If you are wondering whether it is overdone and outdated, then trust your intuition. Here’s an article by Maria Killam about upcoming trends.

https://www.mariakillam.com/beige-is-back/

I’m not sure how any color/shade that’s found in nature can be overdone or dated unless grey ‘everything’ is what you’re after. But what your desire to do is certainly not dated or even over done for that matter. Grey is not a fad/trend color, how it’s used is.

It's only over done or dated if it doesn't work in/with your design.

It's an ideal neutral!

Agreeable Gray achieves a great balance of gray and beige tones; it will work well with both warm and cool toned palettes. While it has a fairly light value, it is saturated enough of a color to hold definition and not feel like a pastel. In its versatility- along with many similar "greige" neutrals- it will prove to a fairly timeless color!

Happy painting!

From the Maria Killam article linked above by armchairshopper "Just to be clear, there is nothing wrong with brown, or grey or black. It’s the OVERUSE of these neutrals that screams “I decorated in the brown or grey trend”.

If you like Agreeable Gray, you can always have it made in a lighter version (e.g. 50%). Making full strength and 50% samples would cost very little, but would enable you to see how it looks in the light of your own home before making a commitment.

I have a agreeable gray and I love it because it is a chameleon. Near gray it looks tan and near tan it looks gray. When I look at it on its own I don't think "gray". Its light and airy and fresh in my space yet still provides contrast so my trim work and cabinets stand out.

Taking any color to 50% will give you an entirely new color. Agreeable Grays LRV is already 62 which is pretty high. If you take it to 50% you're going to get a dirty looking white.

Love armchairshopper idea of 50% lighter! It is a beautiful color but the fully saturated color does feel like it will quickly become the "beige" wall color of the previous decade. However, if you get a lighter version you can avoid that "dated" feel (...in a few years). I would also go a bit lighter since you're painting such a large area. This will keep the walls even more neutral and the eye can focus on the furnishings and not the wall color.

I do like the idea of going lighter -- but would like there to be enough contrast with the trim work as to not have it look like I tried to match it but missed. So hearing mixed comments on if the 50% lighter would work or not.

That’s why you need to spend less than $20 and buy two samples plus two sheets of foam core poster board from the dollar store. Paint the foam core and move it around the rooms to see which of the samples you prefer and how it goes with your woodwork.

You would be better off choosing a entirely different color than trying to create a color out of the AG. Did the next color up on the fan deck work?

Agreeable Gray is the lightest color on that card in the fan deck. That is why I suggested a 50% mix. If 50% is too light, Kris could always mix equal parts of the AG and the 50% samples and see what 75% looks like. It is possible that SW 7208 Incredible White would have been the next color up on the fan deck, if only the card were longer.

I just advised a friend to do two different whites; one slightly "darker" white for wall and one slightly brighter white for the trim and it looks amazing! She was thrilled with the results! You would be surprised how little of a contrast you need. A 50% Agreeable Gray will give you an even greater contrast than white on white. The subtle contrast will look professional and intentional...cause it is! ;)

I vote agreeable gray full strength. I read the article linked above and accor ding to that article peach is making a comeback. Bring in accents in peach or the coral rose above and yellow. You will have a winner. And how about Kelly Green? So many options with a nice neutral wall color to keep the look updated.

I have a friend (a designer) who as used BM "Silken Pine" in two houses now. Both have a lot of rooms open to one another and it's a lovely, calm, light neutral that goes with just about anything one would want to put in the room. It's really a wonderful color!

Actually Incredible White is the lightest on that strip.

Kris the reality is you won’t know how any color is going to look until you try it in your space. AG in my house might look completely different than AG in my neighbors . Not only is that dependent on the lighting but also the trim color. The flooring color. The other colors in the home etc. There are thousands and thousands of colors out there. Go to HD where their samples are only $3 and have several made. They have the formulas for the SW and BM colors as well as every other brand in their computers.

I totally understand that I need to get the actual samples and try it in my home., I have the agreeable grey and a few others but may pick up incredible white and possibly something with a bit less grey tone.

