you should take a look at BM Stonington Grey. Love this color!

What shade of gray are you looking for? One with a blueish tint, greenish tint, pure gray or taupey gray?

Based on some of your sample choices it looks like you're wanting a taupey gray in a light to medium shade. I'm in the middle of the perfect gray search as well and I've got a ton of samples, all different from the ones you have. If you let me know what you're going for I can dig through my samples and be more helpful.

I've sampled the Stonington Gray when I did the study in F&B Pigeon. It's soft and nice but too light for my dim room. All the really light great grays look muddy and drab in my LR light.

Bluemoon, I wanted something with a little taupe to it or a little green to it. Very gray like light charcoal doesn't work so well with my furniture and stuff. Not to mention those painter's drop cloth drapes. I have scoured the net, sampled and coughed and squinted and painted. Today I got the Hardwicke White mixed at Sherwin Wms, and it's good. Maybe not great. I also got Intellectual Gray by SW, good and the right depth of color. DH likes it--DD not so much. I may just have to go with my 3rd idea..........

Red

I also did a search for the perfect gray. I went with silver fox and gray wisp. Good luck!!! Also check out BM sea haze-very pretty.

Well, my mistakes are probably your perfect choice then, because I wasn't looking for taupey grays, but found some anyway. :)

All of the Ralph Lauren grays I tried trended taupe except for Moonlight. I would suggest Lamp Room Gray or Forde Abbey, which are very similar taupey grays with Forde Abbey being a little darker. His Cathedral Gray, which I had read so many nice things about online,looks taupe if you look at it by itself but when you put it next to Lamp Room Gray and Forde Abbey you can really see undertones of sage green.

I would also suggest Benjamin Moore colors Silver Fox(which was advertised as a classic gray when I was researching but comes out taupe in my house) and Sandy Hook Gray, which has a little more brown in it than the others. One I've heard good things about but haven't personally tried is Sherwin Williams color, Jogging Path. I think it's actually an old Duron color.

I look forward to seeing what you choose. I'm still in sample-buying mode. As you said, gray is hard.

Here is a link that might be useful:

bluemoon - Does Sandy Hook gray have a blue or green tint to it also? Your comment about it having more brown makes me a little nervous. That's what I'm planning to paint my bedroom based on the picture below which looks bluish/greenish gray.

Laurie

Laurie, I did pick up a new strip with Sandy Hook Gray on it, even knowing it will go too dark for my dark room. I love the color and if I had more natural light, it would be a great color. I see green undertones, but they are mossy with some leanings to brown. If you are looking for blue, or blue green, it's not right for you. But if you have that same toile as in the photo, I think it will be lovely.
BM sells the sample jars in Sandy Hook. Pick one up and use it first so you can see where it goes in your light.

Red

msrose,

With all the usual disclaimers about differences in lighting, room location and geographical location, I don't see any blue or green undertones in Sandy Hook. It's a brownish taupey gray in my house. I agree with redbazel that it's a pretty color, but it doesn't look in my house what it looks like in your inspiration picture.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever saw offered on this forum was that if you fall in love with a paint color in a picture, don't look up the paint color and buy it based on that picture; take the picture to the paint store and have them match the color to the image. The picture you're looking at can be distorted by lighting, cameras, magazine print, etc Your inspiration picture doesn't look like any other picture I've seen of SHG and definitely not what I see in front of my own eyes.

Have you tried BM Sea Haze(gray blue) Pigeon(gray blue), Gray Horse(gray green) or Storm cloud Gray(darker gray green)? What about Valspar's Coastal Jetty(hard to define but very pretty)?
redbazel, I would also check out SW's Perfect Greige. It's a very nice lighter taupey gray. I found a picture of it in a somewhat dark room and I think it holds up well without washing out or looking too dark.

Wow. Having to face all your paint samples is like finally totalling up all your debts lol I could have had 3 rooms professionally painted for what I've shelled out in paint samples.

Here is a link that might be useful:

bluemoon - I just looked through my paint samples and I happen to have Sea Haze and Gray Horse. I think either one will look good if I decide SHG is the wrong shade. Thanks!!

Laurie

another beautiful color is BM Grey Owl although probably not as dark as you would like

Redbazel, I feel your pain. I just spent the last few months agonizing over gray swatches which was really weird since I've spent my entire life avoiding gray.

Anyhow, I had so many grays painted on the walls it was getting nuts. I ended up painting what I thought would be my better grays on white posterboard, leaving an inch of white around the outside edge of the board. It made a big difference since my original walls were painted Desert Tan, a gold similar to Blonde and I did not realize how much the gold color on the walls was effecting the way the samples looked. Once I got them painted on sample boards with the white trim every thing changed. My perfect gray was right in front of my eyes!

It ended up being Revere Pewter.

Good luck.

Silver fox:

You can definately see some red in it which gives it a definate purple undertone. The undertone is difficult to seein pictures.

Have you checked out my latest favorite SW color? They aptly named it just for me---ANALytical Gray! LOL

Red,

I used RH Graphite on the ceiling and interor doors of our guest bedroom. It's definitely a taupey gray. Used BM White Dove on the walls and trim. Pictures are not great and don't reflect the true colors. BM did a nice job mixing semi-gloss for the doors.

I spent so much time working through grays, blue-grays, green grays, taupe grays, until I thought I would just give it up, make my new floral throw pillows, hang my drop-cloth drapes, keep my Baby Turtle, and call it a month. But finally, I settled on Martha Stewart Mourning Dove. It's a gray that's soft, not too pale, not too dark, and leans just a bit to green. But it's a much cooler color than the Baby Turtle. I had it mixed up in Ace Royal matte paint which I like really....a lot! So, I'm not done, but here is a wall. The color looks almost identical to the River Gorge (BM) Gray that I put in the kitchen.......when you look at it on the edge of the kitchen wall! So it leads the eye well into the living room.

In the link...the reflection in the mirror is River Gorge Gray on the armoire wall, and River Gorge is a much darker color than Mourning Dove. I actually like it so much I may use it in my next painting job!!

Red

Here is a link that might be useful: Mourning Dove

Jeanne this is a very old thread. I sold that house. Built a house. Sold it last year and moved across the country. Painting this house Gray Owl and Stonington Gray. Perhaps start a new thread titled Searching for a grayed White for Exterior.

Red

And have you looked at Whitecap Gray P&L ?