Grey Hallway MELTDOWN. Please help

[SnotandBothered]

DESPERATE!

Quite narrow victorian terrace hallway. Loft conversion, so lots of stairs up. Wooden floor downstairs and pale, neutral carpet up the rest and landings etc.

I have wanted to paint the hall grey for ages - not too dark but not insipid - defo not a 'hint of...'. Strong enough so that framed prints stand out and look quite contemporary, but not gloomy. Definitely prefer the greys that go towards the warmer lilacs and puttys to the green grey like F&B French grey.

So after starring at pinned up painted sheets of a4 paper for 6 months, I whittled it down to a couple and decided on F&B Calluna which was slightly towards the lilac and F&B strong white woodwork. Decorators are now in and did first coat yesterday. It is lovely but utterly purple and not what I want for the hall. I slept on it, woke up today hoping it wouldn't be quite so purple and it is even more so - it will have to go.

But I am now on an expensive clock as the decorators are here now and I'm under pressure to pick something tomorrow. I have spent all day today dragging friends and strangers off the street demanding that they 'choose' out of the random paint sample pots that I rushed out and bought this morning but I am not really any the wiser.

I like:

Crown spotlight - on some walls. ON others it just disappears to almost white 'with a hint of...'

Crown Cloudburst - on some walls. On others it is quite dark and I wonder if it will be gloomy

F&B Blackened. But again disappears on some of the walls and doesn't act as a backdrop to set of pictures. I have dismissed all other F&B greys as being too green or dark (Elephants Breath nice but dark)

Dulux - can't find anything I like

Fired Earth - like the look of light umber online, but scared to add more testers to the wall unless someone really thinks this might be the solution.
www.firedearth.com/paint/colour/creams-neutrals/light-umber
...also might be insipid?

Johnstones Moonlit sky looks nice on paper but might be too blue....

Can anyone guage where I am going with this and make any suggestions? Crown 'smoky mist' looks potentially good online but, again, who can tell?

And I daren't even go down the Craig and Rose route as I don't think I'd get it in time and, time (in this instance) really is money.

Please help of wise and stylish MNers.

We have cloud burst from crown in out hall it's lovely

Try Elephants Breath MamaP.

Dulux pebble mosaic is a pinky grey.

Below are what I'm looking at so far, any opinions welcome.

Crown
Aspen Silver
Cloudburst

Dulux
Perfectly Taupe
Potters Clay
Chic Shadow
Pebble Mosaic

Dulux Authentic Origins
Perfect Oyster
Found Fossil

Dulux Timeless Classics
Dusted Cappucino
Thimble Case

Farrow and Ball
Elephants Breath
Pavillion Gray

The colours I've liked he most have been part of the Timeless Classics collection or Potters Clay by Dulux. My F&B samples are happening today.

Mama-I'm again going to rec F&B pavilion grey-in my south facing bedroom with pbw & looks fab at all times of the day, (we have it under picture rail with pbw above& I adore it)

We have chic shadow in the hall-it's ok but not as nice a finish. Some of the other colours you mention are more browny than grey to me-elephants breath & cappuchino.

Updates when you decide please!

Thanks Evelyn. I suppose in looking at slight browns as I'm aiming for a minky maybe pink or purple toned grey but not actually pink or lilac iyswim.

I'm struggling to put the whole room together tbh. I saw some gorgeous cushions yesterday recently and am feeling totally conflicted about how I can incorporate them into a grey room. I think I love the idea of the grey I've described but now I'm not actually sure whether that is the grey I need.

I want a warm grey...the hall has a dado and akirtings and Bannister which I plan to make brilliant white. The floor downstairs is oak engineered floor but I'm replacing the carpet on the stairs and was going to go for a sand flecked Berber looped pile carpet. Now I'm wondering if this will look really rubbish with grey walls? Does anyone have any thoughts on carpets which go with oak engineered floor and a grey like chic locket or potters clay?

I'm doing this too, but in an attempt to contain the madness, I'm only looking at Dulux paints while comparing them with a Little Greene shadecard.

