COTE DE TEXAS: Gray is the New Turquoise?

Gray is the New Turquoise?

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Everywhere I turn I see gray.   Or, should I be chic for once and say gris or greige or griege?   I actually never knew you could spell greige – griege, both ways are correct.  But, let’s get back to just plain gray.   It’s everywhere.    I know it is in my house.   A few months ago, I painted my yellow walls gray.  Couldn’t do it fast enough.  Every time I show something gray on the blog, I get tons of emails  wanting to know the paint color.  I can’t tell you how times I’ve been asked exactly what GRAY did Sally Wheat use in her kitchen   (Benjamin Moore Fieldstone.)     Has everyone gone nuts over gray?  A lot of bloggers it seems are currently going gray:   Visual Vamp, Velvet and Linen, and Trouvais, to name four, including moi.    I even wrote a blog story on a shop filled with gray Swedish antiques called The Gray Door.  If you are planning to repaint your house gray,    be forewarned!    Painting gray is serious business.  I went through 15, yes, 15 gray paint samples before I settled on one.  Gray paint can suddenly go either purple, lilac, blue, yellow,  taupe or just plain Lady Blah Blah before it even dries.    Carefully choose your gray and always, always, test it before you go out and buy 50 gallons of one color.    Whether you are on the band wagon or not, gray is everywhere these days.  Check out these two blogs that write exclusively about the color:   Greige (or griege) HERE and The Perfect Gray HERE.  

Now, I am perfectly aware that gray was declared the new black  last year, and Pantone declared turquoise as THE color of 2010, so I was somewhat surprised at this month’s Elle Decor magazine.    While reading it last week, I had to stop – every single ad was GRAY!!!  I swear!  You don’t believe me?  Well, almost every ad was gray, as you will see below.   

 

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This is the gray I love.   Rustic, worn, antique – not the contemporary dark bluish gray. 

 

 

 

This light gray with a hint of lilac is so pretty mixed with Swedish antiques.  This beauty comes from Splendid Willow’s house!!!  Gorgeous.

 

 

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Gray with a hint of yellow in it.  Light gray mixed with darker gray.  

 

 image Beautiful cool grays and blue mixed together – Cabbages and Roses. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chilly, cold gray.  Gray that makes you want to grab a sweater and light a fire and warm it up with gilt mirrors.  And then move to Belgium. 

 

 image Gerrie Bremermann bragged to Southern Accents that she always uses the same palette of creams, whites, ivories.   Well, here she went with gray.  

 

 

 image  I’ve always loved this dining room by Barbara Westbrook.   It’s painted Tobacco by Pratt and Lambert, yet it looks gray to me! 

 

 

 image From Belgian Pearls, gah!   Too gorgeous for words.  Gray paneled walls, crystal chandelier, French doors, the ceiling, the vanishing threshold  (thanks to Tara Dillard) !!!!! 

 

 

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Belgian gray mixed with taupe and cream linens. 

 

 

imageI always thought Sally Wheat lived in a gray house.  We ALL know her kitchen is gray, but last Friday she repainted her house a Farrow and Ball gray that went blue.  Her husband walked in and said  “Are the walls blue?”   No, but your black eye will be blue in about five minutes!!!  Here are her walls before she painted then – the shutters are definitely gray.

 

 

 

 

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In Houston my favorites decor stores are gray  - like Indulge, filled with furniture from France’s Blanc d’Ivoire (she just got in a whole new shipment of their gorgeous gray furniture BTW.)

 

 

 imageTwenty Six Twenty on Joanel is filled with gray antiques.   Always.  

 

 

 

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 At M. Naeve, even the floors are painted white and gray checkerboard.   

 

 

 

image   Last year Tami Owen did a beautiful showhouse in West University filled with grays and whites, like the Master Bedroom. 

 

 

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My own paint dilemma started after I put down white marble in my kitchen.   The yellow walls had to go, ASAP.  It looked terrible with the new marble.

 

 

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The Pratt And Lambert Feathered Gray looks so much better in my house.    It’s a very light gray, bordering on the taupish side.   Not for someone who wants a deep, bluish gray. 

 

 

 

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The dining room shown here in yellow.

 

   image I like it so much better in gray, but the yellow drapes and table cloth will probably be changed out soon.  

 

 

The Visual Vamp’s dining room was bright red and peacock blue.   She really went crazy with gray paint.

 

 

The same dining room today – all in grays and whites!   I love this change. 

 

 

Brooke Giannetti from Velvet and Linen has been updating her house.  Here, her sunroom is all Shabby Chic in pinks and greens, before.

 

 

Now:  it is her gorgeous study in Swedish grays.   Beautiful!!!!

 

 

Recently, Brooke and her husband took their children’s all white study here……

 

 

And went all industrial grays.   What a great space for their 3 teenagers!!!

 

 

 

Trish from the blog Trouvais has gone just a little crazy painting her room gray.    Here are some of her choices.   In the end, I think she mixed the feathered gray (my gray) with a Benjamin Moore white.   But who knows what she ended up with?  She’s probably in some asylum, straight jacketed to keep her away from gray paint and brushes!!!!

