Grays are really hard. We went through literally 30-40 samples when we were finding a grey for our house and almost every one had purple or pink undertones or some other strange color undertones.

We finally went with Sherwin Williams Tinsmith. We used it throughout our entire home in PA and then used it again in FL and it is really a very lovely color with no undertones.

here it is on one of our walls:

You can see lots more pictures on my blog Tinsmith is in pretty much every room of my PA house as well as in my FL living room.

That looks lavender on my monitor! (which just goes to show you have to do samples in the actual space under the actual light).

Looks like lavender on my monitor too! I am definitely bringing home samples but wish I could narrow it down to 4!! :)

That's so funny because it is literally the ONLY grey we found that had no pink/purple undertones.

It's not lavender in person. I promise :)

You aren't near us in PA are you, we still have 20 jars of different grey paints sitting in my husband's office I could unload on you!

yes, tinsmith looks purple/blue to me too! definitely a cool gray.
we are having a new bathroom repainted soon and i didn't really have the ability to go and test paints... needed to use SW colors, have tile, etc in already... narrowed it down based solely on paint chips from their 'essentials' folder of colors and finally decided on amazing gray... i thought i was seeing a hint of pink in accessible beige and balenced beige and analytical gray seemed a touch too green to me, and worldly gray a bit too light. i will be crossing my fingers!!

beaglesdoitbetter- Oh my goodness!!! I wish I was near you because I'd gladly take those samples off your hands lol

busybee3 - can you please post pictures once you have Amazing Gray on your walls?

I definitely want to stay clear of anything with green undertones, because I think the CFL bulbs will make the green stand out. I know because Believable Buff looks great during the day with the sunlight, but awful at night when I have the CFLs on. :/ Paint drives me crazy!

I don't have anything specific to add regarding your list of colors. However, I can attest to it being difficult and tricky to find the right gray/greige that'll work in your space. We went through about 10 samples before finding the right color (Valspar Foggy Mirror). I gifted them to a relative that was after a similar color. After living with it for several months I'm still not sure it's the right color. It works in certain rooms and not in others. HD and Lowes sell the smaller and cheaper samples than SW.

sure... it should be painted and i should be able to take pics sometime next week...

Grays have either blue, green or violet undertones from what I have read on Maria Killam blog (she is a Canadian colour expert). I have repeatedly heard good things about Anew Gray and Agreeable Gray. They both have green undertones which is probably more what you want vs violet or blue understones. They will look more neutral than the ones with blue or violet undertones.

Good luck

Carol

funcolors, I appreciate all the knowledge you possess regarding colors and paints and appreciate the time you take here to educate us. You are a jewel!~

Funcolors,

Can you explain what that means. For example, Accessible Beige has a 3.15y. Does that mean it's hue bias is in the yellow/red range and Balanced Beige has more yellow and Useful Gray is more red? Funcolors, if this is correct in my understanding, then Balanced Beige, which is one down on the strip from Accessible Beige, is more yellow in hue bias? If I want a color a bit deeper or color concentrated than Accessible Beige, without going more grey, green or pink, what would you suggest? I like BM Smokey Taupe for it's depth of color but it has more pink in it. I find this exhausting.

DMS, I have the exact same issue as you. Going from colors similar to yours to cooler so I need a good transition color. A true Grey is too extreme for the house at this point. It just doesn't relate to anything else in my house, so I need a greyed beige. I probably have 20 samples and so far Accessible Beige is the best for me. I just wish it were a bit deeper but if I understand Funcolors correctly, Balanced Beige has more yellow in it compared to Accessible Beige. I have BM Crisp Khaki, which looks good at certain times, but horrid at night as you say with that green undertone.Let me know what you decide.

I plotted the colors on the wheel for you. Maybe that will help you visualize each color's hue bias a little better.

As far as Smokey Taupe being pink - maybe. It's hue family is yellow. How it's mixed, the quality of light and what it's compared to will determine if Smokey Taupe appears to be pink or not.

If I want a color a bit deeper or color concentrated than Accessible Beige, without going more grey, green or pink, what would you suggest? I like BM Smokey Taupe for it's depth of color...

