I learnt the hard way that it is important to identify the right shade of gray paint for your walls.
Not doing so will lead to a gray painted wall that is completely not ideal.
This is because most shades of gray are not a pure solid gray. Most grays you see in Paint catalogs have either green, red, blue, orange or purple undertones. This means that when the sun shines on that gray painted wall, the color undertone will be super obvious.
I was really annoyed when I realized that the gray paint that was proposed to me by my interior designer had a blue undertone. After the walls were painted, I completely did not like the gray at all (first world problems, I know). The blue undertone of the gray simply did not match well with the rest of my living room’s furniture and also really did not do anything for the space.
Hence, I became quite obsessed with finding the right shade of gray and I managed to get the (close to) perfect shade of gray for my living room walls!
Here are the 3 simple steps I took to finally select the right shade of gray that I truly love.
1. Identify the color undertone you want
First you need to decide whether you want a neutral gray, warm shade of gray or a cool shade of gray. If you do not know where to start, have a look at the furniture or even the interior design style you plan to get. From here, you should be able to have an idea of the overall color scheme you want for the space. The shade of gray should complement the overall color scheme. If you want your space to have more of a cooling feel, a gray with blue undertone will work best. If you want your space to have more of a warm feel, a gray with a red or orange undertone will be best.
If you want your gray to be of a darker shade and have no color undertone, I recommend that you get Slate Gray by Nippon Paint, which is also what I got for my living room. I wanted a shade of gray that is as pure a gray as possible. I also wanted it to be dark, Thankfully I found the perfect color under Nippon Paint: Slate Gray!
2. Shortlist your favourite gray hues and check the color undertone
You can use a tool like Photoshop or photopea.com to check the undertone of the gray color. All you need to do is to simply use the color picker tool to check the undertone of the gray.
P.S. I made a mistake in not checking the color undertone of the initial gray shade that was proposed to me. Hence, my advice to you is to make sure to check the undertone of the gray shades that you have shortlisted so that the chances of the gray turning out to be something you love is much higher You will also save on the cost and time required to repaint again.
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3. Start painting!
Once you have identified the gray you want, you can proceed with the painting! For me, I engaged a painter to do this because I was lazy. However, if you want to paint by yourself, be sure to set aside around half a day for this.