 

                                                                                                                                                                                   

A peek at the project – the gray is light and subtle, but so pretty!!! 

 

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BEFORE:    The Yellow House HERE:  This picture cracks me up!  Boy, can I relate!  

 

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AFTER:   She ended up with Coventry Gray by Benjamin Moore, which she said “went a little blue.”  Ah, yes.  I know that problem.  But I think the paint job looks wonderful! 

 

 

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xJavierx showed these popular designer gray colors on his Flickr tour. HERE.

 

The September issue of Elle Decor was FILLED with ads featuring gray.   I was just dumbfounded.  Ad after ad after ad was gray.    Gray  must really be the hottest color out there.   But wasn’t the color of the year supposed to be raspberry or mauve?   That’s what everyone who went to the European decor shows said – mauve was everywhere.  And those who have attended decor shows in the U.S. say purple is THE color.   But, didn’t Pantone declare that turquoise was THE color of 2010.    This shade exactly:

 

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So, I ask  you, if Turquoise is the color of 2010,   why are all the advertisers pushing gray so heavily?  Here are all the ads in this month’s Elle Decor featuring gray.  Let me tell you – most of the ads in the magazines are here, few did not feature gray.  

 

 

 

image Kravet went with a big spread on golds and grays from Thom Filicia.  

 

 

image Plantation went with gray sofa, blue-gray walls and even the zebra rug is gray.  

 

 

image Baker used a very light silvery gray on their sofas and walls mixed with the golds again.  

 

image Even the rugs are all gray.

 

Ugh.  Yards and yards of contemporary gray, my least favorite.    This is SO not me!!!

 

 

imageimage For their leathers, Larsen brought in a gray and brown pillow.  It could have been any color, but they went with this. 

 

 

image Arhaus chose gray and cream stripes and grayish taupish upholstery.   Love this!!!!

 

 

imageMacy’s got hip with contemporary gray bedding and walls.

 

 

image Even LEVELOR blinds got into the act!!!!   Looks like my old yellow walls.

 

 

image Travers dark grays with yellow.   Sally Wheat keeps telling me she loves that combination and maybe she has a point!?!!   Love this ad!

 

 

image Bernhardt mixed grays, light and dark with two blue chairs.  Pretty.

 

 

imageSeriously, what is going here?   Have you ever seen so many ads featuring gray????

 

 

image Gray walls, white bedding, brown wood. 

 

image OK OK OK, I get the point already!  Gray is hot!

 

 

image Seriously, did American Leather HAVE to feature gray?   Why not the color of the year, turquoise? 

 

 

image The final ad features my favorite gray – Swedish gray furniture, soft grayish taupe on the wood work, grayish white painted floors.  

 

With all this gray in the advertising, you would think the September Elle Decor featured houses with a lot of gray, but no.   Not a one.  Which was a huge relief after the sea of gray ads.   I can’t remember another color that has so dominated like this.  Can you?    Gray is the new black again, I guess.  Personally, I like to wear turquoise, not decorate with it!

 

 

 

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AND – IN OTHER NEWS,  Beadboard Upcountry in Brenham, Texas is having  a trunk show featuring their wonderful line of winter capes and gloves, shown above.   The show runs through this Wednesday – so HURRY!!!!   Go HERE to get all the details.   I have one of these capes myself, and it is truly beautiful!

119 comments :

  1. OMG You mentioned me and Lady Blah Blah in the same post!!!!
    I am so lucky that I chose my one and only greige six years ago for the guest bedroom, and used it again recently in the dining room and the kitchen.
    Two (rich girl) clients have used it with great success too, after they went through 15 fancy paint samples.
    My paint color is magic. It just works any and everywhere in any light. And if you read my blog you know I get it at Wal Mart.
    Love you Joni. This is a really good post, even I wasn't in it LOL.
    xo xo

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  2. Great post! So many wonderful gray images in one spot. Will just have to look again and again! Thanks.

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  3. PS Your yellow drapes still look great!
    xo xo

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  4. You're reminding me of Auntie Mame with all of your redecorating all of the time ;)

    Beautiful post, J. All of the muted tones are so soothing yet crisp. Can't wait to see Trouvais' big reveal, that looks gadddjuzzz already!

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  5. You write the longest blog entries.

    Yea. So the gray thing worries me... particularly because I painted my living room a mix of 2 metallic BM colors. White +Silver. I had it stried and it looks awesome.

    It worries me because how tiresome is gray going to be in 5 years? Maybe even 2?

    Your kitchen looks awesome btw.

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  6. You must have read my mind when you wrote this post! I JUST bought a can of gray paint to try in my living room. A very dark room - north facing - with tall ceilings - I chose Benjamin Moore Wickham Gray, but have yet to cover the walls. Hope I like it. I don't want lilac.

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  7. I have a grey guest room Joni, and I love it!! When I started thinking about changing colors in my house and I feared that taupe wouldn't work - I thought back to that grey color and it's still in the forefront of my mind. I'm just not ready to handle that big of a task right now. :)

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  8. Beautiful piece, Joni, and I thank you so much for the mention. Your images are all so wonderful - they make me fall in love with gray all over again. Even before I began blogging, I remember your now-famous post on Sally Wheat's kitchen as the one that set my heart afire for gray!