Glidden/ICI Dulux/Akzo Nobel. Might be able to get samples from the Home Depot:

Buffy 30YY 60/104 or Sudan Sand 30YY 53/125

Thank you Funcolors for explaining it better. Does the 1OYR stand for 1 orange/yellow/red?. I was confused because I read it as 10 Yellow Red initially. How do you know what the hue bias is for colors? Is it listed somewhere on the swatches? I am surprised that Amazing Gray has a lower Y value than Accessible because it looks like it has more green in it just from viewing the swatch. Someone suggested I use BM Stone Hearth but when the room darkens, it gets too brown for me. Granted I am looking at a 14 x 14 swatch, but I don't want it that dark. Perhaps Smokey Taupe is only reading pink because I am comparing it to the other colors and the pink becomes more obvious. Thank you for your suggestion. I will see if HD can give me samples. How do you feel about asking a paint store to lighten or darken a color by a certain percentage?

Does the 1OYR stand for 1 orange/yellow/red?. I was confused because I read it as 10 Yellow Red initially.

There are 10 steps, or *degrees* in each hue family. 10 YR is indeed yellow-red. Also known as just orange. So, 10YR is the end of the orange hue family.

How do you know what the hue bias is for colors? Is it listed somewhere on the swatches?

No, it is not publicized. I have them because I acquired them. I think it's cruel and unusual punishment to withhold color notations from the public. I'm doing what I can to encourage paint manufacturers to publish their notations.

Every paint collection is predicated on some sort of system. If the core systems with notations were made public, then it would explain the "patterns" of color people think they see in fandecks, displays, etc. The "patterns" they pick up on is indeed the color system for which no one provides an explanation. Because there is no explanation, sometimes people will fill in the blanks on their own, drawing the wrong conclusions, making up their own methods. And, of course, getting it all wrong because they don't know what they don't know.

I am surprised that Amazing Gray has a lower Y value than Accessible because it looks like it has more green in it just from viewing the swatch.

Amazing Gray is more gray than Accessible. It has less yellowness, less chroma. I don't see green aspect rather in comparison to Accessible, I see Amazing Gray as being a few notches closer to a true neutral gray than Accessible. But context is everything. I don't doubt you see it as leaning a bit green.

What's so great about having the color notations is it gives you another point of reference. So you can go back and change the context of how you're viewing the color and ask yourself if it really is green? Or were you interpreting it as green because you had no other way to think about it.

Moving the chip and comparing it to other colors PHYSICALLY changes context. Color notations, hue family information changes context MENTALLY. It's the combination of BOTH that gets you closest to reality and enables you to evaluate colors as objectively as possible.

Someone suggested I use BM Stone Hearth but when the room darkens, it gets too brown for me. Granted I am looking at a 14 x 14 swatch, but I don't want it that dark.

Remember to refer to the LRV number to help you create benchmarks. LRV is all about lightness and darkness and that number will help you gauge lightness and darkness when comparing colors.

Perhaps Smokey Taupe is only reading pink because I am comparing it to the other colors and the pink becomes more obvious.

Could be. Chromatic grays are touchy because, well, they're chromatic grays. Differences in bases, how the color is mixed, etc. can result in the mixed color being 'off' from the chip. Off from what it's really supposed to be. Doesn't make anything easier. Can't really control it. It's just a fact of the matter. The majority of people don't pick up on it. And then there are people like Garden Web people who don't miss a thing.

How do you feel about asking a paint store to lighten or darken a color by a certain percentage?

For whatever reason, this is hard for many to grasp. Conceptually it sounds good. Logically it seems like it should work that way. But the reality is it does not.

It's a bad plan because you don't know what you're going to get until you do it. The people who mix the paint every day don't know what's going to happen until they do it and dry out a sample. It's a complete shot in the dark. Every single color attribute, hue/value/chroma, changes when the formula changes. So, it is never "the same color" just lighter or darker. It's whole 'nother color altogether.

This post was edited by funcolors on Wed, Apr 30, 14 at 21:24

I like BM Cotswald as a perfect Greige

I like BM Cotswald as a perfect Greige

I remember watching an HGTV show back many years ago where a lady said she painted her whole main open areas in her house 9 times before she felt it was right. They showed the final paint color and it was a very dark green sort of a jewel tone. I'm pretty sure she said that was the color she started out with or had in her previous house. I have repainted a room a few times back when I did all my own painting. Now I have to know what I want before I hire it done and it is so hard to pick the right color. Even tried and true colors you may have used before look so different now because the paint store told me they had to eliminate certain chemicals (EPA regs) and it has changed the look of colors. They are not nearly as vibrant or true. Everything to me now looks either muddy or too primary. There isn't the excitement of living breathing colors like back in the day which for me was in the early 90's when I was in my late 20's. Good luck! I am interested to see what you choose as I'd like to switch it up at the homestead but don't want to go through a long, expensive and disappointing ordeal with another paint project!!!

