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Paint Design Dilemma

Which gray paint color goes best with dark hardwood floors?

3 years ago

Happy New Year everyone! Are there any paint color specialists in here? I have dark hardwood floors (dark walnut). I’m having a hard time deciding if grey paint looks nice with it. If so, which undertone is best? Any undertones to stay away from? Some samples I have are:

Big Chill

On The Rocks

Classic Gray

Repose Gray

Gray Owl

Stonington Gray

I would love to hear your experiences. Thank you!

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Comments (6)

PRO
malek_clean
3 years ago

I'm not specialist,but I like
PRO
Beth H. :
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Malek, those aren't a dark walnut. and that paint color is too blue for those yellow toned floors.

LC- you have some decent samples. but without knowing the type of lighting you get in the room, it's hard to pick one. your best bet is to get some samples and try them on the walls.

these are warmer grays and would look nice w/walnut. (I have walnut and used Light pewter)

Pale Oak is another nice one. paired here w/White Dove. (I like Simply White better)

Big Chill is a silver gray, so it should be fine. Crushed Ice is nice too

This one is BM Barren Plain
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Thank you graywings and redbazel for your input. I just wish I could install the floors first and wait a month before painting but then it would be so difficult to move them again since they must be emptied and I don't want my floors scratched. I want a happy color on the wall that is very neutral and will not compete with my new floors and will also be easy to work in that is not so white as the Linen White. I will go get a deck of Aura Paint chips and see what is similar to Bone White but maybe nicer? I would like to try a paint that does not outgas for as long as the BM Pearl Finish Paint that I used. BM Bone White in my family room is warm and everyone loves the color but I have a lot of light in that room. I wonder if it would look nice in the office. I learned that even trying samples on the wall or sample boards does not tell the whole story until the paint is on the wall and the furniture is back in the room. I wish the painter would have painted behind all the cabinets and did a good job since then I would just leave things alone for a year but I think now is the time to paint since the cabinets are heavy and I do not want to scratch my floors by waiting at a later time. The only problem is then I will have to allow several days after the paint job to install the wood so the room can be acclimated with less moisture from the latex paint.
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If you must have gray, go as light as possible. The lack of natural light in your home will darken the floor by several steps. The lighter floor will turn darker than the darker floor simply because you don't have a lot of light. And do yourself a favour and PRIME your walls with white primer. Do that before you install the flooring. This way you will have a true sense of the colour of EVERYTHING. Right now you are seeing greige in the flooring because you have a yellow based wall colour. Before you pick a paint colour, you need to rid yourself of the existing colour. Once the existing colour is gone and the floors have been installed, you can then make paint swatches (on artists' board using tester sized tins of paint). You then MOVE the artists boards (with the paint colour on them) around your home. You leave them in each room to view the 5 times of day (early morning, mid-morning, afternoon, evening, night). You will quickly find out which sample board 'fails' because of the colours it will turn in different lighting situations. And if you are thinking of changing your lighting, please do it BEFORE you install the wood and before you paint the walls.
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Or to try and compliment but some other options to go a different route. I will keep looking too. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Montserrat-Veritas-Vivid-Copper-7-in-W-x-60-in-L-SPC-Vinyl-Plank-Flooring-18-06-sq-ft-MNST-2019067/313772236 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Montserrat-Veritas-Enriched-Cedar-7-in-W-x-60-in-L-SPC-Vinyl-Plank-Flooring-18-06-sq-ft-MNST-2019065/313772229 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Deco-Products-HydroStop-Miami-Waves-Floor-Wall-DIY-7-2-in-W-x-48-in-L-Rigid-Core-SPC-Click-Floating-Vinyl-Plank-24-00-sq-ft-case-RCV1/312113732
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It's too bad you don't like your floor color. Your floors are beautiful and harmonize perfectly with your stone fireplace. Most darker floor stains, with current furniture, will give you a very dark room and not go as well with the fireplace which has some golden touches. What would help are some golden accents, a larger rug with gold accents to make it all work. Also a much paler shade of gray on the walls would balance out your two dark sofas. So just suggesting a different approach before you go to all the bother of darker floors that may not work nearly as well as your current floors do with you beautiful fireplace. A large painting in this palette on your far wall with gold pillows on your dark sofas would look amazing--no restaining needed!
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L C
Original Author
3 years ago
Thank you for your responses. Yes, my floors are darker than that, malek.

I should have added that my painter matched the trim and door color to SW Extra White. I wasn’t planning on painting the doors, but I could always start over with a warmer white.

We are currently doing all new lights so that will improve the artificial lighting. I would say our house faces north the most..it’s a little angled.
PRO
Beth H. :
3 years ago
then grab some samples and try them on the walls. only way you'll know for sure. (BTW, warmer bulbs will obviously impart a yellow tint. anything under 3500 is going to be warm. 4000K is fine for the kitchen and office work spaces)
Marylee H
3 years ago
You may also find it helpful to consider paint colour from a different perspective.

Every grey paint is a knocked-back, greyed-out child colour of an identifiable, fully saturated Hue Parent.

That information alone gives you useful detail about a colour.

Knowing where within that Hue Family a colour sits can also give you an idea if you are potentially dealing with a colour which may hint more peachy or more greenish for example.

And thirdly all the colours you mention are near neutrals and therfore far more susceptible to changes in light quality than their more saturated relatives. All have the potential to shift colour in imbalanced lighting. In order to know how each will behave it’s important to test carefully in your space with your light.

See the Colorography Lab at The Land of Color for further info on some of these colours key attributes, so that you might be able to filter out some possibilities before sampling.
Marylee H
3 years ago

For example, in relatively balanced light, Stonington Gray will appear as a very near neutral grey. Some may describe it as a ‘true’ grey. But low Chroma, near neutrals from this Hue Family neighbourhood are prone to shifting blueish in imbalanced lighting.

Some designers such as this use colour shift to their advantage in order to combine with other harmonising furniture, textiles and accessories- which you can do, when how the colour renders is not a surprise in a particular space.

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