A Touch of Gray

oldcharm I LOVE both the kitchen by Susan Serra, CKD and the bedroom by Gibbons, Fortman & Associates - beautiful!

chelzers My house is full of gray paint! Martha Stewart does (or did) the BEST grays! I hope she continues some of the same colors with Home Depot that she did at Lowes. I would hate to see people miss out on colors like Soapstone (pale light tan gray--perfect neutral), Bedford (a darker more platinum gray) and my fave Pasture Gate (beautiful dark gray-brown). I love gray paired with dark espresso furniture/flooring to warm it up. So lovely!

pwalter Love the combination of grey and white! www.satisfiedsole.com

Brittany Lee I found several sources for this contemporary wallpaper, and I'm sure there are tons more. The most popular one (came up the most in my searching) is Graham & Brown
Others include Cole & Son, Graphic Wall, Thibaut (also fabricates textiles to match wallpapers), Cominic Crinson (100% fleece, eco-friendly, fire rated, ok for wet areas), Marimekko, Jocelyn Warner, and Debenhams. Some of these work out of the UK, but I think they are all available to us in the US.

Becky Harris Chelzers, thanks for the paint information!
bmcpeters, I'm confused, all of those places make the same wallpaper in picture number one? Or are you just talking about great sources for contemporary wallpaper in general? Thanks! Becky

chelzers You're welcome Becky! I did a little searching on the wallpaper and while I haven't found the exact print, I found something really similar! And it's decently priced!! (around $40/roll--57sqft) The manufacturer is Holden Decor Ltd. and the print is called Nikita - color Silver. I will keep searching for that exact one though!

Becky Harris Oh I LOVE it! I love that light/dark repeat on both of them - it's like the print has a silver shadow. That is a really good price - wallpaper has gotten ridiculously expensive lately!

amy_z I never thought I would be a fan of gray but I'm loving this family of grays we have just painted our kitchen and adjacent areas. In our pantry/laundry room (in photo), the trim is Heron Plume and walls Popular Gray (both Sherwin Williams). We're doing one shade darker - Versatile Gray - below the chair rail in our foyer.

Becky Harris Amy I love the color you chose - it's anything BUT dingy! Very warm, clean, and beautiful!

larndon I too, am loving gray these days! It's everywhere- especially in paint and fashion. I have added several photos to my houzz ideabook recently in preparation for painting our "library".

Here are a few houzz images you might want to add to your list here:

This one I love! The collection of black frames is perfect on the gray:
DUMICAN MOSEY Architects - Fillmore Street

I woukd love this gray, but with white subway tiles, in my master bath:
casual luxury

Clearly, this is a commercial setting, but notice how the warmth of the wood compliments the cool gray... gray does not equal cold and boring!:
New Gallery

seriouslyahomemaker oops, becky, i just posted my response under my hubby's houzz account on accident... would love for you to delete it and leave this one here! thanks!...

I too, am loving gray these days! It's everywhere- especially in paint and fashion. I have added several photos to my houzz ideabook recently in preparation for painting our "library".

Here are a few houzz images you might want to add to your list here:

This one I love! The collection of black frames is perfect on the gray:
DUMICAN MOSEY Architects - Fillmore Street

I woukd love this gray, but with white subway tiles, in my master bath:
casual luxury

Clearly, this is a commercial setting, but notice how the warmth of the wood compliments the cool gray... gray does not equal cold and boring!:
New Gallery

Mikki Marshall I too have recently come to love the color gray. In the past, I've always associated it with cold and sterile settings. Having recently embarked on a gut renovation of my apartment, gray surprisingly has turned out to be the dominating color palette for the kitchen, bath and most millwork! There is such range in grays (from cool to warm) of which I was never aware. It is now my new neutral.

sophie777 I always thought gray was cold too, but found this beautiful bluish gray by accident. I could only get my floor tiles in gray and white so matched the walls to it. It's by Benjamin Moore, but I don't know the name as our contractor has the paint chip. I think it looks kinda' nice in our new "vintage" powder room.

cassie8978 i LOVE gray! i have it in several places in my house- it is so natural and soothing, yet so overlooked. thanks for highlighting it in this article with such beautiful pictures!

new hue: home staging + room makeovers While furniture shoppingrgus weekend I was really drawn to the gray sofas. Adding the plum is a great idea. Beautiful.

AnNicole Love this idea book. I've also been drawn to gray lately. I painted my bedroom Behr's Paint+Primer Silver Tinsel and it is incredibly soothing (attached photo). I also recently painted my powder bath Sherwin Williams Hardware and it's a fab dark gray-green.

InterDesign Studio Grey blend Italian Glass Mosaic Tiles in redesigned powder rm. Custom cantilevered wall mirror conceals back lighting for the glass mosaic tile wall.

jen_s There is such variety in grey. I once did my husbands study in a silver grey & used navy & dark red for the furniture & accessories (it hase since become a bedroom). We painted the outside of our house dolphin fin grey about six years ago ( I think it was a ralph lauren color). I was looking for a grey that was neither too green or too blue the dolphin fin was just right. I still love it.
We had a rain/snow storm last week & the sky was a pale grey with just a hint of blue & I am off to find a paint chip that color for my kitchen.

