Gray Paint Color Options
and also choosing from gray paint color options.
Last week when we were at the new house for the inspection, I carried around an embarrassing amount of gray paint swatches and narrowed it down to NINE swatches. Then, I brought them home and laid them on my couch (which is unfortunately quite brown) to see which colors I liked the best. I was able to eliminate 4 of the 9 this way…..and now I have 5 gray paint choices left. They’ve been taped up on my wall like this for days and I just keep staring at them.
So, I thought I’d get some feedback and ideas while we wait!
A few things worth noting:
I want to choose 2 or 3 of those gray paint colors to weave throughout the house. I haven’t decided which room will get what, but I’m leaning toward light gray dominant and then a few rooms dark gray.
The living room dilemma. The carpet is light gray, the molding/bookcase/fireplace is all white. It’s a long rectangular room with big windows at each end. Do I choose dark gray or light gray?
The top gray paint colors I’m considering:
#1 Benjamin Moore Storm
#2 Sherwin Williams Dove Tail
#3 Benjamin Moore Coventry Gray
#4 Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray
I’m mostly leaning toward the Stonington or the Silverplate for the dominant….and then the Storm or the Dovetail for a few choice rooms, but I don’t know!
 Okay, let’s talk gray paint! What do you think? What are your best tips for choosing paint colors? And what are your favorite grays? Please share!
Update:
We ended up NOT selling our home and getting the house that we thought we would- so we painted our home gray instead! You can see the color I chose and the final result in this post: Our Home Makeover RevealÂ
THEN, (probably because of the awesome gray paint I’d selected) we finally sold our house and moved into our new (to us) and current home. You can see that home tour here: One Year In Our Home Tour
Love the two that you're liking as a dominant color – so prety. Gray is such a great color! Believe it or not, Wal-Mart has great paint. It has come in #1 in consumer reports a few times and it's way cheaper – like $14 a gallon. They can match any chip color too. Hope that helps xoxo
We're getting our entire house painted this week (swear it hasn't been painted since the 20's). And our painter loves himself some Benjamin moore. BUT I think you can't go wrong between BM and SW! I love alllll your choices. Who knew gray could come in so many gorgeous shades?!
Hi! I'm a new follower–and a fellow Royals and Chiefs fan! I love the Stonington! It's almost a mix between gray and beige. We've always done paint from Lowe's and once took a SW swatch to color match…but I, too, have wondered if there is a difference.
You know what my votes are for! 😉 Sherwin Williams is still a good paint, but Benjamin Moore is just the best of the best! Since your main living rooms sounds so similar to mine in Seattle, I would go for the Storm! It seems like a bold choice, but it is worth the pay off. We had a dark brown couch and dark wood kitchen cabinets and it all worked! It looks amazing next time to white trim! Here is a link to some of my maternity pictures…towards the bottom are a few in our house so you can see it on the walls: http://haleysierraweddings.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/laura-and-conors-4th-of-july-maternity-shoot/
I TOTALLY want to paint various rooms in my house gray, too! I can see myself having the same dilema when my time comes..yikes! Okay, so I totally think you should do Storm in your living room! 🙂 I think Dove Tail will be perfect for a bedroom ( just like in the picture!) Or even a bathroom? hmm..coventry gray would look really good in the living room, too! What's your window situation like? Do you have lots of windows in the living room? If not, then I would choose a lighter gray!
I love grey! and i think the pics that you have chosen are great!!! I really like all the colors and can't chose just one!
Ok I kinda love the Dove Tail – the darkest one. I think if your new living room has lots of light that it would be a great contrast with the carpet and the white trim! We had SW in our old house and it was great – easy to clean and easy to fix spots with. however it was crazy town expensive!
I know my sister took a swatch of BM to SW an they did an exact color match and she was very happy with it. I am all over grey at the moment (er the last four years) so I am loving it all. I love the color of the dark grey but in our home right now I need lightness…it all depends on the natural (and artificial) light in your home. PS you could get a slip cover for your couch.
Whatever you do, make sure you pick a darker gray. We painted our kitchen gray and it's more of a prison gray and let's face it, that's not welcoming. So we had to repaint it a shade or two darker and it's perfect now!
I've been reading your blog for a while now (first time commenting though! 🙂 and I really enjoy it! I actually have used Benjamin Moore Coventry Gray paint in our laundry room as a floor paint (yep! The floor! It actually works!) And I really, really like it! It gives the room a nice soft feel and definitely doesn't make it dark or cold feeling. Hope you find a color that you love! Blessings, Hannah