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Paint Home Decorating

Can I have a grey wall with brown furniture?

5 years ago

I am looking to change my paint in my main living areas. I have a open floor plan but most of my furn is traditional and in brown tones. My ques is can I go with a grey paint that will still go with my furnitur?

Featured Answer

aprilneverends

5 years ago

"brown" covers hundreds of shades

same with "gray".

some darker chocolate browns will work with even bluiesh gray. Depends on the scale, materials you talk about (is it flooring? wood? leather? fabric?), everything else that's going in the room.

many other browns won't like gray next to them unless it's indeed very warm gray bordering greige bordering taupe

some, you can make work by finding accents etc that incorporate all of your colors.

(as already mentioned)

Can be harder to do, can be easy to do.

I'm afraid our answers can be only very generalized, unless we see a photo, or several of your room/s, and get a sense of what is there already, and what you're trying to achieve, and then we can be more helpful in specific suggestions.

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Comments (6)

User
5 years ago
Possibly. Grey is a cool neutral, brown is a warm neutral. Because of that big chunks of grey and brown in the same room will look off. What color are your floors?

You can get a greige wall color like SW accessible beige that works with warm and cool colors.

If you love grey and really want a true grey for a wall color you can help the eye blend the two colors by using rugs, pillows and accessories that have grey and brown in the pattern.
Yayagal
5 years ago
I would suggest you get a greige tone paint so it will definitely blend. I use BM smokey taupe, it's gorgeous.
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Hi - the combination are in complementary Hue Families, so they work there. But maybe your designer thinks it may not play so well with your available light,in context with your other fixed surfaces? Might it feel too dark next to your dark wood floor? Does the Designer think more contrast with the flooring would be more effective? Something to note though, about warm near neutrals from that Yellow-Red Hue family neighbourhood- they can be prone to shifting purplish in imbalanced lighting, so test really carefully in your space. (Boards, not wall). If you do like it but it shifts purple, moving further clockwise away from this zone and looking for something similar maybe the answer. Again, you woukd have to try a large chip ir sample to know just how far to move. Stone Harbor is a little further clockwise but that may not be quite enough.
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EvaElizabeth
5 years ago
I think sometimes gray, or cool, can help tone down a lot of traditional browns, but like others said, the spectrum is huge so pictures would help. My mom has a huge set of high quality library bookcases and entertainment furniture straight out of the 80’s and 90’s. She wanted to use them in her basement when they built their new house. They chose a light gray and the undertones seem to highlight the warmth in the oak without screaming “yellow oak.” It’s really like magic, it all looks updated and much more balanced. I think a warm color would have looked awful in her case, it would be suffocating. It did help that they were able to plan lighting at the same time, and the tile she used in the kitchenette is a fantastic blend of warm and cool. It turned out so well, she kept a high end tan/gold/camel pull-out sofa she was planning to replace! She found a rug and pillows that were more neutral and cool and the sofa looks almost like a color focal point now.
gracie01 zone5 SW of Chicago
5 years ago
I have SW Gateway Gray in my FR and kitchen with brown couches and dark brown cabinets. I had it mixed at 50%. It is like a "greige" and I love it.
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gigib_08
5 years ago
I agree with Melanie, SW accessible beige would work wonderfully.
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