What is it with Grey?

[Carryingon]

I saw a house today which had been modernised but it was so monochrome. Flat grey kitchen, grey carpets, black doors and woodwork, very dark grey radiators. And it was all brand new so I couldn’t justify changing it. Someone will love it but sadly not me.

@Bluntness100 it looks pretty close to crushed velvet

I don't like grey much but it can look good in the right house - I think you need big windows and lots of light for it to look good.

We get so much drab weather in the UK - I don't want a grey house to match.

Warm greys can look lush with colour. Cold greys are very drab, unless they're in the right place with oodles of light.

I quite like the greige/neutral tones but then livened up with colour in soft furnishings. But my living room is north facing so it needs all the cosiness it can get.

[quote truetuesdays]@Bluntness100 it looks pretty close to crushed velvet [/quote]
In real life it really doesn’t, it’s a smooth fabric, I think it’s the lighting.

The room I posted in Elephant's Breath is facing North and East. It really depends on what colours you put with the warm greys. I really don't use cold greys and I have never heard of Mrs Hinch's House!

It is always worth remembering that colurs look different in different lights and different times of day. De Nimes definitely changes but I like that and I only have it in small quantity. It is also what you put with it. My cloakroom faces South and the colour is definitely different in bright sunlight but it is filtered through a blind. I also have a light floor and it will be a bright space when the big mirror is fitted.

I think when greys are uniformly drab (wehich is also a color by the way) they are dispiriting. However they can be timeless and chic. I do not think Elephant's Breath is "over". I am not about to paint any room navy blue. I can see why the very dark greens accented with pink are popular but, in the end, people have to paint rooms in colurs they like. I would still look at the rooms on the paint company web sites and see if they look anything like your room regarding light and possible furnishings. Paint is also about context and age of property.

Everyone has missed one thing , a lot of people’s eyes seen colour differently so what is one colour to one person it’s a different shade to the next person.

This is so true @chumleymouse

I have elephants breath in our house. It's brown, not great. @PresentingPercy says they won't ever paint a wall navy but their bathroom (which looks lovely btw) appears, to me, to have a navy wall.

End of the day we should ignore trends and do what we like in our own homes. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks!

Well I can assure you my cloakroom isn’t navy and elephants breath emphatically isn’t brown. However we don’t necessarily have to label colours do we? If you look at colour charts the differences between navy and DeNimes are obvious. As between EB snd brown. Even in the shading of the colours there are differences. These are a couple more “grey“ ideas from home.

It’s interesting if anyone watches mrs hinch she wants to move away from grey and rhe new nursery she’s looking at more caramel taupe colours. I don’t particularly like them to be honest and find them a bit eighties/nineties. But possibly because I’m old enough to recall when they were fashionable last time round. And to have used them. I do wonder if folks will continue to copy her and change to whatever she changes to.

I’m sure she also said she was considering redecorating elsewhere.

A few years ago we did up our period house, tried to put period features back in, original age fireplaces etc, cornices etc, it looks lovely, but it was the height of grey and now all the walls are painted grey and I dislike it a lot. I don't know how much longer I'll live here for right now but if it's a few more years I'm re painting everything! Luckily we didn't go with a grey kitchen and it's more neutral and traditional so kitchen isn't grey!

Near where i live, there are so many houses having white rendered front walls, their window frames sprayed dark grey and replacing their front door with what i can only describe as a doctors surgery door !!! they all look the same.

We painted our first flat grey in the early 90’s. I quite like grey, but not absolutely everywhere. It can look very cold.

It’s interesting if anyone watches mrs hinch she wants to move away from grey and rhe new nursery she’s looking at more caramel taupe colours.

Studio McGee is all white and beigey/taupey neutrals at the moment. Very little grey

@babybunny123

Near where i live, there are so many houses having white rendered front walls, their window frames sprayed dark grey and replacing their front door with what i can only describe as a doctors surgery door !!! they all look the same.

All the white houses round here are gradually having their external woodwork painted Dix Blue. It’s a nice look because they’re all very different apart from the colour scheme.

I greatly prefer Homes and Gardens for trends. Or Elle. Just better all round journalism and not one persons view.

Grey is so easy to live with as a neutral. We renovated recently and have painted a shade of light grey throughout with only front and back doors in a dark grey.

House is 'finished' as far as the renovation. Every room feels clean and tidy. The house is consistent and holds together; grey carpet or oak floors, grey and white bathrooms, matching dark grey blinds in every room. The pressure is off, we are slowly working through, using the grey base to add texture, colour and retro furniture finds. Love it!

@Carryingon I tend to agree. You see those houses on rightmove where the owners/ developers have given it the grey treatment in the fond hopes it will bag a buyer quickly. It’s really unimaginative and would put me off, unless the house was otherwise lovely and then I’d embark on a de-greying. All this grey is testament to the power of trend, social media, advertising etc. I think there will be an increasing number of grey sceptic threads such as yours.

@Bluntness100 why are you such a huge Mrs Hinch fan? Just admit you love her

That sofa’s doing a damn good impression of crushed velvet to me...

My friend has one wall in her lounge painted a really lovely warm grey, a grey sofa and then a few black and grey accents. Every time I go to her house I'm struck by how calming her living room is. I'd love to emulate it but I don't really know how to without full on copying off her.

So in short I think when it's done well, it's can be really nice.

[quote truetuesdays]@Bluntness100 why are you such a huge Mrs Hinch fan? Just admit you love her [/quote]
😂😂😂

To be fair, I’m not her target demographic, but I do quite like her videos of the child and dog.

I think it’s fine for people to have a grey house if they are the ones living in it. But please don’t just slosh it on if you are looking to sell. When I am looking at properties on Rightmove I immediately dismiss the totally grey ones.

used well it's a great colour - goes with everything, like most neutrals it's really versatile and easy to live with - although I think most of us are a bit over grey now.

But I agree, I've seen some places where the whole place has been grey from top to bottom, with only black and white accessories, carpets, tiles, kitchen, walls the lot. It sort of saps the life out of you. It's like standing inside a black and white photograph. Really horrible.

Agree that as a neutral it's fine, as long as there is variety of tones and different textures used in the room. What I hate is like in one of the photos above, everything is almost the exact shade of grey and it just looks so boring.