I don't want a very strong color, but something muted and soothing.

Maybe take a look at Gentle Gray and Iced Slate from Ben Moore.

OMG, you're describing *my* blue! I haven't really scoured the paint samples, but I have skimmed thru the Sherwin Williams paint deck, which at the moment I can't find. Does *your* blue have a slight aqua hue? I don't want that blue/gray that was part of the whole 'country' era~remember that color?

I want to paint a bedroom which will have all ivory furniture, along w/ivory drapes, lamps & shades, bedding....completely ivory. My vision needs to come to life, but I need to find *that* blue color! ;o)

Have you tried Ben Moore Denim Wash?
#838

My office is just as you describe. The color is "gray morning". I'm PRETTY sure it was a Lowe's color but I had it color matched in BM. It is a soft blue gray that changes color in different lights. I LOVE it!

Thank you...I haven't tried any of those colors yet. I'm going to check them out in a minute.
Funcolors: Are you familiar by chance with Mount Saint Anne from BM? It looks like the perfect blue on my screen, but on the swatch, it's definitely a gray, and I didn't see any blue undertones.

Patty Cakes: I'm so glad I'm not alone in this! I do like some with the hint of aqua, esp after seeing a DR on here done in Interesting Aqua. But that was too much. Rain is one below it and is pretty, but too strong and not as blue/gray as I'm hoping for. I'll let you know as soon as I find my color.

Thanks Western PA. I'll add that color to my list to check out. Much appreciated!

No, it's not just you. I walk around with a fan deck, change my mind 600 times, paint swatches on all the walls....choosing paint colors is very hard for me. I KNOW how I want it to look and feel but it's difficult to find just the right color sometimes. Sorry, I don't have any suggestions but you do have my sympathy.

dccnm-thank you! I'll have to check that out too. I'm so grateful that you all seem to "see" the same color that I see in my mind! :)

Funcolors--those look perfect. Hopefully, I'll make it to SW tomorrow to check them out. We don't have BM, but SW has their decks. Patty, I'll let you know where I get with them. I hope I've found my winner! I still want to check out the Gray Morning color too though.

Carol, you are so very sweet. This room has proven to be my most difficult (probably b/c it's the last one!). It's nice to know I'm not alone in choosing. My DH and my dad have been rolling their eyes at me all week! :)

Thanks again all! You are so wonderful!

MPMG, that was IT! I couldn't remember the name, but knew it was Sherwin Williams~it wasn't in my paint deck, so must be a fairly new color.

That's the closest color i've seen other than the one in my head. ;o)

Mount Saint Anne would IMO show as a slate blue gray more times than not. The chip may read leaning heavy on the gray, but I'd call that one blue. One aspect I would be looking for in that color, and it would depend on context and light, is for it to have a slight lean to a periwinkle blue gray - a purply blue slant - as opposed to a slate that I would anticipate it showing in *average* interior light exposures.

Hmmm...so maybe I should buy a color to go of that then too? You seem to have an amazing grasp of color, funcolors...hence the name, I guess? I am so very grateful for the time that you've taken. May I ask if this is what you do in real life, or is it just a keen interest? It's an amazing talent, either way! Thanks again!

Have you checked out Benjamin Moore Mt. Rainier Gray or that color card? Mt. Rainier is 2129-60, darker is Winter Lake 2129-50 or Normandy 2129-40.

Kathe

Funcolors, do you dream in colors? You really do have a grasp of color~are you in the 'biz' of paint, an 'artiste', photographer, interior designer~you must do something where color is involved. Do you NAME colors for a paint company? I give. ;o)

lol! Patty, yeah is somethin' like that. ;~)

Don't you wonder which one it is Patty? ;) Either way, I'm grateful for fun's talent!

I'm hoping to get to SW today if it works with the kiddos schedules. I can't wait! Is it strange that I get so excited about paint? LOL

mpmg - You really can't go by how those small paint samples look. It looks completely different once it's on the wall. I have a larger sample of Mount Saint Anne (9x3?) and it definitely looks blue. You can sign up as a designer on the BM website and they will send you the larger samples for free. That being said, it will still sometimes look different on the wall than it does on the larger sample.

Laurie

Mpmg46 the color swatches can be very misleading. Once on your walls, gray will look blue. Another color you can try is SW Sea Salt. We used that on our masterbath walls and it's fabulous! Exactly what you've described, and I matched it to our slate!

