I would just do white, or classic gray if you want a really light gray. You could also choose a light beachy color - you’re not stuck with gray.

Thank you. Unfortunately, the hubby doesn't want white. He prefers Agreeable Gray. I'm just hoping that won't make the room too dark. Whatever color we chose will be the color throughout the whole house also.

because of your floors, that will be WAY too much grey. it will not brighten that space, and it will feel cold.

white will work much better, and you can bring in color with furnishings and accessories. a good soft white is not boring, it's creamy and lovely. be sure to find one that does not have a strong yellow undertone.

Do you have any suggestions on white SW colors that would look nice?

Sea Salt? Check this link.

https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW6204-sea-salt

Funny that you mention Sea Salt because I have been eyeing that color.

I agree a soft white would be nice. Definitely not boring. However, if that’s simply not an option, check K R’s suggestion of Classic Gray.

Do you have any suggestions on white SW colors that would look nice?

I used SW Paper Kraft in my bathroom. The undertone leans peach rather than yellow. It's a beautiful creamy color that looks good with grey. It looks darker in this pic, but trust me that IRL, it "reads" as soft white.

Always get samples, paint big swatches, and view it throughout the day and night. color shifts depending on your specific surroundings.

I love SW whitetail. I would do SW whitetail on walls and a neutral for the trim to warm it up some. If that is too much out of your comfort zone then same color on trim in semi gloss and maybe some wood beams or wood accent piece on the ceiling in a natural finish to warm up the space.
 Large jute rug would also help cover the floor and help with the beachy feel.

Also look into BM Navajo White. It was a very popular color for a reason. For some reason many of the inspo pics online look yellowy to me, but I don't think it reads that way IRL. Especially if you put it in a room with all grey floors.

It doesn't have to be BM. You can get it color matched at SW.

Actually I think agreeable gray would be the perfect neutral.

I know someone who used Agreeable Gray on her whole first floor and I find it to be too dark, but she likes it. It's impossible to say what someone else is going to like. But if hubby wants gray and you really don't, go lighter. BM Classic Gray is nice as other posters have mentioned. In SW I think Eider White would be close to Classic Gray.

Elder White looks so nice. Thank you for the suggestion. I'm going to pick up a sample of this.

I just painted my bathroom SW City Loft. Its a white with a slight gray tinge. I had Navajo White before I changed the tiles to a greige color and it looked yellow next to it.

Wow your bathroom is gorgeous! There isn't a lot of light inside so that's why I'm afraid of agreeable gray showing too dark. I used it in a couple of rooms in my old house and one room, it felt nice and airy but in the other, it was darker.

I would do BM White Dove or SW Alabaster, both whites with greige understones that will look good with your floors. If you don't like gray, don't paint your walls gray. A cozy greige-y white will be better.

We used BM Baby Fawn throughout our house. It is almost identical to Agreeable Gray and don't find it to be dark at all, including down the hallway with no natural light.

Are you able to wait until your furniture and other items (draperies/shades, rugs, pillows, art, etc.) are placed in the room? Even with the same color, how your eyes will perceive this color will be different in an empty room vs when it is furnished.

Correction: it's similar to Edgecomb Gray. It's a greige color.

No, we would prefer to paint before our furniture is in. Since we have to paint all the rooms, it's easier to do it without any furniture.

pakula-

Agreeable Gray could look very nice, depending on what your counters are like and how much light you get from outdoors.

What direction do your windows and sliding doors face? Do you get a lot of outdoor light?

You could have your paint store do the Agreeable grey in a 50% for you so it will still be Agreeable Grey but not so intense if you don't get a lot of outdoor light.

You could also paint the ceiling a white color, too.

There is a former Houzzer who passed away a couple of years ago who painted her kitchen in Repose Gray 50% and it looked just wonderful, her Houzz avatar was Anglophilia.

Her kitchen was much smaller than yours, but got a lot of outdoor light.

With the Repose Gray she used a backsplash of honed white Carrera marble large subway tiles, and the counter was Corian in Glacier White.

It doesn't say on this thread about the 50%, but she mentions it on another thread.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/4779243/finally-my-kitchen-reveal-work-completed-in-aug-2016?n=22

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/4779267/kitchen-reveal-continued-part-3?n=9

There is one more thread, the part 2 about her kitchen that I can't find.

Repose grey that Anglophilia used is similar to Agreeable grey.

I think that your Repose grey has more brown-ness/tan-ness in its gray-ness.

(Some other Houzzers will come on here and give you a dissertation on hue chroma, etc.

WHy not get a sample of the color your husband likes in the 50% and try it out?

Also, please change your light bulbs to get increased light in the room, that makes such a big difference!

I like 3500 - 4000 K for a kitchen.

These rooms were done in BM Wish at 50%.

