What comes after gray?

8 years ago

We are trying to choose paint for several rooms on the interior of the house, and gray is so persuasive, yet I am sick of seeing it.

The room I am focusing on is the master bath. I like teal, and the beachy look, so I chose a bunch of teals, blues, greens. Nothing looks quite right. I uploaded a photo to Benjamin Moore's website and "tried out" a few colors, which was telling, although I wonder if a snapshot can give you a true feel. The darker, more saturated colors looked better. But do they look better when you are standing inside an interior room with no window painted a dark color?

Gray would be an easy choice, and maybe I should do that, but I don't love it. I live in WI and life is gray from November to May. We have a number of rooms painted gray, one of them is the master bedroom. We are painting over the gray, it is too depressing. Also, I worry that gray will be dated very soon. I wish I could look in the future and hook onto the next trend. What comes after gray.

This is the room. We are going to paint the cabinets and woodwork white, and the countertop black (I don't like black, but dh wants to try this counter paint before we replace it with granite or other solid surface). I love the painting and the beachy kind of look. All those paint samples are on top of the towel bar reclaimed wood thing.

Featured Answer

mommyniki

8 years ago

Oh good! Most people on here don’t want anything to do with anything other than SW and BM. Here are a couple pictures of my bathroom. They look a little lighter than they do in person. These were to sell it so they seemed to play with color a bit but they are close. It’s more accurate in the 2nd pic. My rugs are bluer than the walls, which are more green.

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Comments (9)

Mrs. S
8 years ago
Seems like you want a beachy escape from gloomy gray! Love that painting! I’d get it a frame of some kind to give it more size and importance. I think one of those greens would be lovely with the cabinets you have, and no need to paint cabinets at all. I wouldn’t paint the counter either. Why black?

Probably a clearer green, rather than a grayed down green, will look better in a low-light room, no matter how light or dark you go on wall color.

And, be sure to improve upon your lighting, to make a big difference.
handmethathammer thanked Mrs. S
mommyniki
8 years ago
If you are painting the cabinets white, which I think is a good idea, use SW Sea Salt. I have the Valspar equivalent, Springtime in Paris, and I love it. It is such a tranquil color. I don’t think it would go with the wood though.
handmethathammer thanked mommyniki
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handmethathammer
Original Author
8 years ago
Yes! I would love a beachy retreat!

mommyniki, I like that you give a Valspar equivalent, because we HAVE to use Valspar paint. Mr. Hammer works in retail. He is actually a buyer for the paint department, which is why he wants to paint so much stuff. They have special cabinet paint and countertop paint he is dying to try out.

No worries, the painted countertops will look so terrible, I can rip them out and put in a whitish granite soon. LOL. The reason for the black is because there aren't many options .
Sheri
8 years ago
I'm looking at paints for my bathroom now too. I'm looking at SW and they have some really nice seaglass, greeen greys and blue greys that look so nice with white. If you find something you like in SW pictures/brouchures you can always just look for an equivalent or close from Valspar. I am really considering the Sea Salt
mommyniki
8 years ago
Handmethathammer, I just realized I told you the wrong name of that color. It is actually Winter in Paris, not Springtime in Paris.
Debbie Downer
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
None of the colors you have up there seem to relate to the picture at all - that blue is more of an ultramarine or navy.

I don't think grays are "easy" - I find them infinitely more difficult than truer colors because it can be hard to get a good read on what the nuances of the color are. These forums are full of people trying to figure out why their gray looks off (too blue, too green, too purple etc). Im trying to get a color match for a gray paint color and even the professional who worked on matching it was stymied. Its close but not quite.

Don't worry about the next trend - go for what you like and what works with what you have. Youll prob want to repaint in 10 yrs anyway.
handmethathammer
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Just thought I would update that I picked a color and went for it. We did not yet paint the cabinets. I was a little afraid to do so, but getting more brave now that I realize what a difference paint makes and how very orange they are. This bathroom looks twice the size and feels very fresh.

I went with a Valspar paint called "Beach House Blue." Sounded perfect for a beachy bathroom. The bottom picture is the before photo.
Connie Bundy
8 years ago
I love SW Window Pane for a beach bathroom; sorry I don't know the equivalent name for it. They can find it for you.