The truth is there are few, very few, true neutral greys. Thinking that all grays have either a green, purple, blue, pink, brown undertone is just plain the wrong way to think about it. It's bassackwards. And this is why/how: It's not a matter of looking at grey paint colors and trying to determine their colorful undertones. It's a matter of *seeing* colors that have been grayed down SO FAR they look almost neutral, achromatic, colorless -- or *grey*. Also correct to say toned down, knocked back or desaturated instead of grayed down. Some say there's no difference - it's a matter of semantics- undertone vs. grayed down. But it's not. It's a matter of a fundamental understanding of how color works three-dimensionally in the built environment Plus, it's not how architectural paint is mixed - architectural paint isn't mixed from the point of view of adding color to create an undertone. It's mixed from the perspective of chromaticity (or colorfulness) and managing it down - desaturating, knocking back, toning down. Hyper-focusing on just one part of a color, the undertones, instead of reaching for a more holistic embrace of overall color characteristics especially when dealing with color three-dimensionally isn't wise. If you have little natural light and are relying on recessed lighting, then I'm guessing your room is basically lit by halogens. Halogens produce clean, *white* light and render colors accurately. So that's what we're essentially working with - clean, white light that will render your paint colors accurately. The Master Palette from ICI/Dulux which is now AkzoNobel has one of best collections of grey paint colors. Under that AkzoNobel umbrella is the brand Glidden. So that means that The Master Palette is also used for the Glidden brand. Which means you can go to The Home Depot, because they carry Glidden Paint, and get color chips from The Master Palette. Here are six greys I think you should try (get chips): Silver Cloud 30YY 63/024 Sutton Place 30YY 54/030 Zeppelin 30YY 46/036 Grey Pearl 10YY 63/027 Roma Haze 10YY 54/034 Chinchilla White 10YY 46/041

Thank you all for your interesting comments. This is today's photos, which makes me think that the blooms might possibly be deformed by the heat or otherwise it might be the plant's age: BUSH SHOT I did not initially intend to purchase Harlow Carr but my eye caught the purple tones amongst the other new roses for the season and I was quite astonished that all the plants were labled as Harlow Carr as I expected a 'pure pink' rose (which is why I did not buy it initially). All the specimens had similar lavender /purple undertones (which I loved) and none of the open flowers were clear pink. I then decided to try one and see what happens. Then I happened upon that mixed bud...

I also love taupe, but getting one that is just borderline and doesn't go flat gray or pink or purple is tough and will also depend on the other colors in the room. I have 2 go to taupe paints that I try first and usually one works, but if not I know what direction I need to move. One can be purchased at Benjamin Moore - have them look up Devine Color Cappuccino and make you a sample. (Devine Color was bought out by Valspar/Sherwin Williams). I think this one is going to be darker than you want, but is that color that chameleons between gray and beige. The lighter version and the one that I think most closely resembles your photo is C2 Filament.

Anyone?