Gray is a touchy color. It’s popular yet has to be used with caution. It’s not a cheery color but can be amazing when paired with the right hues. Use it alone and you risk the chance of the blues or should I say “the blahs”.

One of my clients wanted a coastal color palette but was hesitant about using gray. Well gray is a pretty large part of the coastal color palette so I had to use it somewhere in the home. He said,

“I lived in Pittsburgh

and I don’t ever want to see gray again.”

I had to laugh because I too lived in Pittsburgh for 15 years and there were definitely more gray days than sunny days. As a matter of fact you probably seen a picture of my living room when I lived in Pittsburgh. I got so tired of the gray that I had to compensate and paint my living room Gold Buff by Behr. It made a world of difference!

So anyway, it’s really great to break the programed thought processes when it comes to color. We went from “Yuk! I don’t want gray in my house” to using it in the main area, the foyer, of his home. This area was large mind you. It looked like a small basketball court.

Ironically, the  color he wanted to avoid wound up to be the main part of his home. I also spinned other warmer grays in the surrounding dining room and family room. Here’s the full color palette so you can see how it turned out.

Keep in mind that yes, certain colors do hold  stigmas for us but they can be broken or changed. It’s like when you were a kid and hated spinach but as and adult and an whole lot of cheese and seasoning, it’s not so bad.