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  9. our entire home is painted in two shades of gray- SW "functional gray" and BM "smoked oyster." I absolutely love it!

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  10. I love gray/grey/griege/greige....always have. I wonder if it's so popular because it offers a subtlety that allows for incorporating the existing - it doesn't demand complete change, just modification. I think in our current economic climate, this is a relief from austerity, which might be the only other alternative if all is thrown out with the bathwater.

    You know what's funny? - I have to blame the staff at Frost Bros. in Austin for my inability to embrace grey and yellow together. It just was not done, according to my Dad's menswear salesman from 20 something years ago who could make a trucker look like a king. So in my mind, it's still not done. Maybe I'm missing out?

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  11. Joni, I just had a conversation about gray with a fellow blogger today. I recently recieved my antiqed brass sconces in the softest gold. I was writing a blog post and pulling some pictures that had the soft golds creams and white I love so much and lo and behold I noticed the ones that I really loved had gray walls with the soft gold, oh so pretty. I am not a gray girl nor will I be painting gray on my walls but I so see what you mean!!! I have observed the same thing and wondered about the color of the year. Maybe 2011 which is just around the corner will definitely be GRAY!!! Loved this post I will let you know when mine goes up.Always a great observer, that is our Joni!!! Lucky us, Kathysue

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  12. I never thought "greige" would become part of my vocabulary, but I must say I use it all the time. I adore gray interiors! Especially Thom Felicia, his color palette is amazing.

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  13. How do you spell grey anyway??? GrAy in America, GrEy in England. Just a little fact about the word Gray. I am really liking the gray, no wonder I have been inspired lately by gray, all of that subliminal messaging!

    Thanks for the inspiration
    --Gretchen O.

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  14. I have to tell you- when I was just a young girl-probably about 12 or so my mother painted her kitchen grey. We all laughed and called it Quaker Grey (being from PA and all)...but a few months after that I went to visit a shop owner in our little town. I was going to babysit her grandchildren and their whole apartment (above their store) was painted in varying tones of gray. We are talking 1964 here...and I was so impressed with how the paintings and beautiful rugs stood out against that grey..and she had a deep grey couch. That image stuck in my mind for many years. When we remodeled this house I chose a gray for our bedroom that has a taupe-ish tint to it and although I love it-I am beginning to tire of it after 4 years...but that's just me. I do love it in the rooms that you posted though. gorgeous! Diana

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  15. What do you bet gray will be the 2011 color of the year? I'm more of a Provence girl that Swedish, so a Frenchy blue-gray is my weakness. Though I confess the cooler, minimalist grays are pretty hard to resist. Not a sign of it in my house yet, and I'm not in the mood to paint. Knowing me and my way-behind-the-trend self, I'll go gray when everyone is back into yellow and red. ;)

    Great post, Joni!
    Linsey

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  16. I think The Cottage Child hit the nail on the head: Grey "offers a subtlety that allows for incorporating the existing". You don't have to go out and buy new furniture, curtains, lamps, cushions and accessories when you paint your walls grey. Something that can't be said of turquoise, purple or mauve. Whether your furniture is painted, polished wood or lacquered, it all looks good with grey.

    Also, for those who've been living with white or beige walls, or for those who are afraid of color, grey is less of a bold move than turquoise or purple. And both men and women seem to like grey. So you don't have to convince hubby that he'll just love the new bedroom color!

    And finally, we've all seen those beautiful pictures of Belgian homes. While most of us can't afford to redo the house in "Belgian", we can afford to buy a few cans of paint and maybe some accessories.

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  17. how long will gray be here? if i paint my walls gray this month, it will probably be "out" by christmas! thanks, joni--

    cammie churdar

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  18. Like you, in my last house, I had used more golden tones. In this house all of the rooms are variations of gray and I can not tell you how much I LOVE each and every one of them. They are so soothing and comforting to live with. I couldn't be happier with my color choices!
    Fun post Joni!
    joan

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  19. I love grey too, and my last two rooms I painted grey:

    http://homeandharmony.blogspot.com/2010/06/laundering.html

    and

    http://homeandharmony.blogspot.com/2010/07/bathing-bohemian.html

    I enjoyed this post! I hope we'll be seeing more and more grey!

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  20. It seems like you work so hard on your posts--very well researched and thorough!
    I think the gray is a continuation of the Belgian love affair--maybe burlap and industrial metals have morphed into a softer gray? Great post

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  21. Ok....isn't there a point where mob mentality takes over. "If I see it everywhere...I must love it?". Could this not be the harvest gold and avocado green in the 70's...mauve and green/grey in the 80's...gold/yellows in the 90's??

    I have to say...and flog me if you will...but I see depressing when I see gray. Sorry, I do. I have seen beautiful renditions of it...but also dull and depressing ones.

    But...the economy is depressing, so maybe it hits the nail on the head.

