Please help me find a grey - I am losing the plot....

[GinIsMySaviour]

Hello all,

Just about to do a spot of redecorating and I need to find a grey for my living room (north facing), hallway & stairwell (dark by the front door, much lighter up the stairs).

I have just bought four F&B testers: skimming stone, elephant's breath, peignoir and dovetail. The problem is, they aren't really grey. Dovetail is the closest to what I'd call a grey but even isn't quite right.

Please help! I want a straightforward grey; mid to light tone. I was expecting elephant's breath to be a grey with some pink in it (according to the descriptions) but it just looked a bit fudge coloured. Maybe it's the light in my hallway?

All suggestions - F&B or otherwise - really welcome. I have to decide by next week so have time to try out samples before then.

I am NOT cut out for interior design

Thanks all

Have you tried Pinterest?? My hall stairs and landing are Dulux Polished Pebble which is a light grey.

Cornforth white

Soft light grey. It's still grey in a south facing room with lots of light.

You could try Little Greene paints, similar price range to F&B and they have lots of greys. In some colours they have light/mid/dark options. Our local Brewers stocks them.

Oh good suggestion re Pinterest (I am not a digital native!); I will have a look.

I have just looked at dulux too and polished pebble looks lovely - is it a warm grey or a cool one do you think?

I can see a trip to get dulux colours tomorrow...

Skimming stone isn't a grey. I have it on my kitchen units and it's a 'stone' rather than a grey. It's nice though.

We've just done our hall in Dulux Polished Pebble. Our hall up and down stairs is dark and it's really been lightened up.

We've used Dulux Timeless Classis in Engraved Locket. It's a true, cool light grey.

Thank you shesgone I shall put that on the list of testers

isambardo I think there's a shop really close to me that does Little Greene ... again, thank you and I shall check that out tomorrow

I'd say Polished Pebble is cool toned.

Littleboat yes it has certainly not turned out to be grey!

Thanks soup and sorrel ... they are now on my list too!

I knew MN would be the answer to my dilemma

I tried every farrow and ball, Dulux and homebase grey. Settled on purbeck stone by f&b as it's grey without being too blue or brown

Riding that's interesting, I was worried it would be too dark - how you have you found it?

We went for Dulux Wishing Well and still get a lot of compliments on it!

I have a bedroom in Dulux Polished Pebble and it really is a nice soft grey.

It's lovely we painted our whole kitchen in it and we have a black slate floor and black granite work tops and it is not too dark at all

I agree with Andshesgone - cornforth White is a lovely grey. We have it in our son's room.

Thanks booby and capital ... another for my list of testers and another vote for Polished Pebble!

Our bedroom is Polished Pebble too, it's also north facing.

It's a lovely soft grey, more of a blue-grey than a brown-grey. No warm pink tones but it isn't a cold colour if that makes sense.

Thanks riding ... I will pick up a sample tomorrow! I guess it's hard to tell how something is going to look in a big space so that's good to know.

Thanks clickncollect ... I shall add your vote to my tally!

We've got f&b dovetail in our north facing living room and it's a lovely warmish neutral colour.

Really helpful sidge soft and more of a blue than a brown is what I'm after... thank you

I've just done some bathrooms in Crown chic shadow. Some rooms with natural lights others with none. To be honest it looks best in the small room with no light.

This is Cornforth White in my south facing room. In the pot you could seriously think it was white and I thought I'd made a mistake.

Against the white of the ceiling and the coving you can see how grey it is.

I have a house full of F&B sludge grey.

Others to think about
Blackened, a pale grey with a slight blue tinge
Pavilion Grey, proper grey, might be too dark
Strong White, white with a grey tinge, would be darker with no natural light

Thisisallnewetome and andshesgone - lovely photos! Thank you, I will try both of those.

taketwofluffykittens I hadn't considered blackened or strong white as I hadn't clocked they were greys - two more for my list! Pavilion Grey looked a bit too dark in the shop but I think I might try it and see what it looks like in the light at home.