Anyway, I'd posted yesterday about how I made the blunder of painting our living room the wrong color of grey. That is not going to happen to me a second time around, so I've invested many hours since Saturday into researching grey paint colors.
You may remember that I already did quite a bit of legwork on the topic of grey paint last year when I painted the dining room of our last apartment - I'm almost an expert on this topic at this point.
My requisites for the perfect grey:
1. It must be a very light grey
*I don't want to make our living room that gets great light feel like a dark hole.
2. It cannot have ANY blue undertones
*I already made that mistake - blue undertones = cold
With that list of requirements, I have narrowed it down to two options:
- Option 1: Benjamin Moore Grey Owl 2137-60 (but with half-strength tint)
- Option 2: Benjamin Moore Intense White OC-51
Grey Owl was actually the color that I used in our last dining room (per the recommendation of Emily Henderson), and to put things mildly, I LOVED it. It was a very pale, true grey, and it reflected light beautifully. Intense white is a color I recently discovered on several designers' lists of no-fail paint colors.
Grey Owl is a definite "color" where Intense White comes from Benjamin Moore's Off White color collection, but you can see how CLOSE they are to one another. That said, I plan on lightening the Grey Owl (if that's the route I go) by 50% so it will be even a bit brighter than this sample... a very close match to Intense White.
Intense white has a SLIGHT tan undertone, but it really is minimal.
Want to see some examples of each??
I knew you did.
Here are a few rooms in "Intense White":
Intense White is a wash of color - nearly white but you can see that next to the white crown moldings in most of these photos that it's not White. There is contrast, and that is just exactly what I'm looking for. Contrast, in a non-color color.
And here is a beautiful space with Grey Owl, where the tint has been cut in half:
I already know which one I'm leaning towards more, but I'm curious to hear your opinions! Which do you prefer?
Is there another light grey color that I'm missing and should consider as well?
Thank you for this post!! We JUST closed on our first home and I have been racking my brain and dreading the possibility of using the wrong grey for our new home. I am IN LOVE with the grey owl paint with half tint! Funny that I am noticing this post was posted exactly a year ago today. haha! It's fate!
ReplyDeleteWhich one did you choose?
ReplyDeleteWe went with Intense White!! It's now in every single room of our apartment (except the bedroom that I got too lazy to paint) and we LOVE it. It's really just a shade lighter than Grey Owl, but it is definitely grey. NOT white (though the name implies otherwise).
DeleteThanks for sharing. I'm also looking to paint our main floor in intense white. Like you, I'm looking for some colour that's non-colour lol. Why are we so "particular"? The perfect light light-grey is just hard to find, and I'm glad you chose and love intense white!
ReplyDeleteIf you're looking for a good contextual advertising network, I recommend you check out ExoClick.
ReplyDeleteWhich white paint did you use for the white trims with the color intense white?
ReplyDeleteWhich white paint did you use for the white trims with the color intense white?
ReplyDeleteThis post made me laugh bc I am deciding between exact two colors (gray owl at 50 also). What made you choose intensecwhite? I am hoping to doesn't look tan.
ReplyDeleteLove this! Tried grey owl yesterday and have been going crazy its too blue-going to look at intense white tomorrow, as the painters will be here in two days!
ReplyDeleteOddly, everyone says that, but according to the mixologist at my BMoore store, there is no blue in it. I used it on the interior of my front door and it is a lovely pale grey. I don't see any blue.
DeleteJust wanted to mention - I found that grey owl looks much less blue when paired with simply white trim. When the trim was cloud white the grey owl did look blue! It definitely looks as it should with simply white.
ReplyDeleteI am deciding between intense white and grey owl 25% lighter, racking my brain!!
ReplyDeleteGray owl could be throwing the blue due to your lighting.
ReplyDeletewhich color for your trims with intense white
ReplyDeletePlease tell us what you used on the trim and ceilings!
ReplyDeleteJust had my first floor painted in intense white and now going up to second floor. It has a hint of grey and looks great w a semigloss white molding. Very elegant wo having too much color. Color looks different depending on lighting and sun coming in thru a lot of windows but still love it.
ReplyDeletePNG has a nice color "Fog" which is very similar to Gray Owl. PNG has some other really nice light gray tones.
ReplyDelete