I am fine with getting the samples through SW- they are pretty convenient and if that is the paint that we are going to use I have found that it is best to stay with that brand. I did the color match to a paint we used previously and found a noticeable difference...not sure how common this is but not sure its worth the risk. Im curious if anyone else has experienced this?

If the use the color match machine I think there is always a variance. If they use the actual formulas in their data base I have found them to be pretty spot on. Of course sheen affects the way the color looks too. I like that you can get any texture you want at Home Depot samples (eggshell, satin, gloss, flat etc) and others usually only have flat.

Yes I was helping my son paint to sell a home and The “match” was enough off we had to repaint the whole thing. Paint that has been on a wall for awhile can change too so maybe not all the new paint’s fault.

Pink Peony they used the formulas -- but when I told the paint pro the color was off he said that there can be difference in the base paint that affects the color too.

I have agreeable gray and think it is lovely in my home with my furnishings, but I cant imagine it works with everything. It is a warm gray - I’m a beige lover, but I like the low saturation of AG. It may end up being the builder beige of years to come. The paint companies bank on new trends. Get what you like and what looks good with your house. As for having another brand copy your paint, don’t do it. They all have different bases and it’s near impossible to get it right. I had to repaint a bathroom that the professionals painted because they copied a color and it was just wrong. Incredible White is the lighter version. But it’s much lighter. Really an off white.

As far as the strip cards of color, that's another thing people misunderstand.

Those strips are not just one color in different values.

Again, we can measure it and prove it.

When you take one hue parent and make a range of child colors in lighter values it's called a string.

Dunn-Edwards is the only brand that has their colors organized in strings. The differences color to color within the string is quantified and noted in their color atlas. This is what it looks like.

Not the case with SW. We know that some of the colors on the SW strips don't even belong to the same hue family.

So you should not assume that the colors on the SW are related and you absolutely should not assume that the colors are organized on the strips in perceptually uniform steps from light to dark.

My only 2 cents is to use LARGE sample boards. I picked up big white craft board at the Dollar Tree (if you have one near you) when I did samples. Worked out really well.

they used the formulas -- but when I told the paint pro the color was off he said that there can be difference in the base paint that affects the color too.

Paint brands don't have each others formulas.

They buy databases of color data values. There are people who scan and measure the colors directly from new fandecks to create a monster database. They sell it as a product.

You can buy databases of any combination of brands.

The color data values are then mathemagically transformed into recipes using a brand's specific colorants and bases.

Sometimes that recipe works perfectly and it's a match.

Sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes you get a person at the paint store who is good at mixing color and they are able to make the color using a combination of their own color sense and the data values.

This is why some people are successful getting certain colors matched in other brands and why it doesn't work for all colors.

I would also suggest Ben Moore's Pale Oak as a soft greige neutral, while you're sampling.

The cabinet store I use says 75% of their business is currently white shaker. Next is grey shaker. Then pearl. Yes it is being done a lot still.

imo, grey is a nice neutral color.

Now, finding the right shade of grey is more challenging.

Bring samples around with you when shopping for countertop.

Then bring home countertop & cabinet samples into kitchen to see how it looks in lighting. same with back splash.

If staying 10 years, get whatever you like. moving in 5+ years stay in neutrals to appeal to the masses.

Avoid foil cabinets, they peel and cannot be fixed easily if at all.

Buy wood or MDF doors. They can be repainted years later.

Peel off the melamine film, sand smooth, clean and prime. Tons of videos online. We've done several cabinets in our rentals. Here's a video of the last one we did. https://youtu.be/PFRNsIoa0Lw

SW's ProClassic in satin works out beautifully on this type of cabinet if you have the patience for the dry time. BreakThrough works too, dry time is less painful than ProClassic.

Lori, thanks for comments on the colors... I’m not sure where the discussion on cabinets came from. Lol

It's the Garden Web, surprise right turns is just part of what makes it fun. :)