    Just my 2, currently undervalued, cents.

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  22. You are absolutely right, it's everywhere. I was actually thinking earlier about all the grey and what would be next, lol.

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  23. My answer? Not that you asked. :) I think grey is the new neutral...like beige, white, ivory, etc. The bolder colors like turquoise, purple, mauve (though not so bold, I guess), and the like are more accent colors. But what the hell do I know?!

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  24. While I really like most of the images you posted with the grays and greige, I need more color in my life!

    As I look around my home, it actually has neutral walls (the other neutral- creams rather than grays), but I pop color accents in and out all of the time.

    Joni, your posts are like a presentation: well researched and you always learn something.

    -Ann

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  25. i agree with you...not a fan of contemporary grey. i also love the combo of grey and ivory.

    brilliant post!

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  26. I love your dining room with the yellow. I think the gray brings a much more interesting element to the room. I would leave the drapes and the table cloth as is!

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  27. goregous pics of the bloggers' houses, and cannot believe all the gray ads.

    trends are taking over so quickly!!!

    love the aged grays
    xoxo,
    L

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  28. I think gray is everywhere because it is subtle and unassuming. Anything you put with it is highlighted instead of overshadowed by bold color. I also think the fact that there are so many variations of gray (warm, cool, taupe, blue...) is another reason why it is so popular. It can work with practically anything.

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  29. Joni, great post! Honestly I thought gray has been so hot for so long that it was out again, but I am eternally shocked to see more and more and more of it. I do love all the grays in photos and gray looks great on me, but it is utterly depressing in my house. I think it looks great in those ramshackle falling down character French house type estate houses and not in ugly contemporary houses where you don't have 12ft ceilings and bags of character and/or tons of perfect expensive furniture to go with it. Can't just put one grey piece as easily with all the brown, so you need to change the whole bloody room.

    So I will admire from afar and never adopt this one.

    xo Terri

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  30. LOVE this post because its so fun to see color trends. I'm not ready for turquoise to be over though! Although all your gray images were pretty convincing...or is it grey?? lol

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  31. I LOVE gray - for interiors, fashion, everything. It is such a great neutral that makes everything else look better. And although I like turquoise, I really can only stand it as an accent. And I don't think of gray as trendy at all - of course it can be made to look trendy - but is really a timeless, class, elegant color.

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  32. I do love many shades of gray, however also wonder if it will get really tired soon because we have seen so much of it. For myself I need color even if it is in the accents.

    Very well thought out post Joni!

    Karena
    Art by Karena

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  33. Joni - great post!.
    I know, you are right, we are seeing a lot gray, greige or griege...
    It is such an elegant, understated color. and there are some many shades of it. ... that you really can't go wrong. Love it!

    Your gold/yellow drapery look beautiful... the gold and the greige.. how elegant!

    xo

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  34. So glad to hear that gray is decidedly IN. (Now I can cancel my hair appointment!) I adore gray so much my master bathroom remodel is riffing on gray; I only hope I can complete it while the trend lasts. Thanks for a great post!

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  35. Gray is so elegant, clean, pure, and perfect as far as I am concerned. Love, love this post. Am going to come back and look again later!
    Teresa (Splendid Sass)

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  36. Joni, as much as I love color, I also love grey. My cousin painted his Georgetown townhouse living room grey about twenty years ago, and I went wild over it. He's an architect, and grey has always figured prominently in his choice of colors: car, clothes, walls. The grey in that house was a darker grey, and it looked fabulous against all the white molding and doors.

    I loved every single picture you posted, and your friend's room that she switched with those wonderful antique doors on the front of her cabinet just sends my heart racing. It is SO great looking.

    I think you know that I just bought some Joni greige chairs. I still haven't gotten them in place, and I can hardly wait.

    Ever since I was in my twenties, I have had a taupe room somewhere in our house and sometimes more than one. And turquoise has always been a favorite. But you're correct in stating that grey/greige is ruling in those print ads in Elle Deoor!

    BTW, I'm still on a blog break, but I dropped by to say a quick, "Hi," and I managed to ramble through several paragrahs!

    XO,

    Sheila

    P.S. Everything you do is perfection... not only the color of your kitchen, but also that fabulous clock on your kitchen soffit. Love it!

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  37. What a post Joni (as usual!)! Gray is settling itself in and saying..."I'm not going anywhere, I'm a classic, so love me or love me!"

    We've been playing around with grays for our fireplace wall for-ever, and we're still stuck...Revere Pewter (BM) is taking the cake, but it's a bit taupey...thinking of bulking it up by 50%. Now my mind is happily churning again...thank you!
    xo J~

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  38. Bonjour à vous!!
    It's always a delight to visit a so welcoming and elegant place.
    I really enjoy the style
    ✿ Atelier Hélène Flont.

