these juicy colors are gorgeous...

I really like the first one with the gray stripes! But the 4th one just glows blue! Very cool, stormy, sexy rooms!

The first one reminds me a bit of Ghost Writer. :)

Grays as whites can be very, very tricky colors.... Getting the perfect balance between daylight look and night lighting look can yield two dramatically different feels, not always nailing both.

The effect of light on your wall "gray" can be green, blue, pink... you name it. That's where you need to be very careful on.... And on the other hand, if you get a pure gray distilled from black pigments alone.... it can be very, very sad. It just kills all colors around. Trust me... i've been there.

i adore these darker rooms. I have really dark colored rooms as well (black in my bedroom, dark blue in my living room, dark teal in the dining room) and it just adds so much to the feel of a room.

Maybe that's why I like the darker moody colored rooms. Growing up in Florida, there's sunshine and light everywhere. You grow to appreciate the stormy, cloudy days.

I really like that silver lamp in the first picture. Anyone know where I can find something similar?

what about that deep blue studio apartment from the color contest?

Restful looking.

I am a big fan of dark painted rooms. I am currently painting my main room three shades of gray (medium for the walls and ceiling, medium dark for the ceiling beams, and dark almost charcoal for the trim. It may tend to be a bit dark during the day, but I am rarely home during daylight hours. But at night... with the correct lighting the room will sing! I am balancing this with white furniture and bold colors for art, pillows, and "objays"

Wow, I LOVE the dramatic colors in the first room. Gorgeous. That blue room is pretty amazing, too.

I LOVE storms so a post about storm-colored rooms is so bulls-eye for me!

Weather greatly changes color outside. The garden has a soft glow and intense color as the sun comes out after rain. It seems that the local frequent glare has shaped my palette. Although they're pretty rooms, all but the last seem sad, almost haunted. Even the last room is as quiet as I would want at home.

To die for.

This is what I was trying to achieve with my office cure (think I got it too). "Stormy Seas" if I were to sum it up. I used a grayed down version of BM "Hale Navy", warm natural elements like wood & bamboo/grass shades, glints of sparkle from labradorite (bookends), silver & vintage inlay abalone desk accessories & lots of patinated metals such as brass.

Moody moody moody. Yes, please.

Absolutely gorgeous. What a mood they'd put you in. Wuthering Heights, anyone?

hunted - love your description hope to see a tour!

I've been hoping to see olive green painted rooms #2 room is the closest I've seen from what I am picturing. it would be a nice change from dark grey. Love these.

andromache - that lamp is similar to the Spun Light.

http://www.ylighting.com/spunlightf.html

thank you for posting this! finally, after over a year of trying to figure out what sort of grey i was looking for to paint the majority of my living/dining/kitchen. youve reminded me of how much i love the way colors pop against stormy grey clouds... now i just have to go find it on a paint chip, haha.

anyone know where to find that great chair in picture #1 ???

Lighting is also an important factor in these rooms and with these colors. Complex colors work best, changing subtly as the light changes.

manu_pty, you are quite correct in that the undertones of a color are very important. You can make an informed decision by knowing what tints make up the gray and get the affect you're going for.

I love dark colors. Many people are afraid of them, thinking they "shrink" a space. I actually find the opposite, especially at night. Dark colors recede visually and actually "blur" the boundaries of a room. Again, lighting is important, but I find that white paint makes me far more conscious of the size and limitation of a room far more than a dark, rich, complex color.

(sorry to blab so much)

I love the mood of the first room. I adore the geometric simplicity of the gray walls with the thin white stripes and then the gray explosion of the crashing waves. That couldn't have been done any more perfectly. Now, if you replace the rug with the cowhide from picture 3, and then change the furniture to white, you have my dream bedroom I am trying to achieve. So far, I have the purple from the bench as my bed sheets, and the gray on the walls as my duvet cover.

Oh, Regina. Oh, sweet, naive Regina. You think this is storm season? Wait til Spring. Seriously.

I love the first one with gray stripes! It definitely reminds me of the calm before the storm.

http://ruleroftheelves.com

I'm in love with picture one with the dark grey stripes.

oh please, tell us where to find that great chair in #1 !!

Like the mood of the first, third and fourth picture. But can't quite figure out how the last picture comes in with the theme. The last picture looks more calm and peaceful than stormy to me.

I always did love this room that Candice Olson did on Divine Design yonks ago:

Den

Lovely post - sigh, who doesn't love thunderclouds?
I'd love a huge (no, make that humongous) image of boiling thunderclouds clouds on my bedroom wall. Does any one have any leads where I can lay my grimy little on one?

Now I know how to describe the kind of color scheme I love (and of course want in my own home). Beautiful, restful and sensuous at the same time. Sigh.

I love these grey rooms! Our bedroom is painted a cool grey that can skew blue depending on the light and time of day:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualingual/2437958937/in/set-72157594505190197/

Cool cloudy gray wall color.... it's very soothing.

I like the last room so CLASSIC & CLASSY!
The wall color is Farrow & Ball's Pavilion Gray.
I couldn't use gray in dark space. We have winter most of the year here so it would be too depressing. But I wouldn't hesitate in a sun filled room.

second picture: what gorgeous baseboards.

I love the fourth picture! The layout reminds me of my living room--I wish it looked like the one in the picture though!

Hunted, I remember your study from the cure. It was one of my favorites.

I lost my comment. I will try to duplicate it. I have always told people I love Love LOVE dark rooms. Maybe because all my life I have been a dark brunette. I don't know. I especially like Room #1, and also the beautiful Blue room. Thank you for showing me these rooms. I have also had all white rooms, lovely, but always go back to delicious dark moody rooms. sincerely, mary

I love the sound, look and feel of a stormy day and these rooms are wonderful. I also adore Room #1 and the Blue room as well and I'd love to get my hands on that grey chair. I hope that someone finds out where we can find it.

I wish we had all of the paint colors as well. In San Francisco, we rarely get a thunderstorm but, I remember the ones I've experienced elsewhere.

My living room only gets morning sun and my bedroom and bathroom don't have windows so, I'll guess I'll have to wait to have my own stormy room... but, the last soft grey room is also lovely.

Regina, I can't wait to check out your other posts!