I just got through re-painting my kitchen because the RH silver sage looked gray and not green!!!

It's all in the light in that particular room. Check it out at different times of day, Put your bedding and/or accessories near the wall and see how it looks.

How does the paint chip you have look when put right on the wall? If there's a varience, then you deserve a do-over!

The Gray Owl looks like a deeper color on my monitor but they both look grey to me and not green at all. The silver satin at first looked like a white but when I see it against the white ceiling it's a definite grey look. I think the darker color warms the room up if that's the look you're going for. I like the gray owl and there's a definite difference but not a huge difference. I guess I'd weigh the cost in time and money and do it if possible. Don't worry about who thinks you're crazy, just come here where we're all enablers :-)

Well, I'm a bit confused. Did you try test swatches on the wall beforehand? It looks like you're choosing from the BM paint viewer or something. The virtual colors won't be accurate. They actually seem to be quite a bit off irl.

The two colors above are definitely different.

They all look gray to me.

I can see what you mean but also remember there is no such thing as "grey", or "black" or "white", for that matter. It can be the light, the color of the flooring, etc. -- I had to get my BM Titanium tinted more to Grey Owl to get it to look like Titanium did in another room. A grey can be a blue-grey, a brown-grey, a green-grey, for instance. Honestly my tastes run more toward the warmer greys, like Grey Owl, and I don't see the problem with using raspberry with it, but maybe you want a bluer grey. I would definitely recommend testing a grey that seems bluer to you (ask at BM for a bluer grey than these two) on a BIG piece of posterboard/foamcore/test paper and keeping it in the room and watching it for 24 hours before you decide.

Wow, thank you for so many quick responses!

Daisyadair, maybe we can trade colors? :-) Unfortunately the paint chip is the same color as the paint, but I did not expect it to look so green once it was on the entire wall.

Mimi, thank you for "enabling" me, I am more and more convinced that I want the BM Gray Owl!

Squirrel, you are right, this is BM Color Viewer. However, the BM Silver Satin looks very close to what's on the color viewer, I did not have the camera batteries to take a photo of the real room (and there are plastic covers and dropcloths everywhere). I did not catch the "green" before the paint job even though I was doing BM Color Viewer. It just looks so different in person!

Flyleft, good advice and I should have followed it in advance. I did the posterboard thing for the other bedroom and decided on Vale Mist, and it is PERFECT. However, color chips and BM Color Viewer don't do the trick (as I am finding out).

I will let you all know what I decide tomorrow morning at 7 when I talk to the painter - you all are great, thank you so so SO much for the quick feedback!

~Lynne

To my eye they both look gray, but there are subtle shade differences.

How often do you repaint and redecorate? My sister is a perpetual redecorator. I tend to find what I like and keep it for years..decades! If you're like me, and looking at those walls will always make you unhappy, I say bite the bullet and repaint rather than be disappointed with the room.

That said, what I see on my monitor is gray and would match nicely, IMHO, with the raspberry trim.

Our large family room was just painted SW "Comfort Grey" and it definitely reads a muted sage green. Everyone loves it, but no one (including me)thinks it's gray. Go figure with those color names!

Gray is very tricky to work with as it will make you generate the opposite into it. In other words if your accessories were mostly blue for example or if your floor had a bluish tinge, the gray would look on the yellow side. If your room had raspberry accessories the gray will appear to have a greenish cast. This is called simultaneous contrast. I have gray floors and honey pine baseboards and trim, my floors appear to have a lavendar tinge.Here is a link if you want a more detailed answer.

Here is a link that might be useful: contrast

That's a very cool link, mistybear--thanks!

Ah, mistybear, your link explains a lot.

This morning I looked at the room again and now I like the color, it is lighter than I wanted but pretty. Given mistybear's explanation of how gray is a color-shifter, now it will be a task to decide what coverlet to use and what art to hang so that the right tints are pulled from the wall! That link helped a lot. Thanks!

~Lynne

Definitely change if you don't like it or feel it won't work with your most treasured pieces of furniture or accessories.

Gray is hard. I painted my living room BM titanium and it came out MUCH greener than I anticipated or wanted. I left it but it has bugged me for a year and I will be repainting as soon as I think DH can handle it. ;-)

Other people think I'm insane because it's very close to what I want. Close, but no cigar! It's a nice colour but it's not doing anything special for me or the room.

Go with your gut.

Flyleft, your very welcome, it's not very often lately that I can offer any helpful info. Glad it helps.

Lynne, Your very welcome. I think also if the light coming in the room is made of more blue light than white light it may also give you a yellish cast. I am not 100% sure of that though.

A very cool book if anyone is interested is "The Elements of Color" Johannes Itten. It is one of my favourite books. But if you do a search on him it will also turn up some very interesting information on colour.

Final update - at this writing, I've decided to keep the color. It is very pale and soft and neutral, and I will withhold final judgment until I get my coverlet and art in the room. Either way, it does not scream "mistake!" (the upside of an ultra risk-averse nature like mine) so I'm living with the very slightly greenish gray. The color is growing on me! I'll post pics once the room gets pulled together.

Thank you to EVERYONE who responded and responded so quickly. You guys are really, truly the greatest!

~Lynne

Lynne - I dont think repainting would have been a mistake but I think you made a good decision. There just wasn't THAT much difference to me to justify the cost and pain of a repaint. Hope you continue to like it.