Choose The Right Gray Paint Color…, step by step

We typically feel fairly confident in our ability to pick a paint color. But something about choosing the ideal gray color for two major living areas in our house made me extra nervous (we are going to use the same color in the future dining room, main hallway, and living room for some pleasant continuity). Sherry had a field day ribbing me about my paint paralysis. I was literally second-guessing every swatch we looked at. “Sure, I like it… no I do not, I hate it.” Yeah, that was me.

I blame my neurosis on having selected a hideous gray tone to paint my middle school bedroom (I picked it because I liked the name – Cannonball or Cannon Smoke or something else that sounded like blowing stuff up). In retrospect it was too dark, cold, and prison-like. Fortunately I warmed it up with a bright red Looney Tunes rug and Tasmanian Devil throw pillows (do not be jealous). But somehow I do not think that is an acceptable solution this time around.

So I convinced Sherry (who was a lot less gun-shy than I was, she kept saying “let us simply pick one and DO IT!”) that we should buy paint testers and try out a few colors before committing. She recommends this option all the time to nervous-about-painting readers, so it was not too hard to convince her that we should give it a whirl at least once. So we narrowed it down to our top three similar-but-distinct-sufficient-to-assist-us-make-a-decision contenders:

testing three Benjamin Moore gray paint options mixed in Olympic paint test cans - Collingswood Grey Owl and Moonshine

They are, from left to right: Collingwood, Grey Owl, and Moonshine (all Benjamin Moore colors mixed in Olympic Premium No-VOC samplers from Lowe’s – which are about $2.50 a pop). Of course, in an effort to prove her paint-psychic abilities, Sherry called her go-to before even breaking out the paintbrush. Can you guess which one it is? Hint: it rhymes with “spoon mine.”

Here they are in the future dining room, painted in that same order (with Collingwood on top and Moonshine on the bottom):

test areas of three Benjamin Moore gray paint colors applies to an area of white wall

We simply did one coat with a paintbrush (it had strong coverage) doing our best to keep the edges feathered so when we eventually paint over everything we are not left with slightly raised squares where we tested (which is why we did not use painters tape to make ideal squares that also might be visible after we paint over them).

And ever the overachiever (or simply someone who loves to paint), Sherry at last embraced the test square method and went ahead and painted big swatches in the family room too. One set near the TV…

picking the ideal gray paint color by painting three test swatches onto the wall, Collingswood Grey Owl and Moonshine

…and another set next to the big window (since it gets a distinct amount of daylight).

three Benjamin Moore gray paint options painted as test squares on a white wall with wood trim

After all, one of the strong things about these testers is that you get to see what certain colors look like throughout the day and in varying amounts of daylight and artificial light. We do this with the small paint swatches too, but it certainly was pleasant to judge a color from across the room for once.

Speaking of distinct lights, here are all of the colors again at night when things are much yellower from the artificial light (they are all painted in the same order as listed above, by the way):

testing gray paint swatch colors on the wall during nighttime light

three Benjmain Moore gray paint color swatches on a white wall at night time in artificial light

testing paint colors on a wall during night time when artificial light is used instead of natural light

So after a couple of days I at last admitted that (say it with me) Sherry was right all along. Moonshine, the one on the bottom, is by far our go-to of the bunch. Collingwood (the top one) nearly won us over, but it is so warm/tan that it reminded us a lot of Glidden’s Sand White, which was in our first house’s living room and office. We enjoy that color, but it is not gray sufficient for what we want this time, so in the spirit of doing something fresh and new we crossed it off the list. And Grey Owl (the middle one) read as too green/blue in our house’s light, so we worried it too might not immediately read “gray” and instead might be “muddy blue-gray” which is what we had in our last house’s bedroom and kitchen.

Moonshine is likely the “purist” of the grays we tested, and it nearly has a soft shimmery quality to it – like there is some silver mixed in. We are excited about it because it is certainly dark sufficient to make the moldings pop (especially once we paint the ones in the living room white) but it is not too bright or saturated to compete with bolder curtains, art, and accessories that we plan to introduce. Now we simply have to cross our fingers that we can find the energy to paint the two largest rooms in our house… and the hallway that connects them. We in fact began the job today- but with baby & journal duty going on at the same time, it might take us a few days to get ‘er done. We will share pics as soon as we have ’em though!

Have any of you used the paint tester method to choose a color? Did it confirm your feelings or send you in a totally new direction? And dare we ask how long the test squares stayed up before the room at last got painted fully? Ours were up nearly a week, but we could totally see how that could turn into a month (or a year) if you still were not 100% sure which way to go…

More Paint Work projects