A few weeks ago I got the go-ahead from my landlord to paint our apartment. I know I want a color in the gray family, which is the tallest of tall orders since there is no such thing as "gray." There are a million color variations, and picking the right gray for your space can be difficult. So I've started with six Benjamin Moore color samples and am testing them out in my living room:
It had been part of our lease that we weren't allowed to paint, and for two years we've lived with the plain off-white walls (exact color/brand unknown). Truth be told, we get a lot of light in the living room, so having off-white walls wasn't that bad. But the walls have started to look dingy, and I'm ready for a change... something subtle, not too heavy.
Why Benjamin Moore, you ask? Well, you have to start somewhere, and I had heard good things about Benjamin Moore's Abalone, which Aaron so successfully used in his apartment. Abalone is the lighter shade of Silver Fox, which our resident color expert, Mark Chamberlain, calls a "classic gray paint." It's a warmer grey, more in the "wet cement" group of grays. I knew that Silver Fox would likely be too dark for my space, so I thought I'd start out with Abalone. I also knew that should I find a good Benjamin Moore color, I could get it in their Natura No-VOC line, which is obviously a big priority.
My Abalone paint sample was really skewing lavender in the evening light... so much so that I took the paint sample back to the hardware store to make sure they'd mixed it right! They told me that it can be difficult to get the exact pigment measurements when you're creating such a small batch as you have in a sample, so that the color might be off from what it would be if I buy a whole gallon. Not the greatest news when you're trying to pick a color and subtleties matter, so since I didn't know yet if I was sold on Abalone, I decided to try out 5 other Benjamin Moore paint samples, which I painted on a board and hung on my wall.
1. Sidewalk Gray
2. Stonington Gray
3. Silver Fox
4. Coventry Gray
5. Iced Cube Silver
I can already tell that some are going to be too blue or too dark, but I'm living with the colors for awhile to see how they play, and I'll report back with my next step!
(Images: Cambria Bold)
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I am oaintinf my basement grey soon, and I am really lovin' that silver fox. I can't wait to decide what you do. Maybe I can get some inspiration from this.
I painted my older son's room (it's OK, he's 23) Silver Fox a few years ago when we moved here. I love it so much I'm thinking of doing another room with it, the powder room, maybe. His room isn't huge, 12 x13, maybe?
looking at your samples, my vote is for the stonington. I like the color balance of the silver fox but I think it's too dark for your space.
I tried a bunch of the Benjamin Moore grays and ended up with Iced Cube Silver and Silver Half Dollar. Stonington gray and Sidewalk gray looked greige in my apartment so I went with the cooler grays. Can't wait to see what you pick. :-)
My bedroom is painted Silver Fox. It's lovely, but definitely "heavy".
We have Silver Fox in our bedroom and Sienna (the brown on the same card) on one wall. Love that Grey and Brown together!
Go for it!
I have Abalone in my guest bedroom (a lot of natural light), with Silver Fox as an accent wall--it's awesome. I also have Silver Fox in my master bedroom (less light), and it's very chill and calming (not as dark as it appears on your sample). All great choices!
STOVINGTON gets my vote. it matches the color tones in your shadows so it will look really natural in the space!
agree with slopegirl- love Stonington for the space!
Oh no! You forgot AC35 "Valley Forge Tan"! It's my absolute favorite: not too green, not too pink, not too blue, not too brown...just perfect!
I just painted our Master Bedroom Gray Horse by Benjamin Moore, not too dark, or too light! Good Luck.
I would do Stonington but a hair lighter.
Silver Fox is beautiful, but if you want to go for something that maybe isn't so dark (as it sounds like you might) but also has more green in it, I would go for Stonington. I like Coventry as well, which looks to have more blue in it (might try that in my kitchen! [we have sky blue handmade tile countertops - a pain to keep clean, but really beautiful]). Benjamin Moore also has a book out from 2004 (so I'm not sure if they'll still have all of the same colors available) called "Interior Style." It's a fabulous book that highlights not only great interior design but also notes their different paint colors. My favorite shades of gray that they use in the book are Chelsea Gray, Shaker Gray, and probably one of the prettiest paint colors I've seen in a long time, Gray Mirage (which is definitely more on the green side, but changes significantly depending on the light).
Hmmm where's Revere Pewter in your samples? I'd be curious as to how it stacks up against the ones you've picked.
BM Horizon--a very light and classic grey. It's just about always right.
We used Stonington Gray in our family room--it is beautiful. It is perfectly calming, neutral, and works as a nice backdrop for all my colorful paintings. I would definitely recommend it.
We used Sidewalk Grey in our bedroom and we absolutely love it. It's beautiful during the day (with the light coming in through our windows). I compared tons of greys (and did wall samples as well) and it seemed like the most neutral grey (without too much of a green/purple/blue undertone).
I moved into a new rental about 6 months ago and have been wanting to paint the bedroom gray since we moved in. However, the last time I tried gray in a previous apartment it turned a pastel violet. You're post is making me consider giving it another shot though... Sad thing is that I no longer have a nearby source for American Pride paint--that's my favorite zero VOC paint.
We have a LOT of Coventry Grey in our house, and I love it. Its a great shade of grey (not too blue, not too green...) If that's too dark for you, my second choice would be the Stonington.
My vote was Stonington before I read the comments. Glad to be in good company.
I recently painted my boyfriend's home office, and I tested about ten different shades of Benjamin Moore grays before deciding on Harbor Gray. Here it is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9838696@N02/4770640445/in/set-72157621926089783/
(I have some pictures of the samples on the walls in that flickr set, too.)