Our house faces East. I've only been there twice for a short amount of time (we will be closing next week) and both times, there wasn't a lot of light coming through. I've never heard of doing that at 50%. Does it make it a lighter shade? Thanks for the suggestion!

Yes.

for reference, gray flooring with light gray walls. also note the lighting -- it's neutral.

the color temp in your hallway is very warm, so before painting, try some new bulbs between the 3000-4000K range (nothing higher than that or it will look too cold).

I would suggest either painting a sample in your space or ordering a Samplize sample regardless of which colors you are considering. Samplize swatches can be ordered on line for several different brand’s colors. ( about 8x11” ,can be applied and removed from the wall - move them around to different parts of the room in various types of ambient and natural lighting ). The Samplize can’t be ordered in % formulas, however. You would need to get a small amount mixed at your vendor, if wanting to see that. This SW Snowbound just happened to be on the Samplize site I wanted to show as an example . It might work well for you.

@User What color are those walls? That's the look I'm hoping to achieve if my husband is set on gray walls

@niccidhg That's a very beautiful color and it gives such a warm feeling.

eepakula- doing it at 50% doesn't make it lighter, it makes it less intense.

I am sure I am not explaining it correctly, but to the best of my recollection,

Tint is a color plus white, making it a pastel of the original color.

For example red + white = pink.

If you have red and you add a little white you get a flaming bright lipstick pink.

If you add more white you get a lighter pink and you get Pepto-Bismol pink.

If you add more white you get a still lighter pink and you get bubble gum pink, and so on.

Adding the white lightens the tint.

When you have the paint store do your original paint color Agreeable Grey at 50%, they are not adding white to Agreeable Grey to make it a pastel tint of Agreeable Grey, they are not making a lighter Agreeable Grey,

They are adding some additive (I don't know what, something proprietary to be sure) to make the color less dense.

Think of it as less color particles per ml of volume of paint.

A previous Houzzer, Sophie Wheeler patiently explained it to me years ago, not in those words.

The above is what I got out of it, I hope I haven't misinterpreted it.

…

Oh, I just found a video saying that when you cut a color by 50% you may get unexpected results.

So please get a sample of the 50% and try it out on a large piece of fiberboard from the dollar store and put it on various walls of your kitchen and see how it looks.

Have you looked at SW city loft? I think it would go nicely with your flooring and isn’t so light that it looks white but not so dark that its too much…a really beautiful color.

Many of the colors suggested above are beautiful colors, but since every monitor shows color differently we can't say what will look beautiful with your flooring and your finishes. Are you planning on painting the trim as well as the walls? What will the wall color look like next to your cabinets, countertop and backsplash or are you planning on changing these as well? Will you be bringing your current furniture with you? How will the paint color work with your furnishings.

You can't really pick the paint color until you have access to the space and can test the colors or have access to samples of the finishes you already have. Most homeowners leave a few floor tiles and a can of wall and trim paint behind, they may also leave a piece of the backsplash or counter top, but that is less common.

Can I ask what it is about the current paint color that you dislike. Looking at the picture of the flooring it seems that they chose a color that works well with both the cooler flooring and the warmer countertop.

Knowing what color is there and identifying what it is that you don't like is a good place to start when looking for something new. If the old color feels too green you want something warmer, if it feels too yellow you may want to go cooler or less saturated. If it is too dark, but you like the color you want to go a bit lighter.

I understand your desire to paint before furniture is in place. It sounds efficient, but is the risk worth the 15-20 minutes it will take to move the furniture out of the room and 15-20 minutes it will take to move the furniture back into the room?

There are reasons that designers pick the wall color last.

Generally the first step is to determine the colors that must stay. (In your case, flooring, countertops, cabinets and backsplash, possibly trim, possibly furnishings).

The second step if figuring out the colors that you love and how to incorporate those colors into your space. My sister loves warm fall colors, greens, golds, orange reds. I love rich purples, teals and reds and my sister in law loves pastel peaches and cornflower blue. These color preferences have to be part of the overall color palette decision making process or you may get stuck with not being able to use your favorite colors in your home.

Once you figure out the colors that must stay and how they will work with the colors you love you can pick out the neutral family/families that will work within these limits and a white that works well with your neutrals.

Then you pick new furnishings and area carpets because these are not available in every color in the rainbow. Once you pick those items you can pick a paint color that works with everything else. When I originally designed the color palette for my home I was planning on buying a deep colored sofa and having lighter flooring and walls. When I went shopping I found that my perfect sofa in the perfect color was $10 k, and I could get a light taupe/cream/linen colored sofa that was well made and fit my needs for $2500. Decision made - I was getting a light colored sofa that worked with my light colored flooring. I found a deeply colored area carpet that brought in the contrast and color I was wanting, but these design changes greatly impacted the color choices for the walls. Without the dark sofa I needed a bit more depth to the wall color or everything was going to be one color.

