Paint Troubles

Little did I know when I decided to have light gray as my main hallway/kitchen/living room color that it would be a little bit of a journey to pick that right color... 

Brecken's old room was the perfect shade of gray-Polished Silver from Valspar; looking great in all types of light. Since I loved the gray so much, I thought it would be an easy choice for the hallways, ect. I tested a bit of a leftover can I had on a few walls and was a little uneasy about the color in the different lights. Instead of going with my gut, we had the hallways and stairways painted in this color. And guess what? I didn't love it. Instead of being the "true" cool gray I was going for, it looked completely light blue in some lights. Not what I had in mind... 

So then I started trying out other shades of gray to find that perfect one... Most didn't look right - still too blue. And then I found it - the shade I was looking for - Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore (color matched in Sherwin Williams). I had seen it pinned as the "best paint color ever" and I thought I would look into it. Looking at the swatch, I was reluctant to try it at first since it looked like a very tan- gray instead of that pure light gray I was going for. 

pinterest source

After trying it on the walls in a few places, it looked almost whitish in color instead of tan. After painting it in the hallways, kitchen and family room, it certainly is the perfect color of light gray I was going for. In some lights it looks like a very light, almost whitish gray, in others it is the perfect light gray, and in other light, it seems to have a yellowish tone about it. I was worried about it going well with the tile in the kitchen since that was a cool gray, but this gray seems to do just fine. It looks great with the black cabinets and creamy white trim (that I am slowly getting around to).

 So if you are looking to paint something gray, here are a few of my tips - because picking gray paint can be tricky.. so I've learned.

1. Make sure to try the paint out and on many different walls. For months I had swatches painted on different walls so I could get a sense of what the natural light would do to the color throughout the day. It is painful to find a swatch you potentially like, get a sample, paint it and hate it - but it is easier than painting an entire wall - or sets of walls in a hallway... 

2. Just because a color looks great in another room, doesn't mean it will look good in all rooms. I think I heard this advice, but it took having to experience it to understand. A shade of gray that looked great in Brecken's old room with one window, looked totally different in hallways and main areas of the house that had many windows. Test out the color and go with your gut. 

3. I found that in an area with lots of natural light, a gray with more brown or yellow in it looked better than a gray with blue. 

4. Try out Revere Pewter... It's such a great color! :)