Funcolors,

Are the LRV numbers only on the fan decks? I wish they were on the back of the paint swatches you get, so you can easily know. So for me, I would want a color with a LRV that Smokey Taupe has since that depth works in my home.
I like BM Cotswald, but it's too deep for me. I have RH Cappuccino in my hallway, which is simialr to BM Berkshire Beige and I don't want it that deep. I want more light and airy feel in the other rooms. I did learn colors should have the same "weight" and unfortunately the hallway will have to be changed to do that (but at a later date so my husband doesn't flip out) Funcolors, how do you know the weight of a color? Is that the LRV?

Are the LRV numbers only on the fan decks? I wish they were on the back of the paint swatches you get, so you can easily know

You can find LRV numbers in the index of all major brand's fandecks. Sherwin Williams does put LRV on the back of their strip chips - even on the leafs that make up the fandeck.

Glidden/ICI/Akzo Nobel/CIL include LRV in their color notation. And they print their notation on every color chip; either on the front or somewhere on the back. The second number, the one right before the forward slash is the LRV. Margarita's LRV is 58. Pure Periwinkle's LRV is 28.

Funcolors, how do you know the weight of a color? Is that the LRV?

Weight is a subjective perception only and the concept of weighted color is a figure of speech or could call it experiential. It's not a physical color thing that can be measured, plotted, etc.

However, a logical means to quantify "weighted" would be nuance. Color nuance is LRV + Saturation. Nuance is the consideration of how light/dark a color is AND AT THE SAME TIME considering how vivid or dull. Vivid or dull, saturation, gray scale, chroma or chromaticity all speak to the same 'part' of color.

LRV and grayscale are not the same thing.

The NCS color system is a fabulous reference if you want to learn more about color nuance.

Just FYI, the last 3-digit number in the Glidden color notation is chromaticity. The higher the number, the more intense or saturated the color is.

So, the Glidden notation gives you LRV and chromaticity right next to each other which makes it really easy to evaluate nuance or could absolutely describe it as "weight".

Olympia makes a paint called Grey-Beige. I just painted my bathroom with it. When you stand outside it looks grey and when you are inside it looks beige. With the white fixtures it looks so clean and bright. (Bath has one window)

Olympia makes a paint called Grey-Beige. I just painted my bathroom with it. When you stand outside it looks grey and when you are inside it looks beige. With the white fixtures it looks so clean and bright. (Bath has one window)

That would be just too easy! A name for the exact color I need! Will definitely check it out. I never heard of Olympia paint but will do a search.

Thanks!

I've never liked grey, but I just painted my dining room SW Pavestone above the chair rail and SW Decor White below the chair rail. The grey is a medium tone warmer grey, and the white is like a creamy vanilla ice cream. My trim is medium tone stained wood, and thankfully it looks beautiful! After the hardwood floors and crystal chandelier are installed, I'm hoping for a classic, timeless look. Definitely take a look at Pavestone!

I went through at least a dozen color samples before finding what I consider the perfect griege for our house. We did cut BM Waynesboro Taupe to 50% for our LR and DR and had it cut further to 25% for the second floor hall. We chose Waynesboro to monkey around with because it had no pink and had the most brown. Worked out perfect for us. I am planning on using it for our FR, Kitchen, and Breakfast nook which is in the back of the house with lots of light when we repaint those rooms this year. We get some many compliments on it!

These rooms have minimal light since they are in the front of our TH and we are an interior unit.

Here it is with very low light and what our LR looks like competed:

Here it is with whatever light I get in the morning:

We love the color at all times of the day. It's a little more Griege at night. We have a couple of bird cages we decorate around in the LR and DR.

Not sure why the colors don't look the same as they do in photobucket on my iPad. If you look below the window in the 2nd picture, that is more like it.

I'm considering SW Anonymous and SW Dovetail. Any opinions or experience with either of those?

here is the best pic i have at this point, dms11... lighting still is not installed so the best pic of the color is by the windows... i am happy with it!! looks great with the tile and is actually lighter on the walls than i was expecting.
SW amazing gray:

busybee, I LOVE that color! It is perfect!

I just moved from Los Angeles to TN where the light is very different. We are considering the very same gray colors for most of the house. I toured a festival of homes this weekend and most of them were painted with these colors or similar from other brands. It was great to see whole rooms in the colors I'm considering with the similar light. I really liked anew, agreeable, amazing and useful gray. Anew gray may be my fav so I'm starting with a sample of it. I'm suggesting that if you can tour model homes in your area it may help make the decision easier. This area has a lot of them whereas in LA I don't remember seeing any although I wasn't looking either. This forum has been quite helpful for me! Thanks

I lucked upon SW's Perfect Greige and just love it. It's just beautiful with crisp white trim.