Be patient, do things in the right order and don't box yourself in with a paint color decision that may limit all your other design decisions.

I have City Loft throughout my home and am very happy with it. Just a smidge of gray, very neutral, not cold, never reads lavender.

@Susan Murin I saw the swatch of that at the paint store. Do you mind sharing a picture of the color in your house?

I would paint the walls white.

Following

Once you chose a color, you can do different percentages in areas that get more and less light. My designer did 100%, 75% and 50% of the same color in my kitchen-laundry room- mud room spaces. She lowered the percentage for the low light areas (ceilings) so the entirety of the three spaces look the same color.

Using 50% of the color in the darker areas (hallways with no windows, for example) makes a huge difference in helping those spaces to appear the same as the light filled ones.

Having an appointment with a color specialist will be worth the money before you paint your house. Your husband doesn’t “want white” but some grays will help lighten the space and others will make it dreary. I never knew this much about using color until I met my designer - who I call My Color Savant. Worth the money.

Just piping in on the paint color formula comment. Some do predict it to be chancy to replicate, but i do this as well with our walls. I reduced a color that i had used in our guest bathroom to use in the guest room. It is a beautiful color that i just fell in love with in our bathroom but it was too dark in guest room. I had paint store reduce the color by 75% and then used in guest room. I could not be happier, maybe bc i just love the color?

I can’t be certain from your photos, but this type flooring generally combines grays and beige tones. I would try SW Alabaster in flat finish for walls. You can mix whites, ivory, light grays with some other colors to create a welcoming grouping. Here is little mock up to show mix.

Improved lighting will be important too. I replaced fan with 6-8 light minimalist chandelier. I added arc floor lamp and I would also add, if possible, a sofa table with a lamp on it.

Btw, SW Agreeable Gray has an LRV of 60. That is on the midrange of reflectance of light. When you play with “cutting” colors you are really just making a new color without any surety because you don’t know how each tint will behave. So I always try to find an existing color. Especially in low light conditions. Samples from samplize.com are very helpful and get several tones along with one white such as BM Chantilly White so you can contrast and compare colors.

Here are a few inspirational photos of integrating grays and beiges. I would wait on painting until you are in and understand how your furnishings work, what lighting improvements you can make, how a lighter rug can bring up lightness. You might even like to add a different color on that right family room wall where I suspect you will put a large screen flat TV?

Opps

Changing the color by reducing the colorant can be tricky, but it often works just as you would expect it to.

Generally you are starting with a can of white paint. They add colorant to the white and it becomes your color.

It stands to reason that if you add exactly half the amount of colorant to the white base it will be a lighter version of the same color.

This does not work as expected when white is one of the colorants that is being added. You need to keep the amount of white the same and add 1/2 the other colorants.

It also doesn't work as expected when the base colorant is intended for deep colors.

If you want a deep red color you can't have white as one of the colors, it would make it pink, so although the deep paint base looks white when it is wet, it is actually pretty close to transparent when it dries.

Another option that works for me is I keep a sample jug or can of paint that is just the whitest base with no colorant added.

I use oral dose syringes and measure out 3ccs of the paint into 3 pinch bowls (3ccs in each pinch bowl). Then I add 1 cc of white to one pinch bowl, 2 ccs of white to the second pinch bowl and 3ccs of white to the third pinch bowl. I use a flexible palette knife to mix the color and white together and paint samples of each of the new colors. I pick the one that is best or on rare occasion I will want something between two of the colors I picked and will mix a 4th sample.

When the sample is dry I take it to the paint store and have them do a color match to the new sample or if the original color was mixed in the whitest base I just do the math for them and figure out how much the colorant needs to be reduced (again, ignoring the white colorant).

Agreeable grey will work if you have good natural light. If not and you have to use grey, have it mixed at 50%. Your floors are so neutral you dont have to do grey or white on the walls. a soft green would be lovely. I can not see the color of your backsplash. Is there a color in the backsplash that can be repeated on the walls. The paint could be a lighter or slightly darker version of a color pulled from the backsplash. Colors that go beautifully with grey are yellows ( Be very careful with yellow) , blues and greens. Could you paint your island in a charcoal or even a navy? White walls would look great with either of those colors on the island. A contrasting island would make your kitchen look stunning... as it is, I believe looks a bit bland and could use something to give it some character. Good luck on your project!

Buy a sample and put on your walls before you paint with SW Eider White. it has a very obvious pink undertone. When I went back to SW for new paint to replace the eider white I was told they used to have a sign warning eider white and the issues with pink undertones. They ended up replacing the paint for free because the saleperson was also supoosed to let me know about this issue before buying.