Need SERIOUS help with light gray paint!

11 years ago

I am REALLY struggling with paint in our new house. In our entry and kitchen, there is travertine and the walls in those rooms are painted in B.M. "sail cloth". I don't love this color in all lights, but I am not going to change it (again) since most of the time it goes well with the floor. The family room, dining room, office, and living room all have dark hardwood floors (brazillian cherry stained dark walnut). The "sail cloth" in these rooms looked really peachy/fleshy so I really want a light gray for those rooms. I would like it do be similar depth to the sail cloth. I started having it painted in B.M. "classic gray" and it seems a little light and a little bluish. Revere pewter looks good online, but definitely green and way too dark in real life. I want something light and contemporary, without purple undertones. Perhaps I need a BARELY green undertone for it to look more neutral with a reddish floor? I was considering B.M. "rodeo" and lightening it 50%. Has anyone used this color? ANY help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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Comments (6)

Vertise
11 years ago
I don't have Sail Cloth available to see its value but check out BM Dulce de Leche or Plaster of Paris for a light gray. There are probably others in that line.
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Lori A. Sawaya
11 years ago
Thinking about gray in terms of it having undertones is a mistake. Gray doesn't have undertones. In fact many paint colors, not just "grays", do not have undertones at all.

Instead of getting lost off in the rat's nest of trying identify an aspect of color, undertone, that may or may not exist, decide what color you want and then look for it in the value (lightness / darkness) and intensity (muted or toned) you have in mind.

When you say without purple undertones, that means you don't want purple. When you say maybe something with barely a green undertone what you mean is a green that's knocked back or muted so much that it's very, very close to true neutral gray.

Cutting formulas is never a good plan IMO. But when you're dealing with colors that are so muted they could be mistaken for a true neutral gray, cutting formulas is even more of a crap shoot.

The truth is cutting a color's colorant load by 50% doesn't mean you're going to end up with the same color just half as dark or half as intense. What you'll get is a new color entirely. Because colorants vary in strength, it's possible the new color created with half the colorant load won't even been in the same hue family or be of the same color temperature as the original color.
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Save your money until you can do a total renovation. I had a similar situation with a dark kitchen (cherry cabinets and only one window), a barrier island, and outdated laminate counter tops and sheet vinyl flooring. I thought of doing a small reno--changing the hardware, counter tops, etc. but in the end I waited and did a total gut job. It was a very good decision--the electrical, structural and plumbing problems that I was not aware of were taken care of. In addition I added more windows, replaced all the cabinets (donated the cherry cabinets to a relative), countertops, replaced the island with a peninsula with seating, and added all new appliances to replace the ones that were failing. New wood flooring, lighting totally changed the way I use the kitchen. Sometimes the things you DON'T do are the best!
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daisychain01
11 years ago
Try BM horizon. I painted my daughter's room this colour and she has fir floors that are very red. It looks great together.

Funcolours, I learn something new every time you post.
Vertise
11 years ago
I just saw the swatch of Dulce de Leche again. It looks rather beige. The light I have it in is clean so it looks like a warm light gray there. It does seem to be very neutral though. Couldn't find the Plaster of Paris swatch but I remember it as a light neutral gray.
beaglesdoitbetter1
11 years ago
SW Tinsmith. It is a beautiful light grey and we used it throughout our house after getting 10,000 color samples and rejecting every other grey because of the undertones.

Here is a pic:

You can see more at my blog, kitchen, great room, gathering room are all painted the same color so you can see it in lots of rooms.

This post was edited by beaglesdoitbetter on Tue, Apr 30, 13 at 18:50
dretutz
11 years ago
Consider Benjamin Moore affinity "Wish." Very good light grey

Need SERIOUS help with light gray paint!

Comments (6)

Vertise

Lori A. Sawaya

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