I was thinking about this myself recently, when considering "staging" colors for my home.

Should I use on my bathroom walls, once the room is remodeled, THE new trend of gray?

Gray is featured in all the shelter mags & is enthusiastically embraced by many here at GW, but it is not recommended by many stagers. Why? Evidently, gray is too sophisticated for the "masses" to "get," even though it is at the height of style & loved & used by most designers. It remains, at least at this point, in the province of creative types.

I've seen several beautiful gray rooms posted here, but remember, many GW'ers probably have a more sophisticated decor sensibility, & are more creative & open to new ideas than the norm. What I get accustomed to seeing here, & love seeing here, may not be warmly embraced by the "average" person shopping for a house.

But then again, what would be? Color is so personal... & there will always be haters of blue or green or red, or beige, or pink. Name the color, & someone out there has a problem with it. At the end of the day, no shade of paint will please everyone, & any color stands the chance of alienating someone.

I painted my master bedroom and bath light grey years ago, before it was a trend, just because I liked the color. I have never had anyone, even my most traditional friends, give me anything but compliments on the soothing shade. From my experience, I don't think it's too "out there" a color for the masses.

Majra, that's good to know. Someone who prides herself on being a "staging expert" told me that it would seem depressing & dull to most people, but sophisticated and serene to those "in the know." I live in the suburbs. Perhaps she's not giving the people in my area enough credit?

If I may ask, are your rooms fairly large? What color are your bedding, towels, counters, floors, etc.?

Well I'm certainly not a staging expert so please be sure to take my advice with a grain of salt! Serene is a perfect word for my bedroom color (SW "Snow Day"). My bedding and towels and bathroom counter are cream colored, and my duvet cover is chocolate brown and cream paisley. My furniture is black. There are subtle gold accents in the room. Sounds strange but it all works.

I live in the burbs too. 2200 sq ft 1968 ranch; decent sized master bedroom but certainly not huge especially by today's standards and no high ceilings.

Thanks, Majra. Your decor sounds lovely...not strange in the least! It does sound serene (& sophisticated!)

Of course some grays can read as gloomy or depressing but it all depends on the gray. We usually get an oz of black mixed in with our primer when painting. This gives a more even cover and it goes up in a gray color that when dry, reads blue. Blue is a very calming color but when you put pure blue on the wall it can read as pretty stark or bright. The more gray blue has in it, the softer and more calming it becomes. If you get a gray that reads ever so slightly blue it won't be depressing at all, it will be calm and soothing.

Gray is what I was thinking about. Seems to be all over this site at the moment. A few years back sage green was da bomb here. So many people say they don't follow trends but I think some are doing so unconsciously. The power of pretty images of something "new"?

So gray is "in' in the mags, not just here? Interesting. I'm okay with gray. I'm okay with most colors - at least in other people's houses. Can't imagine basing a house buying decision on the room colors but I guess it does influence some folks.

This is such an interesting question. I've noticed that gray is very popular on this forum too.

One of my earliest memories (confirmed by my mom) is of the gray walls in our house (this would be the late 50's)! She said it was all the rage then. I think gray (at least pink and gray) was also popular in the 80's. I remember it seemed like everyone had white walls (Navajo white!) for a really long time...

Wonder what the next big color will be?

I was an eager amateur decorator in the 80's and 90's and embraced grey and rose whole heartedly. I did not add the geese but I can remember them vividly. :O If the new owners of my old house kept my choices then they are now on the cutting edge of fashion with the grey tile flooring and brass kitchen hardware. ;)

Now I really do choose what I love instead of what's hot. I just can't do grey and pink (rose) again. I see peach and green are probably the next colour combo making a reappearance. I won't be revisiting them either.

I love yellows, have grown attached to green and will probably always have blue thrown in there too because those are the colours I have always loved, even when I flirted with rose and grey.

It certainly is easier to buy accessories in the hot colours though. I can hardly wait until yellow (muted) finds favour again.

I remember the Sage phase, still a little of that going on too!

Nancy, we had the Navajo white when I was growing up too. All the main areas were Navajo but my father who was the creative one in our family talked my mother into using color in the bedrooms. I was so thankful. LOL

I wonder if forums like this help start the trends?

All it takes is one creative mind who shares their talent via a simple post and wala! Trend!

lukki, navajo white was everywhere, wasn't it? btw, I meant to compliment you on your kitchen ( I mean part of your kitchen- the photo you posted in a recent thread)-- it's looking really good!

I live in the 'burbs of a major city, and I'm seeing lots of silvery gray, blue gray, and even lavender gray in bedrooms and bathrooms, but not in main living areas.

I think it's just more expensive to switch to a cool-toned wall color, when most everyone has invested in warm colored upholstery. It's cheaper to change bedding and bath linens. ::)

The house I bought was thoroughly staged for resale. The entire interior was painted, and new carpeting installed on the stairs and 2nd and 3rd floors. The first time I looked at the house the paint cans were still in the closets and the carpet had those "just installed" clipped yarns missed by the vacuum.

When I went to make an offer on the house, it was in the middle of a powder room to full bathroom renovation, based on feedback from potential buyers.

