ColorTherapy: Coastal Fog

Name: Coastal Fog AC-1
Brand: Benjamin Moore

Why would anyone with a color column write so frequently about grey? I think it�s important to point out the subtle beauty of a seemingly random neutral as an element within a larger design scheme. When used deliberately it can be an essential component in a smartly colorful room...

Costal Fog is perhaps what my friend Benjamin would call French grey, or a warm grey like wet cement. Look at how well it plays along with the green chair, the tchotchkes on the table, the crisp black lines of the wrought iron and the color in the poster. It�s elegant and simple.

Grey should not be equated with a garbage dumpster or the inside of a service elevator. In this instance, I like to think it feels like something Le Corbusier might have chosen, and is elevated above what is commonplace. This may not be as exciting as crimson, but I love it anyway.

- Mark Chamberlain, interior and decorative painter

(RePublished from 2007-02-27 - MGR)

Comments (7)

I live in Portland Oregon and I love gray paint, and shaded pastels that tend toward gray. It makes my whole house sort of light up as if it is just an extension of the sky outside. With the warm grays, the slight transition between the blue polarized light outside and the warmer gray inside has a noticeable psychological effect that is quite the opposite of what most assume. It makes you feel warmer and cozier right off the bat.

I see a lot of people in Portland try to replicate highly saturate color schemes that you would see in more equatorial environments, under the assumption that it will counter the gray of the outdoors. It just doesn't work. They way the light interacts with the colors creates a great deal of tension that is rarely resolved.

too brown for me. I like the cooler of warm french greys ha.

gorgeous. I have honey-colored wood trim (moulding, picture rails, baseboards). would this color work?

I have to agree with Psymonetta, I live in Portland as well and have a similar, slightly cooler grey on my walls and find that it brightens and cheers rather than depresses. It reflects the filtered winter light and seems to make the room feel bigger and brighter. At night it feels warm and not at all oppressive.

I don't think that the bright reds blues and yellows so popular here react well to the muted winter light and they only remind me of how long the sun has been absent and make rooms feel small and close.

Benjamin Moore's Stonington Gray is also pretty terrific - a very clear gray that works well in a room without much natural light.

This is nearly the color of my bedroom, painted long enough ago that I don't have the color swatch anymore, though I have a sample of the paint. It's very soothing, changes with the daylight and looks great with white trim, and colorful artwork & bedding. I'm moving, and will paint my new bedroom the same color.

I adore this color. I painted my sunroom coastal fog and it changes color - sort of grey green to more grey to almost brown, depending on the light. It's such a great color.