I just pained accessible beige. No undertones. Gray is hard. I went through 12 samples, and painted my walls twice. My family room is Darker with northeast facing light. Accessible beige was the only color that brightened it up. I highly suggest white trim. Although this paint looks fine with oak, I hated all greiges next to oak.

I'm just curious. Have you considered LED bulbs? Or do you prefer CFL?

I have SW Amazing Gray on living-area/kitchen open plan walls. I like it a lot in the day but it's darker than I want at night. So, next painting will be a shade lighter. I have SW Worldly Gray in the powder room and also the utility room and will switch to that .

SW Amazing Gray with Dover White baseboard in daylight.

Lighter SW Worldly Gray in powder room. Next wall paint in living area will be this slightly lighter shade.

Here is Amazing Gray and Worldly Gray side by side. The door is Amazing Gray in a gloss, the wall is flat Worldly gray.

Here is SW Perfect Greige on the top portion and SW Versatile Gray on bottom. When I sampled out these colors the Versatile looked gray pink on one side of the house. It didn't scare me of though. I'm in Florida and wanted a slightly warmer gray. Once up you can't see any of that. At certain times of day it looks like a gray with a tic of beige. Don't have a picture of that.

Popular grey looks perfect in my remodel!

Dsm --

Can you share your rough location (region or state) or describe typical climate?

• Natural light is going to play a huge role in how your colors look.
• The reflection from the ash flooring plays a role.
• If your foyer light is heavily filtered by trees/vegetation, that' s another factor to consider.

[Ah, paint. So wonderful, so evil!]

FYI - The original post is nearly three years old, so unlikely that help is still needed.

:-)

IdaClaire-- oops, that's what I get for following the crowd!

WHATEVER HAPPENED WHERE PIC?!!11!!

[This being GW, some poster will probably have a similar Q eventually, right?]

LOL! You never know. Sometimes a thread is resurrected and it takes on a whole new life!

Very timely for me. I am trying to choose one paint color - a shade of gray for the entire interior of a new build in another state. 12 plus sample boards & still painting.

@romy718 Oh wow, 12! I know you are limited to SW colors only and that really does make your task more difficult.

@Lori A. Sawaya I really have to thank you. Your questioning why the builder is so strict about only using SW colors motivated me to ask again. I explained that SW has the color-match formulas in their system, nationwide, etc. The home builder salesman I had been dealing with had never had anyone ask to color match & investigated further. I can color match!

Also, I did get a SW sample of Behr Silver Drop. I had asked for a quart in a flat finish as that is what the builder will paint with. Miscommunication & I ended up with a jug of Silver Drop in the SW satin sample paint & a can of Silver Drop in a SW (Superpaint) flat finish. Three drywall boards of Silver Drop & 3 different colors. The salesman at SW had told me that the lighter color samples that use Extra White as the base are usually very slightly lighter than the regular paint. I'm going to continue my search & check out BM colors.

I so enjoy your posts. We are very lucky that you so generously share your knowledge & expertise.

I'm getting ready to paint the exterior of my house, already gray with white trim. I only like warm grays, no blue or mauve. Right now it's a toss-up between SW Requisite Gray or SW Amazing Gray. AG is a touch lighter and has an ever-so-slight green cast to me. I keep coming back to RG.

The home builder salesman I had been dealing with had never had anyone ask to color match & investigated further. I can color match!

Fantastic. You are welcome! :)

I ended up with a jug of Silver Drop in the SW satin sample paint & a can of Silver Drop ina SW (Superpaint) flat finish. Three drywall boards of Silver Drop & 3 different colors.

Makes sense. Gloss level will affect color appearance so the satin sample looking different from the flat quart is not unusual. And then I assume the third one is the real Silver Drop from Behr.

I might try taking the quart back to SW along with the real Behr sample and asking them to try again because the quart they mixed was too far off.

I need a better pic if the wall color but Popular GreySW looks great. It is a grey w a little warm. No blue,green or violet.

The person that's doing paint swatches for an out of state build, may think again. We had to choose our paint color before our house even broke ground, and the color we chose ended up looking chiffon yellow! The whole blooming house! Also, we had to use PPG paint, and it's horrible quality and paint selection is very limited. Feel blessed you have SW to work with. We paid a SW color specialist $99 which included a $50 coupon off our next purchase...worth every penny!

We had BM Revere Pewter color matched with Sherwin Williams paint.

It's definitely a warm taupe-gray.