I bought the house anyway.

I hate the new bathroom, but it made sense because I am renting out the house for a while.

The renters stipulated in the lease that they wanted the interiors repainted and recarpeted because they hated all the colors.

I am painting their bedrooms but told them I would not uninstall new carpet, or paint the entire interior.But...I know where they are coming from. Everything is in several warm neutral colors that all look vaguely nauseating together. I bought the house In Spite Of the staging, not because of it.

The owners didn't make an extra dime on any of this.I would've paid more for the house left alone, I think. I am really starting to think that intensive staging is a way for stagers to make money.

Yup, it sure was! That and shag carpet! I really appreciate that you remembered my picture, it's really been slow going!

I agree with the gray trend. When I did ityears ago, we used it with mauve. Pal, interesting comment about staging. The children of a deseased nieghbor inherited the house. They redid the kitchen and staged the house. It stayed on the market for at least a year. It was sold to a buider who will probably tear most of it down! I honestly don't think they recouped all their money invested in the reno. Staging has become a big industry.

When we were house-looking and would go to open houses, several realtors would make comments like, "...And this house has been freshly staged!" Like that was a good thing? The house we ended up buying was an estate sale, and not staged, but the sellers had painted the entire house, including ceilings, a depressing darkish, pinky-taupe. I wish they had left it alone, as it was hell to paint over. Yet awful paint color or not, we made an offer immediately and the house was only on the market 4 days. It's easier to repaint a nice house than to make an ugly, nicely painted house suitable.

Absolutely. As an appraiser I saw over and over again that homes with "good bones" sold quickly for high prices even with 50 years of cigarette smoke coating everything. Whereas no amount of prettying up will add that sort of appeal to a home with a mediocre floor plan and bad sun exposures. Lots of people may not always be able to say just what is about a tired old thing that makes them tear up their list of must-haves, but charm is just as real and far, far more valuable than a new kitchen.

Rosesstink, colors suggested here tend more often than not to be what're currently being marketed, with some eye to what's in the works for next season.

I will probably paint one of my bathrooms gray. With white accents. Only because it permits me to keep the current tile on the floor. (I get tired one of job leading to another, there are too many unfinished as it is.)

Sage will always be an "in" color for me. A pale sage with a hint of silver, just a whisper, feels oh so soothing.

I remember house hunting, we saw one house that wasn't all navajo white, it was all stark chalk white. And worse, semi-gloss. Everything in that color. Baseboards, walls, door frames, ceilings, all the same color. It was hard to tell where one room ended and another began, and though the young male owner seemed to be going for neutral/modern, it came across as just plain cold. It had good bones, and granted it was only paint, but that house sat on the market a loooong time, during a time when houses were moving at a pretty good clip.

I don't think there are nearly as many trends in the professional design magazines or upper tier design magazines as there are in the middle of the road design magazines. (With the exception of commercial design which has such a short life cycle --about 7 years between remodels--that commercial design is always trend-driven). I read them all, I am not being a snob, but I don't think Mariette Himes-Gomez Ever acknowledges a trend.

As for timeliness, well...a designer did what you are seeing in the trades and high-end mags a couple of years before it is published, and it takes a couple years for whatever might be interpreted into a trend to trickle down from that to Better Homes and Gardens (which I get), and then it takes repeated viewing of same for most people to be comfortable enough with it to try it at home.

That's why people are in the threads saying they want to get rid of their [dated] polished brass, and designers have been doing full on brass--or even gold--kitchens and bathrooms for several years...if they ever stopped doing them in the first place.

"then it takes repeated viewing of same for most people to be comfortable enough with it to try it at home."

Yes, I think that's true. Then a whole bunch of people say to themselves "I really like that color. And I saw the cutest *whatever* at Home Goods that would be perfect with that color." Caught up in a trend without even realizing it.

Rose, I agree. I can find myself getting drawn in by colors as they become more familiar. Things do grow on us!

I hear what people are saying about stager's choices being questionable & not necessarily helpful.

Thing is, in my situation, I'm spending a fair sum of money to pull up tile, rip out double vanities & countertops, plastic shower, gigantic plastic tub, beige toilet, dated shower & bath fixtures & replacing all of the above. It's a large room.

Paint will need to go up on the walls after all that tearing out & re-doing. If good quality paint has to be purchased & painter needs to be paid, I'd like to get the paint "right," meaning, attractive to me, yes, but also not crazy or annoying or otherwise a turn-off in some way to the general public!

Having the painting done in there will not be an inexpensive undertaking either, since there are vaulted ceilings, odd angles etc. ( circa 1987 weird architecture!)

I definitely part company with my real estate agent(who attended a staging seminar)on one thing. She said to paint the master bedroom & bathrooms the same color, but what looks great in one room looks dreadful in the other, due to lighting variances. (Bathroom has skylight.)

The market is really tough out there, & many buyers are very demanding. Don't want to pay to have this room painted twice in order to sell the house! Eeek!

How hard or expensive would it be to get rid of the vaulted ceilings if they are problematic?

"I remember the Sage phase"

What??!! Sage is out? I LOVE sage!

