Gray walls look like baby blue

9 years ago

We're redoing our master bedroom, used one coat of primer and two of paint that looked just the right gray on the chip.

Well, it looks baby blue. We had old 1980's oak (orangy) furniture in there that we just got rid of. The room is now empty and I "think" (or maybe hope) that it is less blue.

We are having light wood look porcelain installed on the floors tomorrow so I can't/won't/don't feel like repainting.

Any tricks (other than repainting to make it look less blue)? Will adding "true blue" accessories make it look more gray?

I was thinking of getting a gray/beige comforter but that will probably make the walls look more blue compared to the "real" gray.

Thanks!

Featured Answer

Annie Deighnaugh

9 years ago

If you look at BM's color gallery, you will see that the color up top on the strip is the same color below only lighter. So if you look down the strip you will be able to see what color the gray you are looking at is derived from...you'll be able to see if it is a blue gray or a green gray, etc. Unfortunately not all color strips are like that. But it is really helpful when selecting shades of gray.

Or you can place gray paint chips side by side to see the differences....

Gray lake (green)
{{gwi:2137039}}

Whirlpool (blue violet)
{{gwi:2137040}}

Mirage white (red violet)
{{gwi:2137041}}

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Comments (7)

Bunny
9 years ago
Ah, the lesson we all learn when we trust our perception of a paint chip. GW abounds with similar stories, so you aren't alone.

I'm not a color expert, but I believe that blue and orange are opposite one another on the color wheel and cause one another to pop. So the orangey furniture would really bring out the blue.

It's possible your gray will emerge. However, I'm not a proponent of throwing good money after bad, of trying to fix one extremely fixable problem with a bevy of changes to compensate for it.
roarah
9 years ago
Greys are tough. They look different according to light exposure and all seem to lean either towards blue, purple or green undertones in my experience. More than furnishings and finishings your lighting will have the greatest impact on how your finished grey paint will appear. You can try playing with different light bulbs but if you really hate the tone now you should redo it today before the floors are installed.
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User
9 years ago
Low light will make it look more gray and less blue.
Lars
9 years ago
Colors are always more intense once you paint a whole room, as the walls and ceiling reflect the same color back onto each other. What color is your ceiling? That will make a big difference.

Also, an empty room will allow the walls to reflect the color back onto each other, and so once you add furnishings, those will absorb some of the color and it may look less intense, depending on the colors of what you add.

Adding drapes will help. If you add more blue to the room, it will only make the walls look more blue, unless it is a very dark blue. If you add a neutral gray, it will look slightly blue because that is the color that the walls will reflect onto it. Black would absorb some of the color - light colors will reflect it. A complementary color (such as orange) will also make it look more intense by contrast,

My recommendation would be to add some navy blue accents to the room, providing you like navy blue. Low light also helps, as Tibbix says, but also the color temperature of the light bulbs you use will make a big difference at night. If you use warm light, the blue will be less intense, but that will not help during the day. You could add beige sheers to your windows to make daylight a bit more warm.

Lars
graywings123
9 years ago
What is the paint color you used?
ttodd
9 years ago
Linelle summed it up in the first sentence.
I'd be interested to know what color you used too. I gave up on trying to get a grey/ blue in our bedroom. I think I must be hypersensitive to color. It all screamed BLUE!!!!! once I got my walls painted. Over and over and over again. Even w/ the lightest color on the chip. Right now even the BM Simply White that I used whispers yellow to me at certain times of the day. I hate it.

Gray walls look like baby blue

Annie Deighnaugh

Comments (7)

Bunny

roarah

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Lars

graywings123

ttodd

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