So. Grey interiors. How long have they got?!

[LikeASoulWithoutAMind]

I like grey and there's so much of it in the shops but it's been around for so long, I keep thinking it must be about to go out of fashion any minute?

We've just moved house and have lots of decorating to do. Big windows to cover too, which will be expensive. I don't want it to look horribly dated in a year or two.

What do we think?

[Mislou]

I think it must be well on the way out, but I've been thinking that with loads of things and they seem to stay for a decade. We painted our flat grey in 2010, loved it so much but remember us saying we must be following fashion as all these ads with modern apartments seemed to be grey.

[LikeASoulWithoutAMind]

I keep thinking that too Mislou but I thought that 3 years ago and it's showing no sign of losing popularity keep hearing the same about skinny jeans

[madamginger]

I love my grey walls and have no plans to change it anytime soon

[megletthesecond]

I think Peak Grey has been reached. It's nice but even the salon I go to has just painted their treatment room in grey.

[Mislou]

Yeah, I know what you mean with the skinny jeans. Grey seems quite neutral it's not like when people painted their walls bright yellow or red in the 90's. If you want to choose a colour that's more 'future proof' you could browse interiors on pinterest and see if anything appeals.

[Kingfisherfree]

I think this is F& B new colours for 2016 so carrying on the same theme. I am painting my house a varying palette from light grey which is like the new magnolia to deeper bluer/ greener and beige/biscuit tones.

I have no idea what I'm doing and it may date but I love how it looks.

[TollgateDebs]

One of my rooms has been grey for about eight years, with others blue, yellow, cream. Paint them whatever makes you happy and suits. Fashions come and go, but if it looks good, makes you happy, then go for it, whatever the colour!

[PixieMiss]

Which grey paint are you all using if you don't mind me asking?

I might be behind the times but I really want grey walls to go with my wallpaper.

[QueenOfThorns]

Screw fashion, just paint your house the colours you like!

I'm always a bit about fashion in interiors, after all how many of us chuck out our sofa and redecorate every season?

[sergeantmajor]

Paint is easy to update. It's harder if you're committing to a grey carpet or kitchen (both of which I have!). Curtains don't have to be pricey.

[MadameCholetsDirtySecret]

Who cares about fashion? If you like it then keep it.
FWIW my house is all white and I love it. I don't care that it isn't on trend, it is what I like.

[SuburbanRhonda]

I painted DS's room using Chic Shadow matt emulsion by Dulux.

It looks lovely and brings light into his room as well as being easy to match everything else to.

[Chloe94]

Do whatever works for you, I have grey (Chic shadow) in my bathroom, it was the only colour i felt would work with the blue subway tiles that were in there :) but I've just renovated my house spent thousands getting it re plastered then spent thousands more getting endurance magnolia all over the walls - i love magnolia and don't care what people say about it or if people think it's dated it makes us happy to see it and that's all that matters :)

[SuburbanRhonda]

I bet there's a Farrow and Ball colour that's exactly the same as magnolia but called something pretentious and is five times the price. Oh, look - here it is:

"Wevet" is Dorset dialect for a spiders web which is the perfect name as it really does have a translucent, gossamer feel to it, like a web.

There you are, chloe, you're way ahead of all of us

[brodchengretchen]

I do think 'Elephant's Breath' and the like may have had their day. We have been choosing new interior colours and it seems the manufacturers are predicting shades of gold/yellow as the trending thing for this year.

I just like to put on the walls something that gives me joy, as Marie would say.

[ChishandFips33]

I'm another for go for what you like, not what's 'in'.

I've liked grey for over 10 years for various things (clothes, paint, cars, jewellery etc) and can't see it changing any time soon - I see it as a neutral

[LabLady007]

I see grey as a neutral, it won't really go out of fashion imo as you can team it with almost any colour.

I have white furniture, light and dark grey walls with blue accents but I could easily add splashed of yellow or pink or even pale green.. So it's definitely an adaptable colour! Just depends how trendy you are lol. With me mine is staying like this for years yet, maybe just new cushions now and again!

[fluffikins]

I can't do grey, I just see battleships and hospital wards or 1980s schoolboy bedrooms with black ash furniture from argos and red curtains. I think it'll go out of fashion but smoothly via the addition of slight colour changes to grey like a blue-grey/pink-grey etc

[SuburbanRhonda]

That's such a shame, fluffi, as grey really has moved on quite considerably since the 1980s. Maybe look at some interiors websites online to expunge those images from your mind

[JaneAustinAllegro]

I scrubbed all trace of grey from the walls of this house when we moved into it 8 years ago and I remain relieved that we did, fashionable or not (grey slate floor remains in kitchen). I agree with fluffi about the negative associations. At the point at which it becomes a pleasing colour to live with, it's actually become sage green or a kind of marie antoinette blue, but not just GREY.

[JaneAustinAllegro]

but sorry - to answer the original question - extensive house hunting last year tells me that as far as bathrooms and kitchens go, anything cream / travertine / sandy coloured is positively ancient news and all bathrooms that have been installed since 2012 incorporate GREY in some degree or other in their textured tiles (which is just what you want reflected up against your early morning face in the mirror)

[SuburbanRhonda]

Then I suppose it comes back to what PP have said - if you like it, use it. If you're more concerned about having your house painted in colours that are on trend, do that instead.

And if you're worried about future selling potential, it's unlikely to put off the buyer who can easily paint over it.

[MrsEricBana]

I am worried about this too as about to have bathroom done and don't want it to look last year by, erm, next year.

[BettyDraper1]

The 'New Memphis' style is popping up in all of the design magazines now (think 80s geometric shapes, pinks, corals, greys). Lots of grey in that style so I don't think it's quite on it's way out yet.