Deciding that the nursery would have gray walls was easy. Choosing the perfect shade of gray, however, was not.
I knew I wanted a neutral gray - nothing too blue, green or taupe. I started off perusing blogs, taking note of people's favorites, and then went to the Benjamin Moore store and grabbed some possible contenders. OK, maybe I took home every single gray card they had.
I narrowed them down to my favorites and taped them to the wall to be examined under different light throughout the day.
After a day or two, I realized this first pass wasn't going to work. They were all too light*. I really wanted dark and dramatic walls. One, because I like how they look and two, I'm hoping a darker room will help my sleeping baby during those bright winter mornings!
A second trip back to the Benjamin Moore store resulted in these swatch cards. (The white paper is hung over the other shades on the cards which made my eyes cross every time I stared at that wall.)
Finally I narrowed it down to my top 6 and had tester pots** made for each. Ed threw them up on the wall and we stood back to make a decision.
The middle 2 were quickly eliminated for being too green and too light. The top 2 we liked, but they were still not quite dark enough. So it was between the bottom 2. I hemmed and hawed for a bit and then decided against the one on the left because it was a little too blue.
Puritan Gray, Sweatshirt Gray
Puritan Gray, Sweatshirt Gray
Storm Cloud Gray, Pilgrim Haze
Whale Gray, Chelsea Gray
And so we had our winner: Chelsea Gray HC-168.
I'm hoping to schedule the painter*** in the next week and can't wait to see how it looks! Until then, I just ogle Chelsea Gray in other rooms...
*If anyone is looking for a lighter shade of gray, my favorites were: Gray Haze, Sea Haze, Coventry Gray, Stonington Gray, Platinum Gray and Silver Half Dollar.
**FYI, if you order 4 or more samples on the Benjamin Moore site, you get free shipping and a sample brush for every 2. This was a much better deal than purchasing them at my neighborhood store.
***The paint will be Benjamin Moore's Natura line, which is zero-VOC even after tinting.
**FYI, if you order 4 or more samples on the Benjamin Moore site, you get free shipping and a sample brush for every 2. This was a much better deal than purchasing them at my neighborhood store.
***The paint will be Benjamin Moore's Natura line, which is zero-VOC even after tinting.
2 comments:
Isn't picking out grey paint hard?! I remember thinking...oh this will be simple...just grab one. Yep...it took FOREVER for me to finally decide on 2 different greys for our living/dinning room...and multiple paint samples.
I love the dark shade you guys chose...I went with a lighter grey for our bedroom and now I sorta want to switch it to dark! See I still can't make up my mind! haha.
I love the shade you chose. That was my top choice just looking at them b/f I read your elimination process. Can't wait to see the finished room.
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