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  39. You are so right! We don't call you the "Queen" for nothing! I usually RUN from trends, you will not see any sack pillows in my house or my clients ect. But I have fallen in love with gray. The home I am working on right now will have the entire downstairs painted GRAY. My daughter painted her whole house gray including the babies room. I just love it and wonder when that happened... I remember just a few years ago a friend brought a new house and all the walls were painted gray and she refused to move in until it was painted! I stood behind her with my arms crossed too... lol

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  40. You should NOT, I repeat, NOT change out those yellow curtains. The are like the jewels in the room!!! Especially with the gray walls.....
    Sherry

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  41. I didn't know gray was out and now it's back in? Because gray is an equal combination of all three primaries, one little drop of one primarily will swing it in a different direction. I don't think it would be possible to choose the perfect gray without removing the reference of any other color.

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  42. And, pray tell. What's a girl to do if she does not like gray? I love it on blogs, in photos, in other's homes. Ya know how some color(s) just do not jive with your soul? That's me & gray. Can't do it. But do enjoy it as a spectator sport. :)

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  43. I painted my walls "Ethereal Mood" by Sherwin Williams last year. It changes with the light of the day and seasons. My vintage pink sofa looks amazing with the walls, and my artwork stands out beautifully as well. I love this grey, and enjoy seeing the images in your post~

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  44. Predicting the future is pointless, because who knew a:)there would be a blogoshpere and b:)the hottest topic in interior design media would be Gray. I had it in a bedroom in the mid 80's and while my Mother thought it was drab, I found it to read like pastels and loved how it made other colors shine. I like it so much, I don't mind if it goes green, or lavender, or taupe. As long is it is not the color of my hair--I like it. BTW, I love it with your yellow drapes and tablecloth and predict that bright, acid yellow is going to be the next big accent color. Great post!
    Liz

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  45. Bookmarking this post, Joni! I find I am increasingly drawn to neutral colors ---- and in redoing our master bath next year....I'm leaning toward Calcutta marble and gray - with a hint of glamour!

    xo Elizabeth

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  46. I have been using gray for years. Pulled the gray, pink and purple from a river rock fireplace a few years ago and created a beautiful cottage living room for a client. lately, gray and gold seem to be in favor as I have done two master bedrooms in that color combination. I find it a soothing neutral that can be warm i.e. a lush gray velvet, or industrial i.e. a zinc table top. Seems like it is here to stay. Great post!

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  47. Joni, Farrow and Ball actually have greys and yellows paired together in one of their 2010 suggestion booklets. Down Pipe (a very dark grey) might work with those beautiful curtains of yours. And who knows, y'all might be the trendsetters for us all!

    I also think B. Moore Fieldstone is gorgeous in our Texas light --

    -- H.A.

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  48. Your yellow curtains look dusty gold in the picture and look very lush...rather updated compared to the other pictures.
    Regards

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  49. Joni,
    You are bang on...when I saw the Thom Filicia ad for Kravet, I knew gray wasn't going anywhere! So keep your yellow in the dining room, it's such a perfect cheerful counterpoint to the gray, but a la Français vs. modern!

    I also happen to like gray with turquoise (or aqua) so I feel I can't go wrong.

    Fun, inspiring post!

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  50. Gray has been my favorite color for years, and while ill-informed people have though me "weird" or "depressed" because of it, I have always loved gray's calm and sophistication.

    Gray will never be out.

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  51. even the Girl in your last pic is on Grey. My hall bath is Westchester Grey from S.W. it is all lux and not blue or purple. I am so tired of browns (excluding woods). It's funny grey use to be so in before browns. Watch Captain Ron Look at the interior of their house, ALL GREY. But the people that do not look at house mags and see those ads and get persueded, they think yuck-old trend- when they hear us talk about greys, the masses will like it when we are tired of it and moving on.

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  52. I just painted my dining room gray but it went lilac/purple at night and the husband isn't thrilled... back to the drawing board. Maybe Europe should ask the people what color they think is up and coming next instead of telling us because we always seem to prove them wrong. Love the gray post thank you!

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  53. Lovely post, thorough and well written as usual! I am finding that I need to stop wearing Grey, I have Grey eyes and Greying hair, and it is washing me out. (I was trying to break out of Black, and love Greys...) So- as attractive as these rooms are, I would be worried about surrounding myself with colors I couldn't wear...
    Sent this over to a group of Grey wall lovers to drool over.

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  54. Joni,

    Thank you so much for the mention! I am in love with grey, gray, greige {of course}. It can be so many things and is a wonderful back drop to a collected life.

    Thank you again!

    Best,
    Christina

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  55. Maybe its my age but GRAY is the better color to live with long term and most of us don't repaint every 18 months. I love turquoise but it's too exuberant for me. My daughter-in-law just painted an accent wall turquoise for our soon to arrive first grand baby girl.

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  56. Seriously here, I'm about to go into cardiac arrest, I feel grayed out!

    On a lark I bought a two bedroom brick house just to remodel not to live in. I tore out the entire front and put in a glass curtain wall - yes, the whole front is glass all two stories of it. Inside I left as much natural wood showing as possible and stained it mahogany with Brazilian Cherry floors. Now what to do with the walls. I didn't want stark contrast; nothing that would take away from the wood and glass. So I chose gray. Never for a minute would I have gray in a house of mine but I intended to rent this house out, so gray it was. The Washington Post featured my house on the front page of the Sunday Real Estate Section, gray walls and all. My tenants never complain or ask to repaint the walls. Every thing goes with gray, it doesn't show soil and best of all it makes the walls go away and all that wood and all that glass are free to deliver their awesome visual power.

