WARM GREIGE PAINT COLOURS – MY 6 FAVOURITES

If you, like the rest of us, have a lot of free time on your hands, you may be planning on painting some rooms in your home over the winter. And if you like, a lot of my clients, have a home that has some beige fixtures and are struggling to add some cooler tones that will update and work with the existing flooring, counters, cabinetry, here are a few of my favourite warm greige paint colours that you can try. 

As always, with paint, painting a board with your paint selection and testing it on a few walls at different times of the day and in different lighting is strongly advised. Paint colour is subjective and is greatly influenced by surrounding light, colours and fixtures, and this extra step will ensure you are thrilled with your results.

If your home is dark and you want to lighten and brighten, these paint colours are a great starting point to find the perfect hue for your home. 

I’ve also done up a little cheat sheet that you can download and keep for future reference.

These are the colours that I go to, time and time again. This first one is my favourite and most used paint colour:

1. Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter – HC-172 

A true chameleon this colour is very subjective, it can look green, blue, grey and beige depending on it’s location. Testing is essential with this one.

It is a warm grey paint that marries well with warm toned flooring, tiles and counters. I have used this colour for many clients, and myself and we’ve all been thrilled. 

warm grey paint colours
Revere Pewter

This is a corner of my principal bedroom at my log home with Revere Pewter on the wall. This is a true testament to Revere Pewter’s compatibility. All that orangey pine and the paint colour just cools it down a touch. To read more about my log home and it’s many updates and renovations, you can click here.

2. Collingwood OC-28 

This greige paint, again with warm and cool tones, is somewhat softer than revere pewter. However, Collingwood is a tad more warm than cool, so it is a great one to use to avoid a blue toned grey.

warm grey paint colours
Collingwood

This was a client’s office that I did a few years ago and Collingwood worked perfectly with the warm greys of the file cabinets and the oak flooring. With this colour, the artwork popped against this background colour. 

3. Fossil AF-65  

Fossil typically reads more beige on the wall. With its touch of grey and pink, it is a great one to use with beige/pink fixtures. I used it below in my sunroom to cool down my beige/pink floor tiles. You can read my post about updating my previous home by clicking here.

warm grey paint colours
Fossil

4. Wish AF-680

Wish is a soft, warm grey. Its warmth works well with earthier tones and it updated my office, even though it had dark brown furniture and a taupey rug.

warm grey paint colours
Wish

5.Thunder AF-685 

I would call this the big brother of Revere Pewter. Darker and with more grey than beige, Thunder still feels like a neutral warm paint colour. Ideal to use with existing warm finishes to update them without feeling too cold. 

warm grey paint colours
Thunder

 I have found that this colour brings out the gray tones in brown granite countertops, like this one shown below.

warm grey paint colours

6. Picket fence  CSP-370

This colour is in Benjamin Moore’s Colour Stories palette, which is available only in the Aura line of paints. It is a beautiful neutral grey.

I loved Picket fence so much, I painted it throughout the main rooms of my previous home. It feels calm and has a wonderful depth to it. It is quite similar to Collingwood and Balboa mist. 

warm grey paint colours
Picket Fence

Here it is in my previous laundryroom with it’s cherry toned cabinets and pinky beige tiles. And it also worked with a faux black granite countertop, by pulling out the gray tones in it.

I hope this helps to start you on your painting journey.

Happy Painting!

Updating some wicker chairs

Sorry for the long absence, like everyone else, life gets so busy.  We were lucky to get away again this winter, this time for a Caribbean cruise and then just like that we were right back in it. Add to that my hubby’s minor knee surgery and you can imagine why I haven’t been blogging.

I made an impulse fabric buy recently, as Tonic Living had a remnant sale and I am a SUCKER for pretty fabric.  They had a remnant of the fabric that I used to make throw cushions on my family room sofa, so I decided I should pick it up….I could make some more cushions or perhaps it would find a home somewhere else.

Isn’t it a pretty fabric?

Clarice Dove fabric

Clarice Dove

Even a few years on I still love my throw pillows.