We recently painted our bedroom pale gray with a dark purple ceiling and dark purple stencil on some walls. The ceiling is vaulted so the darker color works nicely. I had a real problem finding a medium color gray rug that did not read beige. It seems like you can find any color of rug you want as long as you like a beige tone to it, or blue. This pic looks almost burgundy on my screen but is a true purple IRL.

Our new master bath is white, black with pale lavender/gray walls, but we plan on repainting it darker gray because with the solatube, it is very bright in the a.m..
Beige and muddier/earth tones seem to dominate a lot of decorating now, so the next trend will be away from that as there is always a backlash. Red is also pretty common/expected in recently decorated houses.
I hope gray is not the next overdone thing because we used it hoping it would not date the house. We have white and chrome throughout our house as the hardware, trim and lighting, so we wanted mostly cool tones. Our kitchen is white, gray and black with lavender walls. We used BM Wales Green and BM Purple Rain for our living spaces.
As a real estate agent, I see so many interchangeable houses that I wanted something fresh and different in my own home. I am so tired of gold, mocha, red, beige, brown, Tuscan, bistro and tumbled stone looks. It seems like most recently decorated houses I see used the same kit as their neighbors and the local builders/flippers. Our choices may not be everyone's taste, but we can't be accused of following trends or copying anyone else.

Palimpsest, thanks for your reply, but I think that would be impossible. Am I using the right word, when I say "vaulted?"

When you walk in, & look straight ahead there are walls going up to a point, & it's high. Is that a vaulted ceiling?

Also there are two walls, one by the shower stall & one in front of the tub alcove that "float" & are high, if that makes any sense. They have sharp angles. Those two walls could be dealt with in some manner, as they don't support anything, I'm pretty sure.

I know the layout & room design is sorely lacking, but want to keep this a budget re-do. By upgrading all the contents, hopefully that will freshen things up considerably & make the house easier to sell when the time comes! We can hope that someone will think those walls are cool!

Next time around I want smaller rooms with nice proportions!

Sorry for getting off the subject, Rose!

One reason why people seem to follow color trends is that, once those trends have trickled down, furniture and accessories found in the stores in which most people shop are available only in those colors. Depending on your taste, it can make decorating easy or difficult. I recall trying to stage a bathroom in our former house. I'd long since painted the walls a kind of hyacinthy purple blue, with white wainscotting. Could not for the life of me find towels, rugs, mats or accessories in a darker shade of that color. I can't recall what the "in" colors were, but my many trips to stores were in vain. In the end, I went with navy blue, which worked beautifully.

Same with another bathroom. It was papered in a document wallpaper, but with a twist on the original color. My paper was turquoise or teal perhaps, with accents of pale teal, old rose, blues; to stage the room, I wanted towels to match. It took forever to find what I needed because the color was not "in."

I've long wanted some kind of hyacinth/purple room or at least accents in that color -- ever since buying my first book by John Saladino way back when. Completely fell in love with the color. I guess it's "in" now, but now, I'm not sure I have a room in which it will work.

Don't laugh and try not to gag, but the room I'd love to use it in as a wall color has furniture and items in it in tobacco, gold, lacquer red, with an Azerbaijani carpet that has a wheat-colored background and rusty orange, gray, and navy designs. There is also an Armenian runner that has a lighter wheat background and designs in chocolate brown, dark gold, and red. I think the room's size and proportions (about 35 feet long and with low beamed ceilings -- and mostly northern light), the carpet's background color, and our gold chairs make it a no-go, but I love the idea of purple or lavender or lilac with reds and oranges.

So instead I might redo a bedroom in a cognac color and paint the ceiling a pale, pale, pale lavender or hyacinth.

well this ramble got way off topic! All I'd meant to say was that, from the few "better" shelter magazines I get or read, I think palimpsest is correct that the higher-end magazines show fewer trends than do the mid-range ones. They are also far less concerned with playing it safe. You don't necessarily see every room in beige, beige, and more beige with (oh how daring!) some blue accents thrown in for that little frisson.

It is Very difficult to find something that is not in a trendy color if you want to do an inexpensive update. One of my bedrooms has three abstract prints in it, all of which have a a green in them about the shade of the green in a basic box of crayons. Do you think I can find a simple pillow cover in that color?

So true. Vivid lovely colors in a broad range are always available at relatively high-end shops, but stuff in my price range is typically only available in the specific colors being marketed that season, the less expensive the duller the version of whatever color.

I once scoured virtually every fabric store in greater Los Angeles that carried upholstery fabrics, including some famous treasure houses with huge selections, looking for a few yards of a classic medium green, fresh and true but slightly muted, to cover one chair with--a generic goes-everywhere color I've seen on pieces all my life. I probably found an acceptable version in maybe 5 fabrics, none of which would do for reasons which made them discards by others too. I did find hundreds of versions of the "teal green," "celadon," and "forest green" that were current trends. Decorators stock up on good stuff they know is going to disappear, so I figured their own treasure troves were where all my classic green disappeared to.

BTW, so typically, although I love light green and there's been a fair amount of it out there lately, the current version is a sort of slightly "poison" green (poisoning it for me), a restyle-lite of a fad from, what, the 50s?