Is there a brownish gray color which looks 'bright' and 'fresh'

14 years ago

I am desperately looking for a color for our main living area.

It has to coordinate with our dark gray-brown fireplace since you see it from anywhere. I think I tried every possible color in the BM and so far the gray-brown tones look best. But the problem I am having is finding something that doesn't have any yellow, green, purple etc. undertone (immediately shows up next to the stone and conflicts with it) and which also wouldn't look dark and depressing.

We don't have a great natural light although there is some. The bigger problem is the same color has to go in two rooms, one of which has a incandescent lighting and the other one has halogen recessed lights.

The best one I found so far isn't a BM color, it is a F&B Stony Ground which looks greenish on the chip but actually is a gray-brown. I had it mixed with white 1 to 1 to lighten it, and it isn't too dark but it looks kind of dirty and uninviting.

Does anyone know of a color that is similar, soft and neutral gray brown but still looks fresh and clean?

Featured Answer

redbazel

14 years ago

From Maria Killam on the previously posted Colour Me Happy blog, (see link) she says about gray:

"Gray has three undertones. It's either blue, green or purple."

I think gray can be a lot of things that are good in the right setting and light, but "bright and fresh" are not the two things that come to mind when we hear the word gray.

Her face turned gray.....
It's a gray and gloomy day...
The ocean is stormy and gray.......

See what I mean? And FWIW, I read in House Beautiful that one designer, when asked which gray, falls back often on Benjamin Moore's Horizon Gray for the cleanest look.

Red

Here is a link that might be useful: Pretty interesting blog--Colour Me Happy

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Comments (20)

beekeeperswife
14 years ago
Look at BM Pismo Dunes.
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youngdeb
14 years ago
Try BM Coastal Fog - definite green undertones, which I think gets you close to your brown.
ttodd
14 years ago
I used BM Revere Pewter and Edgecomb Gray. When paired w/ bright white it looks more gray in my house. When paired w/ cream it tends to take on a brownish tone (which I prefer).

I have a home clipped out where the used Cape Hattaras Sand (I think that's name) and it looked very nice.
boxerpups
14 years ago
What about Silverfox gray?

Mega Greige Sherwin Williams

Theresa Green Farrow and Ball

Veil Cream BM ( a creamy gray that looks light)

Peau De Soie BM

Manchester Tan BM

Silver Sage by Restoration Hardware
happytobehome
14 years ago
Take a look at BM Himalayan Trek. I've used it in two rooms, and definitely see brown undertones.
pps7
14 years ago
Check out BM Indian river.
annab6
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you for the examples, nothing found yet but keep them coming!

Red, that is a great blog, so entertaining that I quickly forgot what I was looking for :)

You are right about the "gray face" logic but the picture of Veil Cream above (Thanks boxerpups!) is very close to what I am trying to find. The veil cream is a metalic color though so wouldn't work.

The color we ended up with when we mixed the F&B Stony Ground with white is very close to both Manchester Tan and Elmira White. It looks browner in our narrow hallway because the ceiling light fixtures are much closer to the walls and the light highlights the brown tone in the color. In the living room it looks "dirty" gray. Maybe we need to add more white.

I tried greenish grays and bluish grays which I love except that in that space they just don't go very well.

I didn't try Indian River but did try the Cedar key which is on the same card, didn't work.
annab6
Original Author
14 years ago
Well I found a dark color that represents my idea - F&B London Stone, I can see that it has just a touch of sage.

Except I need a really light color with the same hue. Any ideas for a BM or SW color that would come close and comes lighter as well?
crescent50
14 years ago
Try Texas Leather- a BM color.
Ideefixe
14 years ago
I have London Stone in my loft, which has northern light and exposed brick. It never looks sage to me, but then, I have almost no green in the rest of my furnishings. If you want it lighter, get it mixed at 1/2 or even 1/4 strength.
amysrq
14 years ago
I am chuckling a bit because when I read your first post, I was going to suggest F&B Buff, but I had a sense you wanted something lighter. Buff and London Stone are very close in value and were the two final contenders for my last living room. Buff won because in my light the LS threw a bit of pink and the Buff behaved in a completely neutral way...no green, yellow or pink.

So, I am a little confused...do you plan to use London Stone and need a lighter color elsewhere? Or are you looking for a lighter version of what London Stone does? And if so, why? Can't go that saturated/dark?
annab6
Original Author
14 years ago
thanks ideefixe and amysrq, I can't use anything that dark, both rooms are kind of narrow to begin with. So I am looking for a very light version. So far I am thinking BM tapestry beige although it has more green than London Stone. Just didn't come up with anything closer. ideefixe, i agree that it doesn't look sage in the northern light but it does in the southern light. But just a little bit. The store near me told me they can't play with the F&B colors like they do with BM, we could mix it with white but we'd have to add a lot of white.
karinl
14 years ago
No expert here, but I wonder, if the light is so different in the two spaces, could you use a slightly different colour in each room to come out with the same effect? I suppose it depends in part on whether there is a natural transition point.

Also, if you have Pratt & Lambert paints available, you might check those. I found their newest colour chip system quite good the last time I looked (although I was in a different colour range) and it is supposed to be good quality paint.

KarinL
Ideefixe
14 years ago
You need another paint store, I'd say. I've had F&B colors mixed at various strengths, by my little local paint store in LA. It's not just adding white, either. I go to Par Paint.

Here is a link that might be useful: Par Paint
karinl
14 years ago
See a post in this thread by Natenval's mom (think I have that name right) for an example of what I was suggesting.

KarinL

Here is a link that might be useful: thread with post of two colours with one effect
susieq07
14 years ago
I think that would be "Taupe"
boxerpups
14 years ago
Here are a few others I love maybe they could work for you.

This BM color called Alexandria Beige
works great in small rooms and is just
slightly darker than the BM Tapesty Beige

Peau De soie by Ben Moore is similar to Stoney Ground by FB
and London Stone

Nomadic Taupe by Dunn Edwards

Wheat Bread by Behr
annab6
Original Author
14 years ago
Well, I gave up on a gray and picked a cream color instead for the main living area, it seems to work much better in the space. But we used the Stony ground mixed with white on the staicase and the hallway upstairs, love it there. Also used charlston gray in the foyer and love that one too. Thank you boxerpups, those are great, especially the blue-grays, I have to file these away for future use somewhere.
Truly Hough
7 years ago
what cream did you end up using?