Interior design - grey.....

[sweetheart]

We moved into our new house last year and are finally beginning building work so it's time to start thinking about finishes, flooring decor etc.

Our downstairs is going to be quite open plan. There is a hallway, lounge and then a large room at the back which will incorporate a kitchen / diner / lounge. We are thinking that we would like a matt grey kitchen installed with a black worktop - my issue is flooring, not just in this room but throughout downstairs as I'd like the rooms to flow and create an overall palette for the house.

I'm thinking if we go grey cabinets and dark surface that we're probably going to need to stick with a white / beige / light grey floor. the trouble with this is I'm not sure about that in the hallway and lounge? I tend to gravitate more towards warmer colours and feel much happier in the natural wood type colours but i just don't think that will go with grey cabinets.

I'm worried that we will end up with a monochrome house that feels cold and un-homely.

Can anyone help with ideas?

Thank you ours is a 1930s semi but hoping to achieve something similar

wow marmite, that's beautiful!

Marking place..

Thanks - I'm so pleased with it! We had it done last year and it has transformed the house

Marmite, your extension is lovely!

Do you find the 1.2m between your cabinets adequate? What if you need to open 2 cupboards either side or have 2 of you working away in the kitchen? It's nice to see how much space you have. Our extension is slightly smaller than yours in terms of m2 and also a large square rather than an L shape. We are having a roof lantern put in so need to arrange the kitchen around that. I LOVE your downlighters!!!

Marmite I love the painting of trees you have on the wall. Who is it by?

We've chosen grey units with oak worktops and a slate floor. It's a south facing room with big windows so it will cope with the floor/unit combination, but the walls and splash back tiles will most likely be white.

It will look like this I really like the contrast between the industrial-ish grey and natural warmth of wood.

www.sourcewoodfloors.co.uk/item/1429~elka-7mm-ash-laminate-wood-floor

Hi sweetheart - yes we do find the 1.2m fine - in fact I think the architect said that was the optimum distance for an island/galley kitchen. We mainly have drawers but a few cupboards and we can have all open at once without any clashes as gap is plenty wide enough. I would have loved a bigger kitchen though, but wanted to keep the character of the old dining room in the new snug, which is the other place the kitchen could have gone. The down lighters are Nordlux Ripasso and are available online - think I got them on Amazon and they were quite reasonably priced

Hi dancing duck - thanks - the picture is by an artist called Doug Eaton who is based in the Forest of Dean. He has done lots of similar pictures in different colours - ours is called Tall Trees 😀

I honestly can't get my head around the grey with wood thing. I've looked at a ton of pictures and it just doesn't look right to me in any of them. I'm obviously not very fashionable! lol

If everyone liked the same thing we'd be so boring though eh?!

How about a warmer colour for the units, a sage type colour maybe? Like this?

Or this

I love the Sage units but my sensible self says they are not classic - they are fashionable and they will date horrendously - a bit like when everyone decided it was a fabulous idea to install avocado coloured bathroom suites.

Yeah your probably right. I guess my grey kitchen will date horribly but we can always change the doors :)

I think grey is classic colour - I'm not sure it will date.

I am 100% sure that grey will date, it's come massively up in popularity over the last 5 years, 8 years ago (when we last house hunted), nothing, literally nothing was grey. Now every show home in the land is decorated in grey.

Please don't choose grey coz you think it won't date.

I have grey painted units but a soft white for the island. I would avoid black granite with grey. We have a speckled grey/white granite and ours is on the Cotteswood website. This worktop ensures the kitchen feels light and airy and is very easy to keep clean. We have large format limestone look tiles on the floor but there are some brilliant modern large format ones at Porcelainosa. Ones that look like concrete are very modern right now. I have no problem whatsoever keeping the floor clean and we have a dog and live on a bridleway in the countryside. We also have the tiles in the hall and the kitchen, hall and lounge are only separated by 1.5 m wide openings. So not completely open plan, but no doors.

In the lounge we have Khars Brighton which is a plank pale oak in a matt finish. If you do not like tiles, this could look good with grey units. However, tiles last longer and take wear and tear better than the wood.