I tried the following, and my boyfriend rejected them all:
Silver Fox (too brown-gray)
Revere Pewter (too beige-gray)
Silver Marlin (almost a blue-green gray)
Coventry Gray (really nice, but about one shade too dark)
Platinum Gray (too dark and blue-ish)
Stonington Gray (too baby-blue-ish)
Gray Owl (VERY nice...but a little too light)
Smoke Embers (almost purple-y and too dark)
Silver Chain (almost an exact match to Harbor Gray, which we chose)
It was harder than I thought it would be. It totally depends on what kind of light you have in your room. Even after we went through all of that, I feel like the room changes color every two hours. ;)
You probably don'e want more color choices, but I just painted my bedroom walls BM Silver Satin and I love it. A nice soft light grey that doesn't have too much of a color tint in any direction.
Go for a warmer grey and you won't regret it! Cooler greys look nice and grey on small items but in a large space often go too blue or steely. A bit of extra warmth (ie brown-ness or even slight greenyness) will go with more colours and feel better overall!
Stonington may be a tad cool but may still be really nice.
I'm personally using Taubmans Rock Quarry, though in a Solver base, it has come out a bit cooler than it would have in the proper base but I still like it and Solver is better quality paint with excellent coverage. The British Paints Hawk Wing is also a really nice warm grey.
Thanks everyone for your comments! Love hearing all the feedback. I didn't post a picture of the Abalone sample, but I'll do that soon to add it to the mix.
Silver Fox or Coventry, for sure.
i like silver fox for the wall with the windows and stonington for the rest of the walls.
My favourite of the 5 colours is Ice Cubed Silver. I've been looking for beautiful pale gray, but always end up too dark.
Grays are the hardest to pick. Try painting a large swatch on your wall before you make your final decision. It makes a HUGE difference on how the color looks and it will save you a lot of money.
When I first saw Abalone on my wall it also looked lavender. So I went with my 2nd choice and bought 3 gallons of Natura paint in November Rain (very light gray with a greenish tint). After painting most of my apartment I decided it wasn't going to work. Ugh... Luckily I still had my other samples. This time I painted my swatch between 2 windows and from the floor to the ceiling.
It's shocking how different Abalone looks now. It really is a very pretty color. During the day it's gray and at night it's a soft, shimmering gray. It doesn't look lavender to me anymore. Unfortunately it doesn't really work with the odd wood and carpet color in my apartment sigh. My next apartment will definitely be painted Abalone. Anyways... give it a second chance I think you might like it.
Just did my entire place in Tint of Grey (Ben Moore 1611) - very happy, it reacts to the light and is a great soft, neutral for my art and dark wood floors.
I painted over the weekend. I didn't use a primer and went with something similar to Ice Cube Silver. Let's say it looks blue :(
Next time I'll prime even thought my walls are off white.
I would definitely recommend going with a warm grey to offset the coolness in a lot of your furniture and to bring out the warmth of wood pieces. Silver Fox has a lot of yellow in it and is an excellent choice, though I can understand why it might be too dark. Out of the samples you've posted, Stonington is the next warmest, but I'd be interested to see the Abalone you tried too. As for color shifting of greys in different lights, that is why grey is so fascinating. I love how it can seem totally different - even one wall to the next depending on how shadows are falling during the day.
I think grey is the hardest colour to get right... I've had grey rooms in two of my previous homes, and would say that I wasn't happy with either -- both turned out much too blue, and hence, much too cold. So another voice in support of finding a warmer, as opposed to colder, grey. I really think that it is the hardest colour to get "right", and the one I am most leery of.
Frankly, as soon as I saw your living room, I couldn't stop wondering what it would look like painted in *this* colour:
http://www.livingetc.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3755
I guess I'm going to be the lone wet blanket on the gray trend. I think gray has already "jumped the shark". Don't get me wrong, it's a great choice for certain rooms, but it is extremely difficult to get right. Your room is really lovely. If you are set on painting, choose a chalky ivory that is perhaps two shades darker than your sofa. Replace the sheers with linen draperies. Your rug does not really lend itself to gray walls. I think they will wash it out.
I painted my bedroom BM Wet Concrete and it came off as REALLY purple, but in a muted way. At first I didn't like it, and I still have mixed opinions on it, but the color is growing on me and after trying to go for a neutral color, I'm glad it has personality.
we painted our apartment in Abalone and love it. The LVR gets great light and it is really soft. The dark hallway feels brighter by that touch of lavendar.
I'd love to do our master bedroom in Silver Fox. Grays are so so hard....
My vote is for Silver Fox. I recently painted my entire living room Flagstone-by Martha Stewart which looks very similar and is also a fairly dark shade of gray and it doesn't seem too dark on the walls at all. I think the lighter shades will just look like a strange dark white.
i know - off topic a bit.. but i too have the brooklyn print - and love it. looking for a complimentary piece - what is the one you have below it?
@nettanies, it's a Manhattan print by Famille Summerbelle purchased through Bodie and Fou, and I love it!
Stonington!:)
My gut reaction; Stonington - BUT I think you need to paint larger samples.... its amazing how different it looks on a larger surface area and on the wall.
I used Rockport Gray in my living room and I never tired of it. It is my favorite gray, though Silver Fox is lovely too!
I personally like Revere Pewter, check out this website, it gives you an idea of each BM color with furniture and light.
Hope it helps!
http://www.decorpad.com/searchPaintGallery.htm?paintName=Revere%20Pewter&paintBrandId=2