    Thank you so much for making my choices 6 years ago so current! Ann

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  57. While I loved SEEING all these lovely images I am truly NOT a gray person. I LOVE color! And rich, fall like colors: browns, rusts, black, etc. I love the colors in my home now and can not imagine LIVING with gray. It is pretty, to me, to just look at. When I sit in my living room, which is painted in 2 shades of a rusty color, I smile and feel so content. I think that is what ours home should do. For years I copied a friend and was never REALLY happy, glad I finally found my OWN colors!!!! Thanks for sharing all this, I truly enjoy your blog. Wish I had the $$$$ to see what you would think of my home:):):) XO, PInky

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  58. Not in a straitjacket yet (don't give my husband any ideas!). Love every photo..esp. 2nd one. Also love how major an update your gray walls added to your home without needing to switch out your drapes or accessories. I started with grays in bathrooms a few years ago...always have gravitated towards the warmer, taupy shades. Master bedroom looks great...but keep tweaking it every few days! Thanks for an exhaustively great gray post, Joni. XO Trish

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  59. Ok, I am ALWAYS a step behind you. My Friday post is of course on Gray. Or is it Grey?

    Perfect post as usual. Stop by on Friday. :)

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  60. Loved this post Joni and that striped chair from Arhaus I LOVE it !!!

    I have been a gray, grey etc LOL person for quite sometime, I find it very neutral & soothing..

    I love those drapes in your diningroom I wouldn't be in a hurry to get rid of them....

    Have a great week,
    Kathy :)

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  61. The grey/taupe has got to be fabulous looking, time to repaint. Wonderful post.

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  62. Joni: This was a really great post, and you go so in depth here: wonderful. I had seen this retweeted earlier today and had to come over.
    I'm going to Maison et Objet in a few weeks and will be interested to see if gray dominates. Last year it was definitely that purple/mauve.
    We have just bought a house, and are moving to, North Carolina and yes.....gray is probably what I will do. Huge cathedral ceilings (very different from my present 100 yr. old Tudor!) so it will be lots of fun to decorate!

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  63. Wait, I thought "greige" was a recent portmanteau created from "grey" and "beige" (we had a word for that: "taupe". Greige is really just grey; anyway, I digress...)

    How could it be proper to spell it "griege", which would be pronounced, "greeeeeezh"? Aha...the French have the same portmanteau! "Gris" plus "beige". Now, I can sleep. Thanks, Joni. You're the best.

    -Jennie

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  64. No need to change the yellow silk curtains in the newly
    painted dining room. You need that touch of vibrancy against a colour that is restrained, otherwise the whole
    thing becomes somewhat anaemic! One of my favourite
    combinations is mustard yellow wool curtains against
    lilac grey walls~very John Fowler, as we've all seen.

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  65. Love your thoughtful, honest posts. I love gray, but I can't do it in my home (bits here and there in accessories, and I'm painting gray stripes on my son's ceiling)...I still love white. Maybe it's my Swedish genes?

    Your gray is lovely. Julie

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  66. I have caught the grey bug too and have just painted all my old terracotta and sandstone finish pots in the garden a dark zinc like grey and they look fabulous!

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  67. Joni--This is a fabulous post. Color will always be popular, but I am glad to see neutral trying something different. I have been greatly influenced by the gray trend. I am doing an 1880's historic home next. I had known I would go neutral to showcase the architecture, but now I definitely think I will be using a panoply of grays in this wonderful old Queen Ann. Thought provoking post!

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  68. I love all the grays paired with the Swedish antiques.

    And your kitchen is amazing. I would never frown while cooking any meal! I would be content just burning food then open that fantastic window over the sink...yes, lovely post.

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  69. Thanks Joni! I do so appreciate the mention! I just got back from market in NYC. You are right on...Grey is it because it is a Neutral, and goes with, brights, pastels, just like taupe and chocolate, ....But the nuances of grey are more provacative than any neutral in any color.....You can tweak greys with many subtle colorations, that is why you don't see many blogs on the color brown.....Beautiful images! I amso a grey girl......xoxox

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  70. For me, gray was the answer to marital bliss. Ok, maybe not literally, but gray goes beautifully with Steve's industrial pieces and my Swedish beauties. We painted our children's study Farrow and Ball "Lamp Room Gray". It's more of an industrial "blue gray". Steve wants to paint his office "Down Pipe"! It will definitely be a man cave once we paint those walls!
    I've actually been having so much fun with paint lately. It is a fairly inexpensive way to change the mood of a room.
    Thank you for including my rooms in your gorgeous post. As you know (or should know), your blog is what I hope my blog will be when it grows up :)
    xo xo
    Brooke

    BTW: Love your drapes but look forward to seeing what you do next!