Family room

Once I received the remnant, all 1.5 yards of it, I had the brain storm that I could use it to recover my wicker chair seats in the sun room, as it is right off the family room. I have been wanting to recover those seats as the covers that came with the chairs were never “me”.  Sorry for the crappy before pic, as usual I forgot to take a before photo before I trotted them off to Wayne to be recovered. I guess I was a little anxious.  Anyways, there really are two of them in here….trust me, the cats each have one 🙂

Sun room with black wicker chairs

I’m just not really a red person and I definitely wasn’t keen on that generic upholstery.  Anyways, I went off to my drapery/cushion maker, Wayne, and he informed me, as I had suspected, that I didn’t have quite enough fabric for the two chairs. So I decided to do a contrasting piping that would free up enough fabric to squeak out two cushions.

fabrics

I decided to pull out the turquoise for the piping and found some fabric that had the texture and colour that I needed.

The cushions are now completed and look fabulous, Wayne did a great job as usual.  I am going to make up two small throw cushions to add to the back of the chairs and once they are done I’ll be showcasing the after pictures here.  Here’s just a little teaser.

Wicker cushion

 

Have a wonderful weekend, and please….tell Mother Nature that we have had enough snow! Bring on spring!

Lisa

Updating a 10 year old home

After 10 years in this home, we  or at least, I am ready for some changes. Goodbye, warm yellows, gold and greens..so over you.  So how do you update a 10 year old home? Well, you pick some new fresh paint colours, install some new lighting and perhaps change the kitchen’s backsplash.

So for the last few weeks, I’ve been walking around with paint colours, yes it does take that long to make a decision in my own home, and I’ve finally decided upon these.

grandmaschinacsp-365

I’m going with Grandma’s China (kind of an unfortunately name, IMO) above in the hallways, loft, living room and funnily enough in my master bath. It’s a lovely warm taupey/gray that works well with my warm fixtures, but still reads grey enough to give me that fresher tone I was seeking.

picketfencecsp-370

Picket fence will greet my guests in the entrance and front den.  It is also being used in my laundry room/mud room and is the main colour for my basement. It’s just a touch darker than Grandma’s China for those rooms that need a little more mood.

subwaytilecsp-585

I’m using this grey/blue in the kitchen to bring down the red in my wood cabinets and it will work beautifully with the Ceragres Liverpool subway tiles in Portland, (the colour below) which I am having installed, hopefully before Christmas.  This grey/blue paint colour will also pull in the blue of my blue velvet chairs in the adjoining family room.

c_liverpool_portland_3x10

I am going with a significantly darker blue in the dining room. I had wanted to do Hale Navy but it was way, way too dark for my room. It was reading as almost a black and just wasn’t doing it for me.  This dark grey/blue is much softer and works better in my already moody (read..dark) dining room.

andessummitcsp-600

Fossil will be a lovely pale cream in my very bright family room and sun room.  It has a hint of violet in it which will work well with my current sofa and my blue armchairs.

fossilaf-65

I painted my office in Wish recently and I am in love with this soft dove grey colour. It works well with my darker desk and storage units and even blends with the beigey/pink carpeting.  It has been added to my favourites list.

wishaf-680

My bedroom is going with a darker and more grey blue than what I currently have. This was a tricky one as I didn’t want to change the feature wall’s wallpaper but I wanted the blue to have more depth than the pale blue I have in there now. This one was the winner. And it also works well with Grandma’s China which will be in the adjoining master bath.

yarmouthbluehc-150

And last but not least, my son’s room is being done in this pale steel grey. He requested nothing too out there and since his furniture and flooring are dark, this will work well.

whispercsp-500

By the way, all the paint colours are from Benjamin Moore.

Picking out lighting, is one of my favourite things to do design wise, so, this was like an early Christmas gift. It’s been ten long years, since I chose what I have now and I’m so over it.  I had been drooling over all the warm metals with a touch of age, so these vintage bronze pieces were exactly what I wanted.

The top left is going in the entry (I can’t wait to see the pretty reflections this one casts), the top centre for the hallways, the middle centre in the laundry room, the bottom right, for the kitchen peninsula, the middle bottom for the kitchen table with it’s semi-flush version for the kitchen centre, and the sconces will live in the lower hallway.

houseupdates-001

 

 I SO CAN’T WAIT TO GET THESE ALL UP!

I’ll be sharing some progress on Instagram and FB, so follow me along for updates.

Lisa