50 Shades of Gray…….

OK – I am sorry, I know an over used title, but I could not resist. Even though I think I am one of the few people in America that did not read the series.  I hope everyone had a great weekend. It was another cold one in my neck of the woods and for about an hour a blizzard with whiteouts went through our area….

I got a lot done this weekend which felt great – and even got some painting done which felt even better – more on that later.

So, if you can guess based on the title, I am going to paint our bathroom a couple of shades of gray. I did not realize that there were so many shades of gray out there. I love the color gray for clothing and wear it often, especially in the winter – there is nothing like a nice pair of gray slacks or a light gray sweater for a staple in your wardrobe – but I have to be honest, up until late I never really loved gray for home decor.

So what caused the change of heart? I think the big push for me was painting our mudroom Sparrow by Benjamin Moore, I did not realize how much gray made up the color Sparrow, for some reason it looked more green to me at first. But now there is a battle going on in that wing of our house between the Sage in my bathroom and the Sparrow in my hall.

Since I went bold in my hall –  and very bright and cheery in the Laundry room, I feel that the powder room should be more tranquil in nature. Thus why I decided to go gray, because who knew gray would now be considered a neutral?

So I started my search out on Pinterest. Just typing in “gray powder room” and then started looking all of the options. I definitely am steering more to the lighter shades of gray vs more of the dark tones, and since the mudroom hall is dark I wanted the bathroom to be light for balance.

So while searching I came across this picture by one of my favorite designers Emily Henderson. It was a picture of a bedroom she designed for this series on her blog that I loved called the Curbly Family House makeover. She worked on various room’s in the couple’s house and painted their bedroom Crushed Ice by Sherwin Williams. I remember loving this room and the giant wonderful gold mirror. I love how Emily brings in vintage furniture and simple design to a space.

Then I went through the whole series again and saw this other awesome color called Aloof Gray that she used in their living room. There is something about this space that I just love – I would love to have elements of this space in my house  – I just love the round coffee table and the color on the wall is so neutral you would never know it was gray – aren’t these rooms to die for – can’t you see your self living in these spaces? (sorry for some reason the image would not load).

I have to say I love Pinterest. I think it is a great resource to search for ideas. I love that I can see how other people are using the item or color in a way I would like to do and it either reinforces the idea or lets me know I need to move in another direction.

So last Monday morning I got up and decided to try a couple of grays out on my wall to make sure that I was comfortable with my selection. I had a couple of different shades of gray left over from other projects I used this summer. So up on the wall the following colors went.

          Serious Gray      Colorado Gray   Comfort Gray    Crushed Ice    Aloof Gray.

• Serious Gray was to dark – but love this color for an accent piece in a room – I painted a dresser this color this summer.

• Colorado Gray was too blue – but both of the boys loved this color the best.

• Comfort Gray again is a nice accent color and also would not mind it maybe on a lower half of a room if the room was bigger.

•  Crushed Ice is lighter and I thought if I painted the room all this color it might be too white against the beadboard. So I thought I would paint the top half of the wall the crushed ice and then the beadboard section Aloof Gray.

So I am very excited to get started on the room. I have ordered the beadboard wallpaper from Lowes and it should arrive hopefully by Wednesday of this week. I have read online that you can’t wallpaper over semi-gloss paint so I have to research that tomorrow. Just in case, I picked up a quart of primer at Sherwin Williams today to paint the walls with it this week. The thing is we have our annual Superbowl party this week so I hope I can get the room done – if not our guests are going to see a spotted bathroom.

Have you ever painted gray in your house – what is your favorite shade of gray? I have to say the this color is growing on me – it is starting to show it’s face in other rooms of the house as well…you will just have to see where later J

Have a great Monday folks!