I've got
Chic Shadow (nice grey)
Perfectly Taupe (quite browny-purple)
Dove (quite lilac)
Goosewing (bit battleship)
Polished Pebble (bit wishy-washy)

The feel I was trying to get was that 1950s Festival of Britain palette, of grey/cream/turquoise or mustard accents. It is HARD. Who knew there were more that fifty shades of grey? I can't even look at the Farrow & Ball shade cards. 30484 shades of cream...

This is my living room in manor house grey. Farrow and ball say it is a true grey, but it looks very green on my walls.

i'd much appreciate any help with rug choice on that thread if anyone has a minute!!

mamaPain I have thimble case in my sitting room and hallway/stairs/landing and while is it a really lovely colour, it's not at all statementy (in as much is someone walked through the room, and was then asked 'what colour was that room' they would probably say 'whitish?'). Perfectly taupe is stronger, a purpley grey, and it much more intense. You would remember if you walked through such a room. Do the squint test to determine how 'intense' the colours are you are looking at versus an existing painted wall.

Pavilion grey all the way here too it is so pretty and calming. Will post a photo in a second hold on

Haven't read while thread so apologies if its been mentioned already but I have f and b cornforth white I'm my hall and its a very light neutral grey. I bottled pavilion as it looked a bit pavementy in my hall but I slightly regret it. Cornforth is lovely but not as noticeable.

Lovely pavilion grey (ignore all the bare mdf!)

Just to add more to the mix, Craig and Rose do lovely colours as well- their greys are on this page No, I don't work for them but was looking at their reds earlier.

Perfectly Taupe does sound quite close to what you are looking for Mama. We have it in the spare room and it is a minky grey - suggestions of taupe and lilac in different lights. We have a mish mash of white and floral vintagey furniture in there, and it does work well.

I am utterly thrilled with my hallway - pictures to follow - which we ended up doing in Cloudburst. I was worried that it would be too dark, but infact I could have gone darker - Chic Shadow is a definite contender. And SwedishEdith is right - Craig and Rose do some really gorgeous greys.

Keep us posted. I am not a grey obsessive.

We have Dulux Misty Mountain which is (according to Dsis interior designer) a red based grey. It is strong but not dark.

Don't know if anyone's suggested F&B's Lamproom Grey yet - it's a true grey, and the one I chose for our sitting room after rejecting 17 others for being too green or too lilac.

Just done my hallway in Dulux Caramel Sands 4 which is a lovely browny taupe colour. I would recommend it if anyone is looking for something on the brown spectrum that isn't beige

Inspired by this thread I have bought Chic Shadow for my bedroom. It is looking quite lilac based and a little darker than I thought but very happy with it.

Might be too late but FB Light Blue is the best "grey" I've found - when I moved I painted a room in that colour again! - it is grey and not blue and perfect against white paintwork and to set off pictures

Only two years late to the party 😆

Have you tried the grey scales colour card from Little Greene? They've got the works!

Also, bit late to help in this instance but you shpuld always paint the wall to get a true colour representaion as the paper wil effect the end result. Hope you ou get it sorted!

I think the key is to have a much lighter colour than you think, even if the sample on the wall looks insipid at first. Halls are very dark. Don't try to be too interesting in a hall - it is a corridor after all. We also got terribly bored by the aged white woodwork and repainted everything brilliant white and Timeless in the end, just to give a fresher feeling.

We have green William Morris wallpaper and below the dado we have a sort of grey pink putty colour, dulux but for the life of me cannot remember anything about the name, except that it was the lightest tint, when we thought we would go for the darkest. Just keep making everything much lighter than you first intend, if you like the colour, reduce the intensity.

oh, a grey ZOMBIE thread!!

Actually it was not quite the lightest, it was Roman Stone 3 by Dulux, I remember now. Lovely hallway colour, warm stone and not really greige at all.

What's the grey of 2016? Is it gold?

Allegedly, Viking. But I think grey is classic, whereas gold is... er... not.