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  71. Thank you, thank you for mentioning me in your post. Loved this post as I am a lover of gray right now! I really enjoyed going through the pictures and studying each one. I'm very flattered to be included and I appreciate the compliment. I have to say this paint color is one I've loved from day one in my living room. Now the dining room...that's another story because the room gets late afernoon light and the color completely changes.
    Love your blog!!
    ~Michelle

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  72. I went gray too in my bedroom, SW Ellie Gray, definitely not a blue gray, just a fab gray gray!
    I like what you have done in your home!
    xx

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  73. OMG, Joni! I have twelve different grays/greige/griege samples on my guest bedroom walls right now and still can't decide. But I'm also using turquoise because it will probably always be my favorite color -- mostly to wear, but now I'm incorporating it more into my home. I even painted my front door a shade of turquoise in the spring when I was so frustrated that nothing else was getting done as far as remodeling/redecoratingat the time. So now I'm thinking it should be gray!!!! My husband will have me committed I'm sure. I need to know what gray Visual Vamp uses if it's good in all lights in all rooms because it's going to be in most of the rooms in our house when I finally decide what it is. Help!!!!!

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  74. When I repainted my living room from sage green(which was there when we moved in), I went with SW Windsor Greige. I loved it and it lightened it up so much... but now about a year later, I'm contemplating something even lighter, and slightly more gray. Not cold or blue or lilac, but less yellow.

    Great post! And your kitchen and dining look wonderful!! I've saved your color to try in my house! ;-)

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  75. Hi Joni,
    I love your blog! I did the photo styling for the Arhaus ad- and i'm so thrilled you like it! We are currently featuring a few different looks in the catalog, but you are spot on with the greige rage!

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  76. Do I dare utter this out loud? Could it be time to go in another direction if EVERYONE is 'doing' gray? (ouch! was that you Joni...slapping my arm?)

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  77. Joni! How on earth did you not know gray was so beautiful ;) I am a big big lover of all things gray..

    Seeing the picture from twenty six twenty I soo miss my concrete wall with the garden table and all my gray objects ;(

    Must make another one soon!

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  78. Maurie@GraciousInteriors.blogspotAugust 19, 2010 at 7:29 AM

    Joni, You're my kind of girl--"I like to wear turquoise not decorate with it." I don't know how often I have had that same thought. To me turquoise, looks good in in a scarf or a handcrafted heavy piece of Southwestern jewelry. So, aside from something wearable, people should think long-term. Grays aren't in your face, so they have endurance. Even swimming pools look better in gray! Thanks for the post--It must have taken hours to find and scan all these. You compiled a real treasure trove of grays for us!

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  79. Gee, I'm still trying to find the perfect white and out comes gray. Actually, I painted my living room last year with a color called "parchment" from Fine Paints of Europe. It has warm gray undertones in it and looks great with a yellow silk sofa (buttery yellow, of course - not lemon or neon). I've used corals and blue/greens in the accompanying fabrics and it works. While I admire strong wall coloring in magazines, you can't beat the neutrals if you love color in your fabrics.

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  80. You've inspired me to start a blog of my own - I hope you will stop by.

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  81. Great review on the color trend of gray, I had not idea it was so hot right now! I personally love gris designs because you can do so much with it, neutralize a room or add a few accent colors. Really liked your kitchen change of color, really compliments the marble and makes the room feel so fresh and clean ;) My favorite renovation was your friend's industrial studio for the teenagers, the gray paint looked so good with the hardwood flooring! Can't wait to add some gray to my home!

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  82. Joni, what a post! Gray is always right for me (and as a Swede it is so part of my DNA). And to see so many wonderful friends in one and the same post all loving gray -- maybe we can form a Union! (:

    I love your kitchen! I have one room left in my house with mellow yellow walls. When I see your walls, I am thinking they will have to go (as soon as I get back from my vacation in Oregon)!

    Summer hugs to you, Mon

    P.S And thank you for the mention! You made my day!

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  83. Although I think your photos are lovely. I could never go gray. I am in L-O-V-E with color!!!!!!!!

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  84. Awesome post. I found myself laughing along with it because you are sooo right that grays are so everywhere and yet so difficult to get right, esp in paint colors. I know those neutrals well! So great to have that paint color guide, even though nothing replaces painting the swatches on the walls. A lot of hard work, but a paint color that *makes* the room is so worth it!

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  85. Grey is timeless, contemporary, traditional, it is relaxing, elegant, and all those gorgeous you have chosen images show it so well. As for your dining room the yellow silk is so subtle that compliment the grey instead of contrasting it. I would leave it as it is. The kitchen of course became perfect with the grey.

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  86. I went gray when we moved three years ago. I love my gray bedroom, just walking in makes me feel rested and serene(which is sometimes hard with 8 yr old twins under foot). The same gray in the family room really improved the art work. It pops after getting off of the white walls. I'm working on getting my husband to let me paint the kitchen cabinets. (I did the family room when he was getting a hip replaced or that wouldn't have happened, but he loves it now.)

