If you are looking for a gray, ask me. I have researched and tried so many grays it would make your head spin. Just ask my husband about our stash of different gray paint test pots.
We had to pick our exterior paint color in a hurry. I had three days to decide. Don't get me wrong, when it comes to design, I can make a decision in a hurry, but I prefer to have a week to look at paint samples.
The house we bought was originally red. It is a saltbox house, which is a New England style of American colonial architecture. I knew before we bought the house that I was going to paint it a different color. Its funny how many people asked if we were going to paint it. The first question 50% of people that knew the house asked when they heard we were buying it was "are you going to paint it". The other 50% said "you know that means you're in charge of the triangle, right?"(a garden at the fork of the road... more on that later). And then their second question would be "are you going to keep it red?". I knew I was going to paint the house eventually, but it was a priority further down the road. I also wanted to give the previous owner a little comfort and not paint it right away. Little did we know that we were going to be required to paint it before we could close. I'll never forget having to tell previous owner, a very sweet 87 year old lady, that we had to paint her house before she moved out and that I wanted to paint it gray. She put her head in her hands and just shook her head. But, my mind wasn't going to change. I had the image below in my head - and you know when a lady's mind is made up... well it's made up!
The exterior of the house, though it had awesome bones, needed a face lift. It needed a lighter color exterior to highlight the traditional architectural features.
Once the word was out that the house was to be painted gray, text and calls from the compound, family, and friends... "gray, what kind of gray, Summer Town gray?" Hmm... no, my reply was "more of a New England gray". Sometimes I would get blank stares, sometimes I would get an "ahhhh..." (meaning, I'm picking up what your putting down), but finally after the third time my husband heard it, he said "what does that even mean"...
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Well, I will tell you. All grays have an undertone. A "Summer Town" gray has green undertones.
What I was meaning by a "New England gray" is that it has more of a blue undertone. A crisp gray that was to be paired with a clean white, and a preppy pop of black. Oh, how I dream of a natural weathered wood.
Three things you should know about gray:
1) It is spelled with an "a" not an "e"
2) Undertones - grays have lots of undertones and can take on any shade from green to purple and any temperature from warm to cool
3) Gray is sensitive to light and shadows - make sure you test your gray on all four walls of your room to see how it will take on the light especially during different times of the day. (Or in our case - different facades of the house).
Below are four of my favorite grays:
BM Coventry Gray HC-169 BM Kendall Charcoal HC-166
BM Rockport Gray HC-105 BM Gray Owl OC-52
*** Our Home Sweet Home is now painted BM Coventry Gray - it changes color with the sun and shade. Sometimes it is a pale gray and other times it is a more moody blue/gray.
(via)
We had to pick our exterior paint color in a hurry. I had three days to decide. Don't get me wrong, when it comes to design, I can make a decision in a hurry, but I prefer to have a week to look at paint samples.
The house we bought was originally red. It is a saltbox house, which is a New England style of American colonial architecture. I knew before we bought the house that I was going to paint it a different color. Its funny how many people asked if we were going to paint it. The first question 50% of people that knew the house asked when they heard we were buying it was "are you going to paint it". The other 50% said "you know that means you're in charge of the triangle, right?"(a garden at the fork of the road... more on that later). And then their second question would be "are you going to keep it red?". I knew I was going to paint the house eventually, but it was a priority further down the road. I also wanted to give the previous owner a little comfort and not paint it right away. Little did we know that we were going to be required to paint it before we could close. I'll never forget having to tell previous owner, a very sweet 87 year old lady, that we had to paint her house before she moved out and that I wanted to paint it gray. She put her head in her hands and just shook her head. But, my mind wasn't going to change. I had the image below in my head - and you know when a lady's mind is made up... well it's made up!
(via)
The exterior of the house, though it had awesome bones, needed a face lift. It needed a lighter color exterior to highlight the traditional architectural features.
(via)
Well, I will tell you. All grays have an undertone. A "Summer Town" gray has green undertones.
What I was meaning by a "New England gray" is that it has more of a blue undertone. A crisp gray that was to be paired with a clean white, and a preppy pop of black. Oh, how I dream of a natural weathered wood.
Three things you should know about gray:
1) It is spelled with an "a" not an "e"
2) Undertones - grays have lots of undertones and can take on any shade from green to purple and any temperature from warm to cool
3) Gray is sensitive to light and shadows - make sure you test your gray on all four walls of your room to see how it will take on the light especially during different times of the day. (Or in our case - different facades of the house).
Below are four of my favorite grays:
*** Our Home Sweet Home is now painted BM Coventry Gray - it changes color with the sun and shade. Sometimes it is a pale gray and other times it is a more moody blue/gray.