I checked and it is a Behr color. The swatch on the computer definitely looks way more gray than it is IRL. In fact, when it first went on the wall I freaked because it looked baby blue! Once all the walls were painted that was no longer the case. Honestly, it is my favorite room now!

My bathroom is painted in BM Beach Glass. Mount Saint Anne and Atmospheric were my other choices that I debated over. It looks blue-gray to me, with a slight green/aqua tone. The window is on the north side of the house, so I'm sure that affects how it looks.
Blues and yellows are the toughest paint colors to pick, IMO. It's not just you!
Jen

This thread has me LOL. I am picturing thousands of us wandering around with blank stares muttering to ourselves, "I just want to find that PERFECT blue-grey for my ____ room...is that so much to ask?" Teehee.

I love blues.
From my experience, if you want blue gray, you would have to do more gray than blue.

My favorite blue/gray is Skylight by Farrow & Ball. It's soft & muted & light at the same time. It read blue in the morning and more gray at night or low light.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Another beautiful gray/green/ blue is Atlantic by Martha stewart for Sears/Kmart paint.

{{!gwi}}

And for those who are looking for blue w/ aqua undertone, Farrow & Ball's borrowed light is just amazing.

borrowed light in lowlight
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borrowed in bright light

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Light blue is a muted grey on the chip blue on the wall kinda color. A bit of green undertone.

{{!gwi}}

another pretty color is Blue-gray by F&B.
{{!gwi}}

I guess I'm not help here huh :-D LOL
Blues are easy to pick for me. IMO blues are all about the undertone, the light source, and accompanying colors. The right blue is very much depending on what goes w/ it and the blue that's great for a high light white tile setting would look totally wrong in a low-light cream travertine bathroom if you know what I mean. :-)

I have a harder time w/ taupe- it's tough to get a taupe that doesn't read too pink when it's on the wall.

Droooooool - the first picture is just stunning!

Yes, I agree that Farrow & Ball does blue probably better than anyone. I also depend on Pratt & Lambert as a resource for the blue-greens and green-blues - they have several really good ones.

I'm expecting - any minute - the delivery of two gallons of Farrow & Ball's Blue Ground #210. Completely dismantled and emptied my home office and it's ready for paint and a little revitalization as soon as it gets here!

mpmg46, have you looked at BM Timberwolf?

My Master Bedroom is painted that and it is a gray blue. Everyone that sees it, just loves it. I know how it is when YOU know what the color is and just can't seem to find it-lol.

Funcolors: I love blue ground -- I was going to do it w/ white beadboard for our kids' bathroom but it needs a lot of light to look right. I went w/ skylight instead.

Another beautiful color from F&B is Arsenic. Difficult, but beautiful. :-)

Don't forget to post pic when you are done w/ Blue ground!

mpmg,
I have Mount sainte anne from BM in my basement bathroom. There are no windows in the room but a good amount of lighting and it looks blue with hints of green in it.
When my girlfriend saw it , she said I thought that you said you painted it blue , that is green.

{{gwi:1452032}}

This is a pic of BM Timberwolf in my Master bedroom.

{{!gwi}}

I think you should try the Mt Saint Anne...in my experience, colors get much less gray when you get them on the wall.

Did you see the picture of mount saint anne here on GW, or did you buy a sample pot?

We chose BM mount saine anne (CC-710) for our bathroom walls because it picked up the colour of the veining on our marble floor. I'm really pleased with it; I see it more as a grayed blue with green undertones, rather than the other way around, but of course a lot depends on the lighting in your room.

Good luck!

Oh my goodness! Thank you everyone! So many pictures and such fabulous suggestions.

My DH told me that he went into the bathroom the other night and he turned the lights back off while he was in there b/c all of the different color samples I've painted everywhere made his eyes hurt! LOL I'm so glad to know that others feel blues are a hard color to get right.

So I stopped by SW yesterday and tried Beacon Gray. Put it on last night. I looked at all of the other fabulous suggestions and it was b/w that and Iced Slate, but that one seemed to throw purple a bit. It is really hard to do based on a tiny swatch I know. If only they came in poster board size that you could borrow! :)

So the Beacon Gray looks like a very pale blue in our bathroom. I think I'm going to get Mount Saint Anne (lyban-it's your bathroom that I saw the pic of!) So I'm blaming you for my rollercoaster I'm on at the moment! LOL

I don't think I have access to F&B here. But it sounds like a fabulous company from what everyone says.
Msrose: How interesting about signing up on BM...hmm.

lukkirish: I've now learned from this experience just what you said. What I can't understand is the why part though. Anyone know why gray comes out blue on a wall? It's like magic. :)

Bella: Oh how lovely they all are. I can't stop looking at them. If my DH comes home from work to find our whole house in blue, I'll know who to blame!

funcolors-thanks. You are a gift!

TY everyone. I have to run my son to his sunday school class...sorry I don't have time to respond to everyone's kindness at the moment. I'm very grateful though!!!

We are spending the day with family today...although I know this will be spinning in the back of my mind all day! Back to SW tomorrow I hope! Thanks again! And really, I'm not completely obsessive, although it certainly appears that way right now! LOL Have a great day all! Thanks again!

I would also recommend you try a sample of Mount Saint Anne before you discard it. I have it in my MBR and MBA and it sounds like what you're looking for. The paint chip definitely looks grayer than the paint on the wall. I tried four or five blue/gray colors with green undertones to find the right one, and it was MSA. SW can do a sample quart that is extremely close (or maybe right on), if you want an inexpensive way to check it.

Here it is in my north facing (unfinished) rooms, which are a bit dark and hard to photograph.

I did not read all the replies, in case it has been mentioned already, sorry to repeat. This is what I would do (and I DO do this!):
Find a room with your inspiration color. First call the magazine or catalog to see if they know what the paint color is. Pottery Barn lists their paint colors so try looking there first. If not, try to match paint chips to the color in the picture.
Look for the colors that have 4 components in the mix. This is full spectrum or close to it. Sherwin Williams will list on the chips what the mix is so you can tell immediately if it is full spectrum.
Buy a quart after doing all this and paint it on poster board.
Stop stressing. I sympathize, but if you are buying more than 3 quarts (at the most) go back to stage one. Really, it's not that hard and very likely any of the quarts you bought will work.
Have confidence!

I am in exactly the same boat as you! I have been looking for the right blue/green/gray for over a year(!) to use in various rooms in my house, and I could never find one that looked right to me. I found ones that had too much green in them look odd and unnatural on the walls. Only very specific colors (pure white, black, or very dark woods) worked with these colors. Even ivory or off-white drapes looked odd next to these colors.

I was about to give up and go with a warm neutral, and on a whim I tried a sample of Woodlawn Blue. I find it to be almost perfect. Even though it's a blue, somehow it looks 'creamy' to me and doesn't feel cold. There is a good bit of green in it so it doesn't have that "plain old standard blue" feeling to me. The green makes it very interesting and unique. There is also enough gray to give it an adult or designer feeling and sophistication without causing it to go cold or die on the walls. Actually, due to the poor lighting in my room, I almost wish the color was a tad more vibrant, so I've been toying with the idea of getting it mixed at 125% or 150%, but AT LEAST I finally having a color picked. Hallelujah! I was getting embarassed to go into the paint store anymore.

We have BM mount saint anne in our bedroom & I love, love it! The room has lots of light - north & west windows. It is a beautiful blue/grey color. We have white painted trim in the room. I would post a pic, but still have not figured out how to post pics. It's on my to-do list (along with many other things. We gets lots of compliments on the color. I just saw this post & maybe you have painted already! But if not, wanted you to know that BM mount saint anne worked for us.

Try not to write off a color based on the chip.

Try not to write off a color until you have put a LARGE (I'm talking whole wall here) swatch of it on the wall.

I've tried lots of greys that went blue when I put them up when I was looking for a flat grey. My boys rm. color looked grey until it went up and it is the most serene peaceful blue that is not pastel.

It's also dangerous to write off a color if you haven't held anything else up to it after it's dried.

My poop brown LR went head on green (in the nicest of ways) once I loaded my furniture and decor back in. How happy was I since I wanted green, it looked green on the chip and my heart sank when I saw it on the walls. But then my heart soared when I got all of my stuff back in.

What you put back in can take the color one way or the other too.

Has anyone used BM Healing Aloe? It's a soothing, spa-like pale blue-green-gray.

How about "Slip" which is a blue-lilac paint in Benjamin Moore's Affinity collection?

I haven’t read the other posts, but Benjamin Moore Mount Saint Anne sounds like a great option for you. I just painted a room and it’s fabulous- blue with grey undertones