Lighter Shade of Gray

Gray or grey?  I’m on the hunt to find an amazing lighter shade of gray.  I kind of experimented with paint colors in this rental unit b/c I’m still searching for the perfect color and I figure the tenants won’t mind if the rooms are slightly different colors, right? They may assume it’s just the lighting b/c they are so subtle-y different.  Or maybe they’ll go crazy walking from room to room tilting their heads and whipping their heads around suddenly like I do trying to catch the color changing or something..

The colors I used are all along the lines of Fixer Upper – like a grayish white. I read an article that the up and coming colors trending in the home decor world are closer to white so that’s the kind of colors that I picked. I’m learning that lighting and the placement of the man on the moon drastically affect what paint colors look like. Actually, I have no idea why paint colors look so drastically different in different places – to me, it’s like one of the mysteries of the universe that I just have to accept and remain permanently confused about.

I used some of the colors that I used in the other unit we updated in this same building and they look completely different – go figure. I thought I’d found THE color and it looks totally different in this unit. Whatever. I suppose it’s still acceptable just not exactly what I thought it would be. I need to quit being so picky about colors for a rental unit. Most landlords just use antique white and call it a day.

I actually have this problem with everything – I’m constantly searching for the best thing that’s going to top all other things (when picking books, trying recipes, etc – always on the hunt for the magical unicorn that doesn’t exist – or maybe it does but I just haven’t captured it yet (see! it’s a problem)).  This should be a disorder – we could name it Magical Unicorn Disorder – I’m sure the drug companies would be all over it if they ever read this post.  We’ll start seeing infomercials about a new drug that will quash Magical Unicorn Disorder.  Are you constantly searching for the magical unicorn?  Take this drug 3 times/day with koolaid and you will no longer believe unicorns exist – you will be dead on the inside.  Side effects may include adult diapers, the shakes, a severe addiction that you can’t kick, etc – you know the standard list.  :-p  I digress.

Here’s the colors that I tried:

Glidden’s Silver Birch @ Home Depot:  I LOVE this color.  It’s my favorite!  It’s light, bright and neutral gray with not much hint of other colors.  I like that.  I hate to look at a gray and think that it looks blue or purple.  I wish I would’ve used this one everywhere I like it so much.

Gracious Greige HGTV by Sherwin Williams (HGSW2456): I’ve already reviewed this one in another post: 5 shades of gray on this website.  But it happens to look completely different in this unit.  🙁  I still like it but it’s not my favorite in the lighter shades of gray category.  It’s still neutral, but when compared with the other shades it’s not my favorite anymore.  It seems like it has a hint of purple when it’s in this unit which kind of throws me off – again probably the lighting.  There’s LED lighting everywhere. In the other unit, there was no hint of purple. UPDATE: Found out why this color was looking purplish – we bought cheap blinds from Menard’s that were slightly blueish in tint – once we replaced these the purple tint was gone. Love this color much more now! Very neutral yet still retaining some warmth.

Basalt Powder HGTV by Sherwin Williams (HGSW2457): I like this color.  It’s very modern looking and nice and bright.  It really brightens up the room.  It does seem like it has a hint of purple but it’s not overpowering – it’s very neutral.  Maybe the hint of purple keeps the gray from looking too cold – not sure.  It’s just a hint though – still very neutral.  I give it a thumbs up.  We used this color for the living room and dining room area of the rental.

Benjamin Moore’s Halo: This color is really nice too.  It has a hint of green to it but it’s very neutral.  I used it in the master bedroom and the kitchen.  I actually got this at Home Depot!  Did you know that you could get different brands of paint at Home Depot?  I just found out and I’m so excited about this!!!!  I never used to get other brands b/c I didn’t want to have to go to special paint stores and make a separate trip – my kids can only handle one stop when it comes to “boring” stores.  But now that I found out that Home Depot will make other brands of paint as long as they are in the system – I can broaden my horizons!  This particular paint color was recommended on some web sites by design pros so I decided to try it out and it’s very classy, classic and safe – nice color.  I would use this all over too b/c it’s pretty safe and nice.

Sherwin William’s White Duck SW7010:  This is not actually a gray color but it is an off white type of color so I thought I’d include it.  We used this in a bathroom instead of antique white and it looks really nice.  It’s more of a yellowy cream color that is slightly darker than antique white and therefore a little warmer.  It gets a thumbs up also.  It would be another good allover color if you were looking for a white-ish color but not white.

Anyone else have lighter shades of gray that they like – please comment below.  Help me find my unicorn..  I won’t stop – can’t stop..

See my other post on other shades of gray:
5 shades of gray

Here’s some pictures below.  I tried to post several so you could see it in different lighting – I know, the lighting isn’t great:

Benjamin Moore’s Halo:

Gracious Greige:

Basalt Powder (in the Dining Room):

Basalt Powder (on the left) & Silver Birch (on the right):

Silver Birch:

White Duck: