The search for the perfect neutral paint color.

December 27th, 2013

So I vowed not to do what I usually do when we paint in our house.  Buy a color, paint 3/4 of a room and then decide the color just isn't right and get another color and repaint.  Instead I buy a whole bunch of samples and make some sort of artwork on the wall and bug everyone I know about what color they like.   Here I am looking for that perfect gray neutral for the walls.  Everyone on Pinterest swears by Revere Pewter from Benjamin Moore, I try it and it's way too tan.  It's that dark strip second to the left.  I end up going with the large patch on the right, Storington Gray from Benjamin Moore color matched to Sherwin William's HGTV Satin paint.

Here's Bridget, my sister, who was nice enough to come help paint.  Thanks Bridget!  We painted this color in the stairwell and the upstairs main living space and kitchen.  Later on it will also be the main color downstairs to tie all the spaces together.  It's the perfect gray.  It's gray enough to actually look gray but also a very light neutral color which we needed since the space is so large that anything darker would overwhelm the space.  And it's a great neutral that will make accents pop.  It's also light enough that the darker grays I have planned will stand out.

Painting goes great, except for the corners, which for some unknown reason crack terribly.  I don't know if was the primer, the drywall mud, or a combination of the two but I end up scraping the mud out of all the corners, filling it in with plaster, sanding, and then painting the corners.