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  87. I could have an affair with grey, but turquoise will always be my true love : )

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  88. If your budget is not large enough to afford all the pieces you would like to buy, maybe you are looking for a deep seating group and a dining table and chairs. If you were to price this in teak wood or wrought iron the cost could easily exceed $5,000 and that’s way out of most people’s reach.

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  89. I am also determined to wear more of it this autumn. With plum lipstick.

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  90. Thanks everyone for the great posts. And thanks for saying that about my curtains, but I disagree. must change. ugggh.

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  91. I never thought that your blog is this famous. There are lot people who comment in this post. Just like them, I am so amazed in all the furniture’s and other items that you post.

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  92. I do think that after all this sophisticated greige, we will see an explosion of color - in a witty way- I love gray with color. I mean gray flannel with a pop of a colorful cashmere sweater looks so classic and so rich.
    I love gray with yellow, a mustard yellow.
    Gray with eggplant and deep dark sapphire or navy too~
    Wonderful post, again.
    pve

    ReplyDelete
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  94. I don't like modern grey either - it's cold, harsh and institutional. I love grey when it's done Velvet & Linen/Visual Vamp/Trouvais style i.e. with character and lots of old pieces to counteract the grey.

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  95. I would say that gray is the new chocolate brown. I was never a huge fan of chocolate brown, but I will admit that I am loving all of the gray.

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  96. I love gray painted walls but especially love furniture that is painted gray. I just purchased a set of bookshelves and can't wait to paint them gray. I'm also in love with a dark gray wall with light gray draperies.

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  97. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  98. Thank you so much for providing me with a morning of wonderful grey inspiration...I have organically come to realize how much I love grey and how beautifully calming it is in a room. It is also my favorite trick for toning down a color that you think you love on the little swatch, but turns out to be a touch too intense when you start working with it. I feel just as you do about those wonderful soft greys with a touch of taupe. I think they are the perfect backdrop to antique furniture and probably the most perfect color for a kitchen.

    So glad I discovered your lovely blog today!
    Have a wonderful week!

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  99. Could you please share the white you used to paint your kitchen cabinets? Love it and the perfect white is so hard to find. :-)

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  100. Joni, I love the grays and am trying to make the transformation from my reds and yellows; the pictures are so inspiring and I have saved them of course. In the meantime, if you want to find a home for the beautiful yellow curtains in your dining room I would find a special gorgeous place for them. let me know, price, details, etc.
    Julie in Fort Worth.

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  101. My sister said she was painting a room gray, and I flew into a panic. She doesn't see pink undertones and no matter what color she picks, it always winds up an awful color. Well, it turned out to be that pink taupe gray.

    She has to read this post!

    By the way, I love your yellow drapes.

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  102. While all white rooms look lovely in pictures, I cannot live with them. Hence, Grey and I have been good friends for quite some time.

    There are several benjamin moore shades in my house. I love to use them for trim with linen white walls. Ours is a 200 yr old historic house and this looks so amazing here. I love to pair it with a pop of color, most recently a plum couch. In another room it is paired with cottage red. Turquoise also looks fantasticnwith grey.

    BM indian river is our latest color, we used it throughout our downstairs as well as on our kitchen cabinets. It flows beautifully, and the best part is that it looks different in every room.

    A wonderful post today, thank you! Greige and A Perfect Grey are on my everyday reading list too. Love all of you!

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  103. Some people say they cant do grey, but it doesnt have to be the only colour in a room. I am in England and have just painted my hallway in Farrow & Ball's Cornforth White. I think grey is great with white, yellow, aqua, teal etc etc. Its just another neutral like taupe.

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  104. Turquoise will never have the class, versatility and staying power of gray! I love it - my exterior is pale grey, the central room is light gray, my bedding is natural linen and I'm just about to paint my sunroom floor diagonal chequered pale gray and off white. It can be warm, it can be cool, and has more interest than white (not knocking white, but I have matured...)

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  105. fabulous post! Your blog is the BEST!!!!!!!!!

    Thank you for your continual inspiration!!

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  106. Well crap, I just painted my kitchen turquoise! Guess I should get some gray plates?

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  107. I actually landed on this post looking for ideas for using grey WITH turquoise. I'm combining both in the living room of my new place- I replaced the old blue sofa with a new one in dark, smoky gray, but I love my turquoise club chair too much to give it up. The blue living room in this place is giving way to something new in the next place. I will probably go with a light, bluish grey on the walls.

    I think grey persists because it really does work with almost any color, especially when you use light grey. It's truly neutral.

    But please save me from greige. I truly despise any iteration of beige. Cream, ivory, even ecru I can handle and love... but please, no beige. Adding a brownish tone to a grey makes me feel a bit ill.

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  108. Gray, a perennial favorite. Our old house was all one color of gray throughout. Eveyone always asked what colors (plural) we used because, naturally, every room looked different depending on its orientation. It was easy to touch up, too, never having to rifle through files or cans of old paint to see what color was on what wall. Current home, same scheme just a different gray. Everyone raves!

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  109. good your pic is very good and grab facility is very o some but this time is very stylist so any degine use for gray moving to texas , thanks!

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  110. Great read! I want to see a follow up to this topic...

    Pat

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