Am I the only person who is sick of gray?

[Linguaphile]

We're working on tile choices for our house. My instinct is to use a 'safe gray' for all the main areas and bathrooms since, you know, the last 10-15 years of home decor trends have been all about gray. I do quite like the look, but honestly I'm also a little tired of it and am thinking of pushing the boat out and a warmer taupe tile. Would I be crazy to put down something brownish?? It would be for bathrooms, utility, entryway and stairs. I need a reality check, because if we end up selling or renting out our house in a few years, we'll need it to have broad appeal. What do you think?

[missperegrinespeculiar]

well, I don't like brown tones, but I am also very sick of grey, and surely it must be on the way out?! so if you like it go for it, you may be ahead of the next trend!

[adayatthebeach]

Gray is so cold! Yes I’m sick of it especially in homes! I’d go for a light cream anyway!

[SwedishEdith]

Surely as it's your house you can do what you like. Overly grey rooms look like black and white photos on Rightmove though.

[junebirthdaygirl]

I wlould never go for gray or brown on walls or floor tiles as they soak up the light. Would use something in a lighter tone like a shade of cream or white stone.

[SwedishEdith]

Why is everyone spelling it 'gray'? Apologies if you're American.

[junebirthdaygirl]

I would normally write grwy but didn't want to change as would look like l was correcting ops spellings which would be very rude!!

[picklemepopcorn]

I like that brown for floors. I've a wood effect tile like that and it's brilliant. I think of it as a neutral anyway.

Grey is definitely on its way out- so cold.

[Appuskidu]

What is replacing grey, do we reckon?!

[theunsure]

Love Grey - and it is not always cold, depends on the tone.

But life is too short to care at all what other people think - have what you like.

My top choice for floors is whatever hides paw prints the best - not what fashion dictates!

[onalongsabbatical]

I think that choice is lovely, and if I saw it I wouldn't honestly think brown so much as wood-like. It's not like it's a uniform chocolate brown. I don't think wood tones can go wrong, really - don't they remind people of trees and make them feel good?

[picklemepopcorn]

Cream gold and bronze, if you believe the show homes.

[BarbaraOcumbungles]

My sister has grey wood effect amtico type stuff and it looks horrible. Who’s ever seen grey wood?

You can’t go wrong with natural looking neutral colours for floors imo.

Grey must be coming to be end of its phase now, surely to god.

[BuzzKillington]

In my job (surveyor), in the less trendy houses, I see so many 'hotel' style bathrooms that are just a hideous palette of brown - travertine floors, big brown tiles with taupe walls. I think brown is much, much more dated than grey, which is still quite modern in terms of interior design used in actual houses.

The big trend I see now in stylish homes is crittal style patio doors (at last the awful bi-folds are going) in a dark grey and brick feature walls in the kitchen. Pale grey kitchen units are still very trendy with chrome cups and knobs, with a royal blue or dark blue island. Really dark sitting rooms are huge right now (think F&B Railings) and I see loads of rose gold or copper lights too.

[Joinourclub]

I only hate grey when everything is grey. I love browsing rightmove and I once saw this very expensive and luxurious house where every single thing was grey, all walls, floors and furniture. Grim.

[MargotLovedTom1]

I think the tiles in the photo are a classic neutral, and as such will not really date in the way grey will (or is dating, IMO).

[lubeybooby]

I felt the same way but then I realised my taste tends towards cool tones and the right greys go so much better with the things I was choosing. So I've given in and have various grey carpets and dark grey sofa but colours in cool tones on walls

[LemonysSnicket]

Brown tones are very old in my opinion - they live with magnolia.

Why not a green or a slate blue or something? Neutral doesn’t have to be grey, brown or white

[LemonysSnicket]

@BarbaraOcumbungles silver birch is a grey wood...

[BarbaraOcumbungles]

It has grey bark, the wood is wood coloured.

[gingercat02]

Our house way pretty much entirely grey when we bought it. We are steadily changing that room by room. When if we can afford to extend I would like to have wet under floor heating and brownish wood effect tiles. Go for it OP

[Kimlek]

I’m not sure about grey either and struggling to find wetroom floor tiles that are non-slip, don’t look like they need cleaning (cream/white) - any suggestions pls? Liking yours op but not sure they’d work as a shower floor.

[missperegrinespeculiar]

Yes, we are in the process of buying a victorian cottage which was given a (hideous) "contemporary" makeover, everything is grey, they even boarded up the fireplaces! I am planning on returning to original features and style, but would like some splashes of colour, maybe in the kitchen? any ideas welcome!

[Linguaphile]

Ha, yes I am in fact American, hence the spelling. I've not lived there in about 15 years, but old spelling habits die hard. Apologies!

To be honest I'm no great lover of brown and like you said lubey I do tend to go for cleaner colours, so maybe I should just give in.

I've got two other choices floating around, one that's more of a concrete effect (the first pic) and one that's sort of veined and and can also be done in a herringbone pattern in the entryway if we want, which i sort of like (2nd and 3rd pics). Are they better??

[NoKnownFather]

I don't like grey (or gray) either, mostly because I used to work in govt offices and they were always a drab shade of grey...yuck!!

For floor tiles I chose an Ivory coloured polished porcelain tile (600mm x 600mm) they reflect a lot of light and make the rooms look bright and airy. The bathroom floors are a Mocha (deep taupe) tile with white tiles on the walls, so a very modern theme right through the house. In the main bathroom, one wall is Mocha tiles and in the 2nd bathroom one wall is wallpapered above the white tiles. Wallpaper is Taupe with Trees in two foil colours.

The Ivory floor tiles look OK with grey if a future purchaser prefers a grey theme, but my furnishings are all Taupe tones. Wall paint is the same as the floor tiles, again to reflect light and for a modern look. While I had no intention of using grey, I was mindful that a future owner might, which was the reason I kept this in mind when choosing colours.

Herringbone (and similar) feature tiles, imho, while looking nice now, will date very quickly. Not easy is it? Good luck with your choices.