How To Pick The Perfect Grey Paint Color With Glidden! Small Apartment Makeover – Part II

By Delaina Dixon | December 5, 2017 | Food Fashion Style

Hi DivaGals! WeΓÇÖre getting to one of the most challenging parts of an apartment redo ΓÇô the painting! While it seems it should be easy ΓÇô you just pick a color and go ΓÇô know that several factors will play a huge role in how the paint appears once itΓÇÖs on the walls.

That was our dilemma as we tried to make over our small urban apartment. We’re striving for the perfect grey interior, but our seemingly perfect grey tone turned up to be more blue.

So we tried again. And yet ΓÇô still blueish! What could we possibly be doing wrong?

We decided to turn to the Glidden experts for some guidance. DivaGals spoke with Misty Yoemans, senior color marketing manager for Glidden, who analyzed our issue and schooled us on what affects paint color ΓÇô especially a neutral like grey. Now weΓÇÖre sharing how to get that grey color on the wall right ΓÇô your FIRST time around.

Get A Guide. Walking into the painting section can be overwhelming ΓÇô there are literally thousands of colors. If you donΓÇÖt know where to start, let Glidden be your initial guide. ΓÇ£Our colors are arranged by step up/step down system, so if you like one color, you can go its next levels of light or dark easily.” Which can work for you ΓÇô and against you, as we learned from our attempts with Silver Blue Pearl and Cloud Motif Grey. “They both have blue undertones – one is just a lighter shade of the other,ΓÇ¥ Misty clarifies. Try to get your hands on a Glidden Fan Deck to show you which greys are in the same family, or take home a gray/charcoal brochure that shows several shades of Glidden’s of grey paint – it will give some nice ideas on paint colors that complement one another too.

Lighting Decides Your Shade of Grey. ΓÇ£Lighting is tricky ΓÇô how you are looking at it in a store under florescent lights or outside is not the lighting in your house or apartment,ΓÇ¥ Misty explains. ΓÇ£If you donΓÇÖt have direct outside light and depend on lot of lamps, the color of the bulb can throw off color.ΓÇ¥ That indirect light is a lot less intense and can make grey paint appear bluer and cooler. So if youΓÇÖre trying to paint your wall grey ΓÇô and itΓÇÖs anything other than a true one (just gradients of black and white) its undertone will mostly like show through, which is why our apartment looked blue after our first attempt. However, this cooler effect will also prevent shadows, which may be something to think about.

Swatch Baby, Swatch! This may the most important step in painting. Pick yourself up a few sample batches of the grays you are drawn to, and actually paint a large swatch on your wall. YouΓÇÖll get a true opportunity to see the paint in action, and figure out which grey you love best. Want a gray to warm up your space? Try Glidden’s Fossil Grey, which has a bit of a brown undertone – a look that’s trending right now. For the cooler grey ΓÇô Pebble Grey may be your jam.

Your Furniture Affects Grey Paint Too. ΓÇ£If you have a green couch and that’s not changing, paint your grey swatch next to your couch and see what undertone comes out in the paint,ΓÇ¥ Misty advises. You may want to reconsider what will be the perfect complement to your existing furniture.

So our final decision? WeΓÇÖve decided on Snowfield White which, despite its name, has a nice subtle hint of gray. Perfection. Check back soon to see our transformation!

Learn more about Glidden and its colors at glidden.com. They site even has a virtual room visualizer, where you can upload a photo of your space and test it out with different colors.

Check out the entire Small Apartment makeover series!