Guest Picks: Find the Right Gray Paint

sherry hart WOW...just marked all of these on my decks! Great to have a reference point and I trust you!!!

zuzus down pipe and fieldstone I like the best..

Ally This is a great resource, Donna, thanks for sharing it!

acjonesart I painted two of my living room walls with Silver Lake last year. Its good to see someone else out there that appreciates that gray, confirms I picked a good color. I prefer the blue grays to the other grays. The funny thing is some people come in my house and say I like the blue wall color.

mjbochner Can't believe Kendall charcoal by ben Moore isn't listed...it's a must have!

renee50 I want to add Pebble Gray by Glidden to this list. It is the closest to a true gray I've found for my living room based on the lighting in there. I had it mixed in a Valspar paint. I'll be using Seal Gray (also a Glidden color) in my dining room. It is a shade or two darker than the Pebble Gray, but dining room gets tons of light so should look great.

damselfly21 As a note--I painted my dining room Ben Moore's Gray Owl and it reads very blue in the sun and at night in my light. The dark side of the room looks beautifully gray, but the light side looks like a baby boy's nursery. We're repainting it unfortunately. I'm just not a fan of hint of blue. In case anyone else out there doesn't!

hubsey Has anyone used BM London Fog? I'm thinking of using it in a kitchen which gets a fair amount of natural light during the day. Any thoughts??

alwakn We are looking for the right gray to go in a darkish room, with medium oak floors (I'd describe them as honey colored), but we're scared that the warm and the cold will be offputting. We would like to use the gray throughout the home, if possible, as well. Any thoughts, photos, etc.?

Dorothy Durbin Interior Design I recently designed a bathroom in the upper level of my own home. I set out to find the gray for the walls. The bathroom is all white marble and blue, gray and stainless steel tiles. I had the color in my minds eye. I found myself with 200 shades of gray samples to choose from. This was after I narrowed it down. I found the perfect gray and, your site helped. Thank you! Dorothy Durbin

poeticmoma Used owl grey in our foyer, looking for a hint of green and it is spot on. I don't get a lot of natural in that space, so perhaps that's why it works.

Voyageurs47 Voyageurs 47 What about the following?

Farrow and Ball Elephant's Breath

Farrow and Ball Charleston Gray

Benjamin Moore Pashmina

susiemiller5 Popular Gray by Sherwin Wiiliams is great! It looks like it has brown undertones but dares to a warm and lovely gray.

mrsben P.S: For those that are printing this article off: If you click on the print icon and use 'legal size' paper/format you will end up using the front and back of only one sheet of paper which makes an excellent and condensed reference version.

hel3ler Can someone recommend a light to midtone gray with an undertone of purple? My home does not have a lot light with a northern exposure.

janb813 When I tried to have them make a trial size of BM Smokey Taupe we found it had violet undertones.

cocoma for hel3ler: look at Englewood Cliffs by Benjamin Moore ~ gray with a hint of purple

rboats Powder room in Classic French Gray and kitchen in Light French Gray. Both look fabulous with decorator's white trim.

kestin Just on time .. looking for gray combinations, thank you

Jennifer Weber HC-172 & HC-173 Edgecomb Gray & Revere Pewter are great greys (sometime purple undertones)

gaillorene I just went through paint color hell looking for a nice light gray with no blue tones. Most pale grays look like powder light blue that should be in a nursery, not a livingroom. Benjamin Moore's Edgecomb Gray is perfect! Not dark, but contrasts with the white trim. Revere Pewter is also good, but slightly darker. Now, I like their Gray Owl, and used it in my bedroom. It is more like a blue/green gray. The other comments say it is a green gray, but I find it leans also towards blue like the other grays I've tried.

gigglegirl I painted my living room "Moon Shine" and it is the perfect shade of baby blue for a little boy's nursery! I have a gold sofa, so I'm sure that had something to do with it turning so blue. I then tried Restoration Hardware's "Stone" and I'll be darned if it's not purple. I think my third and final attempt at a great gray will be "Magnetic Gray"... and I will live with it however it turns out. Maybe.

coco1531 You people doing these blogs need to realize the average person is not going to sherwin williams or benjamin moore to buy paint , we shop at Lowes and Home Depot give us their paint colors.

ekaterine I'm wrestling with gray right now and trying to find one for my master bedroom that is light, not dull, but no baby blue ! So difficult. I'm testing Benjamin Moore's TITANIUM and I'm hoping it doesn't have too much of a blue undertone. I don't want any baby blues ! It has less blue than BM Moonshine, which is too blue for me. BM Edgecomb Gray is beautiful, like a warm greige. I love it, but I still want a lighter color in my master bedroom. I guess I want just a hint of a color. BM Gray Owl is lovely, although it has a slightly green undertone and even that is slightly darker than I want. I'll try some of the others mentioned here, appreciate everyone's input. Everything with paint depends on the room, the light, etc. etc. doesn't it ? Fingers crossed for BM TITANIUM ! Has anyone tried it?

lexiek I really like those colors of gray! Do you think any of those shades would go with hunter green tile in master bath on floor and around wall? Rest of house is getting painted in a light neutral beige. Cabinets are oak with brass fixtures.

T S You can take any paint color sample to any store and have them custom mix it using any brand of paint. I often love Pottery Barn colors, but I don't love the cost. My local Ace Hardware will mix the Ace paint to match the Pottery Barn colors. I've also had Lowes & Home Depot do the same. I shop wherever pain is on sale.

Voyageurs47 Voyageurs 47 @ Hel3ler: Charleston Gray by Farrow and Ball has purple undertones. You can go to Home Depot and they will match it.

ellechris Coco1531- I am not a decorator but use Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, and Farrow and Ball. Their colors are wonderful and I'm willing to pay more for better quality, higher pigmented paints. I'm not alone either as most people I know use them as well.

middleofnowhere How come the color names aren't listed for every color? Am I missing something?

uptipp This is very helpful for my new lounge. Thank you.

cherylor In the process of a home renovation. Leaning towards Silver Lake. Do you think I can carry it throughout the first floor? All my floors will have a dark brown stain on the hardwood floors with white moldings. The kitchen will have white cabinets w/quartz "white marble looking" countertops and white subway back splash. I need to paint living room dining room, kitchen and family room which now all open to one another. I'm new at this so any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Cheryl

Dorothy Durbin Interior Design Silver Lake will work well throughout the main level. I would mix it up with some walls of a deeper gray tone on the same pallete as silver lake. This will give the space dimension and enhance the architecture.

dlapollo all time fav
BM Stone with Decorators white
or BM Iron mountain with Decorators white

dlapollo BM Silver fox
very lovely light gray

Robyn Besserman Hi; I am trying to match the color of sheetrock grey. Anyone know what color grey name in Benj Moore?

trishajj This is a great website for matching paint colors from different manufacturers! www.colorcharts.org

Christina I always use Benjamin Moore in my projects and am willing to pay the little extra for a better quality paint. I find it incredibly unethical to take a company's product and ask another company to copy it. Not only is it wrong but chances are your cheaper color matched paint won't even be the same. Ben Moore uses more pigments in their paint and a lot of their color can't be duplicated.

mamalin What gray would you recommend on stucco with a yellow door (glitzy gold Sherwin Williams 6691)?

Linda Bryan I'm using Sherwin Williams Earl Gray 7660 and can't wait to see it ,