If you don't want to paint your living room white, but want to keep the space nice and bright, pale gray is a great alternative. It provides a nice neutral backdrop for your furniture and art, but still makes your trim pop. Light gray isn't simply a blend of black and white; it's actually quite complex. Depending on the time of day and amount of light shining in, gray can have a range of color showing through, from a pinch of pink, to a hint of blue.
INSPIRATION ROOMS:
1. CWB Architects
2. Home of Katie Lee Joel via Evan Joseph
3. SF Girl By Bay
4. LDA Architecture & Interiors
5. Radical Possibility
PAINT COLORS TO GET THIS LOOK:
1. Sherwin William SW 6231 Rock Candy
2. Farrow & Ball Pink Cornforth White 228
3. Mythic Fair Ebony Coast 131-1
4. Benjamin Moore Coventry Gray HC-169
5. Ralph Lauren Grand RLUL202
6. Glidden Silver Dust
7. Valspar Woodsmoke EB48-2 Signature
8. Behr Silver Screen 770E-2
9. Pittsburgh Paints Ash Mist 507-1
10. YOLO Imagine .05
(Images: as linked above)
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This is what we went for in our living room, Sherwin Williams 'Pediment', like the 'Rock Candy' it's also considered a white. It goes great with our dark redwood floors and white trim. Relaxing, calm color (if a little bland) and everything goes with it, so my accessories and window treatments can be bold and still look good.
Could you consider a post about dark-grey walls? I love pale shades but it's more dainty and Industrial is what I've been trying to go for lately..
I love the main image for this story. What a beautiful room!
I painted my kitchen Behr's Silver Screen and love it! It's a bit lighter than the swatch above makes it seem and is a great grey. It works well with my turquoise accents.
I love the main image for this story too. I like the looks of gray in these pictures, but I think it works given that there is a lot of light and huge windows. I enjoy seeing the color used in other people's homes, but it can seem cold to me as well. I can see it working as a neutral, but I'm drawn to other colors as when I used samples in my own home it just seemed rather blah and cold, although I do enjoy seeing the color used in other people's homes. I know it's a hot trend right now, but it just seems to lack the warmth that I'm looking for.
Grey can feel warm. A lot depends on the textures that go with it. A room with grey walls, sleek leather sofas, wood floors, linen curtains or Venetian blinds and a lot of glass or plastic modern pieces is going to feel cold. Soften the space with a cozy cottage style sofa, a Turkish style rug and other fabrics that are nice to touch and the room will feel better. A lot of old libraries are built around slick marble walls yet they feel cozy and comfortable for reading.
I LOVE GREY IN DECOR!!!
We have two grays in our house, Behr Classic Silver and Benjamin Moore Whitestone Both are too cool for me for a living room but I love the serenity gray brings to the bedroom.
I just repainted my living room with Benjamin Moore moonshine. I love it and it really opened the space up. I don't get much light in there either.
Elsie de Wolfe was an aficionado of dove gray (especially in bedrooms, as I recall). I remember reading "The House in Good Taste" and being puzzled: "She's recommending dove gray again?!" I have a darker gray in my bedroom now (Behr's Amazon Stone) and I don't think I would ever have forgone color if I hadn't been led to gray by de Wolfe.