Becky Harris It is so much fun to see everyone's grays here! Seriouslyahomemaker, it's too funny, that bathroom picture is what gave me the idea for the ideabook, but then I lost track of it, thanks for bringing it back to my attention! Unfortunately, I have no powers to delete comments, not even my own, but we'll know it's you ;)

Eileen Brennan I am totally getting into the gray scheme - saw a beautiful sofa from Crate and Barrell that was a gorgeous gray with white pin stripe and nickel naiheads... thanks for the different color names.

toni moya I love the coolness of grey and it is sooo elegant in many of these pics! I have a tiny 1/2 bath I painted gray on the bottom half with pink and white stripe wallpaper on the top half - sort of cuts the sweetness factor down!

suiteinspiration I've been in love with grey since last year. It's such a versatile color. Works with so many colors and decorating styles. Used a very pale shade in my dark basement and it lightened it without being as stark as white (the painter thought I was crazy). In the front section (the very cool hangout) as a backdrop to black and charcoal mid-century modern inspired furniture with silver and bright green accessories. In the middle section (my very elegant office) as a back drop to a mirrored desk, silver & black velvet chair and black & white damask accessories.

Sharon Schieffer Baird Just completed a kitchen renovation and the walls are BM Bunny Gray cut in half with white. It is gorgeous!! Mixes well with the other materials (white cabinets and crown moulding, dark hardwood floors, carrara and stainless counters , chrome hardware and faucet, and white/blue/green small glass tile mosaic to the ceiling). The gray makes the whole thing. It's soft and pretty - cool toned but not cold at all. My home office is also gray (BM Horizon Gray) and has a bulletin board covered in Hinson Madagascar grasscloth wallpaper and looks terrific. Now hoping to do gray in my foyer but it has very little light and all my samples are looking drab. Suggestions for grays that work in low-light areas are welcome!! Thanks.

deodand I painted the outward-facing walls of my living room a very dark charcoal grey a couple of years ago. I did it initially to keep light from bouncing back into my TV set and making it hard to watch. I've come to love it on its own, partly because it works with my red sofa and brown cork floors, and partly because its personality really does change throughout the day. It has a silver tone when the sun hits it that I love. I will always have grey walls somewhere.

Capstone Marble and Granite / Boston Love the GRAY color!! It works GREAT with PINK FUCHSIA!

Fine Art & Portraits by Laurel Here traditional French country life scenes in shades of gray transition to current day with pops of saturated color.

Becky Harris Can I just tell all of you who commented how much fun it is to see all of your gray rooms and color suggestions? It's really making my week to see everyone participating and sharing ideas!

Nidhi Verma Grey is a very versatile color indeed! And it changes the mood of the room from day to night. Grey and yellow works, so does grey and pink fuchsia like someone else mentioned and also grey and orange. My favorite gray color is BM's silver fox - it's a warm gray with just a hint of brown and it looks more gray and more brown depending on the time of the day. Here is a picture of my den converted to a reading area with one orange accent wall.

Nidhi Verma Paired with pale walls and a gray couch

Michelle B. I'd love to see Becky do a segment on whites.... It's so hard to peg that perfect modern white paint color.

Becky Harris Thanks mbaime, and you're right, I don't think I've ever figured it out either, though everyone seems to swear by Benjamin Moore's Swiss Coffee.

Jenn Krimmer O.K., I'm going to do it. I've been thinking for a while and searching for the comforter set that will give me that WOW, before I select the right SHADE of gray, but I haven't found it yet. I have a huge project beginning. I usually find my inspiration piece, which would be the comforter and go from there. Since I haven't, I did found the silver metalic type drapes, a steel gray metalic bolster and two plum silk pillows. I did get them. Now I don't know what color to paint our bedroom furniture, I was thinking black and then do a gray silver metalic wash over it. Any places of suggestion to look for a WOW comforter? Also, any ideas about that 5th Wall-Ceiling? Metalic? or White? or same as the walls?

ccremodel Hi everyone! I too am a fan of gray. I have an open living room/dining area/kitchen space. I have painted the surrounding walls Versatile Gray by Sherman Williams. Any suggestions for what color couch to get? I really want a sectional. I was thinking cream but I fear that it will get dirty too easily. Currently the kitchen cabinets and island are a medium-light oak, the island countertop is black and the perimeter countertop is grey with other hints of black/beige in it. I am also thinking about trying to practically update the kitchen as well. The appliances are stainless steel. Currently the kitchen floor is a gray/beige tile and living area is light color hardwood flooring. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Becky Harris Hi CC! This ideabook posted a long time ago, so I fear there won't be enough traffic for people to see your question. If you post it on our questions board (just hit "QUESTIONS" at the top of the home page), more people will see it and chime in. Thanks! Becky