see all these seemingly-gray grays side by side, you’ll notice that they don’t just look gray any more. This is one exercise I practice with my client during my paint consultation. I will pull several swatches from my paint decks and lay them out side by side so the client can pick up on those nuances. Once we narrow the choices down, we will then walk around the space and look at those swatches to see how the change in light and the furnishings impact the color we see.
Some paint collections and paint brands offer swatches with single colors. This actually makes it difficult to see the undertones at a glance. While those undertones might not seem readily apparent when looking at the light gray colors in isolation such as on a single swatch, when painted on a whole wall or paired together with other swatches, these undertones will make themselves known as the light changes throughout the day, and also when paired with other colors in the room’s decor.
Just like picking the “perfect” white, light also impacts the true tone of grey you will see on your walls. The temperature of your light bulbs, whether your room is north or south facing, as well as the color tone in your decor, is it warm or cool will all impact the tone of grey you see. Therefore, I always recommend painting some sample boards.
Be patient and don’t settle. I know this may seem overwhelming! There’s a reason that gray paint is so hard to pick and a reason that so many people end up unhappy with their color choice. As much as I’d love to tell you that there’s one great shade of gray paint out there that looks good in every home, it’s just not the case, and it takes some leg work to pick the one you’ll like best in your home.
No matter what color you choose, it’s appearance will change throughout the day. The goal is to choose a color that you love during the times of day you will us the room most frequently, while making sure you won’t hate the color for the other half of the day.
To help narrow the choices down for you, these are my go to warm grey tones that I keep coming back to and using over and over again. I hope this cheat sheet helps you to find your “perfect” gray.
