Want to change up your farmhouse look? Here’s my favorite gray, Repose Gray Sherwin Williams and other good gray paint colors to use in your own home.
Repose Gray is a beautiful gray color with a sophisticated, understated feel. Learn more about how to choose gray paint colors here.
One day you are going to be standing in front of the paint chip section in the paint store looking for the best gray paint colors—paralyzed with indecision because you come to the undeniable conclusion….
…..that a gray is not always a gray.
I know right? Totally earth-shattering.
Because here’s a truth that no one mentions to you. Sometimes a gray looks perfect in the store. You pick up the chip and look at it and you know that you know that you know it’s going to make your space sing. You rush to the counter and gleefully order a gallon and drive home to paint your dining room. And then? You realize it’s not perfect after all. It’s too pink.
Or too green.
Or too light.
Or too dark.
And in that moment you hang your head and sigh with frustration.
That sigh is EXACTLY why I wrote this post.
Because all grays are not…..nor ever will be…..created equal.
And I’ve spent more hours painting grays (especially stripes with my favorite gray striping paint Sedate Gray SW 6169) on a wall than I even want to think about and along the way I’ve learned a few things. These are my tried and true. These are the paint colors that I go to when I need a gray that’s a superhero.
So here in no particular order….
…are six of the best gray paint colors in the universe.
Repose Gray Sherwin Williams and the Best Gray Paint Colors
1. Repose Gray SW 7015
Repose Gray SW 7015 is my go-to paint. It’s so 2023. Not too gray and extra beige. Truly. Repose Gray is really more of a beige than a gray, but I love it. When you paint a wall it takes on that perfect almond gray color that looks so fresh and current.
It’s a great option if you aren’t really sure if gray is your thing and you like a hint of color without it being too overwhelming.
2. Mindful Gray SW 7016
When you look at the paint chip in the paint store it will look khaki.
No worries friend.
It’s not.
This is my go-to gray. This is the gray that trumps all others when you just don’t know where to turn. It’s the perfect not-too-green-not-too-pink gray…..just right in the middle of the color spectrum.
Otherwise known as the equator of grays.
3. Gray Clouds SW 7658
Start with SW Mindful Gray and add a hint of blue and you have Gray Clouds.
I love it as a base coat for any painted furniture project.
It looks amazing with navy and white and reminds me of the stones down by the lake.
hint: when you paint it in a room with white moldings it looks darker than the paint chip.
4. Gris SW 7659
This is the darkest of all of my favorite grays.
It’s perfect as an accent color to create the look of weathered wood and you can layer it with SW Rice Grain for the perfect gray/khaki combination.
5. Sedate Gray SW 6169
Sedate Gray SW 6169 is my stripes paint. Sedate gray makes the perfect gray stripes when you paint it on a white background.
It also has a hint of khaki and it’s the perfect light gray when painted on a wall in a room with lots of sunlight.
hint: Sedate Gray has the prettiest khaki undertones.
6. Mineral Deposit SW 7652
This gray is perfect to create a mood for a room. It’s the perfect neutral to layer into a space to make it look vintage and authentic.
Like it just showed up for an afternoon mystery play.
If you are going for mysterious, then you might want to look at Mineral Deposit for the win.
And there you have it.
The best gray paint colors in the universe.
The honor roll of gray paint right at your fingertips.
So pin it and face that paint chip stand with confidence and remember….
….there’s no sighing in painting. 🙂
PS Follow me here on Pinterest for tons more project ideas and design inspiration.
Here are some of my favorite neutral decor picks that coordinate perfectly with these gray paint colors
Hi KariAnn, Well I'm relieved. You gave us 5 shades of gray....and not 50 shades of gray.... Baadabing.
I love the grays and I will definitely pin. Now, about the board in the background. Did you do the weathering on it? Gray and what other colors if you did? I hate to say this but I'm easily distracted that's why I kept looking at the board in the background. I guess it's because I've been looking for weathered boards. My neighbor has this really neat weathered sorta lean-to I've been tempted to sneak on over there and get some of the lower boards. I don't think he'd miss them. He's an absent minded retired doctor. That isn't very nice of me is it?? I'd better just weather my own boards. So have you weathered boards??
Great list! I just have to suggest a #6. Versatile Gray, also SW (but I don't have the number in front of me). We're building, and our contractor only left room in the price for ONE color. This was my choice.. and it goes with absolutely everything. I have all sorts of fan decks and their designer box. That color was my favorite.
Now I have to get those paint samples at SW and trot them over to Benjamin Moore to have them copy the colours!
Thank you so much for this list!! I do have a question and wanted to pick your brain for a minute...we recently moved into a spec home and all of the moldings and doors are painted cream, not bright white. It has made paint choices more difficult, but i do love the warmth of the cream. Do you feel any of these grays would work with cream or just turn it more yellow looking?
I had Navajo White for a trim, creamy ivory color, beautiful. I paired it with SW Analytical Grey. I think I had sample jars of all the colors that Kari Anne just suggested plus Analytical Grey. They all had their merits in different times of the day and I just couldnt decide. I figured that I was being way to "Analytical" with my decision, so that was what I decided. It is perfect with the creamy trim!
Thanks for this list Kari-Anne! I just pinned. Would love if you would link this to Friday Favorites ! It's such a great post and I love the background of photos! laura
PS who designed your blog? I need a facelift (my blog, i'm not there yet) ! laura
Awesome choices Kari-Anne. There is one more I would add to your list...Repose Gray SW7015. Love Sherwin Williams paint. Now could you help me out with whites! Two rooms in my home are Repose Gray and one is Mindful Gray. Love the soothing effect.
I found SW Knitting Needles to be a great gray color and will use in our new house. I'll be using blues and greens in decor. It is very close to Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter. Always love seeing new colors!
Great list! Thank you so much for sharing. I am in the process of painting my entire house, and I spent hours last week sorting through colors trying to find a TRUE gray and colors that would transition well with it from room to room. This post could have saved me so much time! I am going to SW today to get these samples.
Hi Kari Anne! I know that feeling of "oh the pressure to choose the right color"! When we built our lake house, we painted all of the open interior Sedate Gray. We had lots of light and it was a great restful color I could live with. Now I'm in another home and have to start choosing color again : ) Thanks for sharing! Deb
My main living areas are painted in Accessible Beige & I LOVE it.... it soft and soothing with just the right blend of greige. I just painted our master bath in Gray Owl (BM color mixed at SW) @ 75% and it is GLORIOUS mixed with the marble accents & white subway tile.
these paint colors what paint company are you using?
Thank you so much for this post! I have been struggling to decide on a gray-greige for my living room and just couldn't make up my mind. Your comments about each color were so helpful. Again, thank you for the insight!
Ahhh gray the color we all want to achieve, the one we slave over and when it's right it's perfect! LOVE!
Where was this post 2 weeks ago? Yes, I am the one who bought a gallon of the "perfect" gray from the little chip in the store, only to end up with a room that is basically purple. Sigh. My poor son.
This is SO helpful, KariAnne. I've painted whole rooms gray to discover that it wasn't at all what I wanted and had to repaint. That's about the time I found you and your tips for choosing a paint color post. Didn't think I was a gray fan until I tried KariAnne's Mindful Gray (that's what I call it!). Now I love gray and will be anxious to try the others you list. Thank you so much!
What timing! I was just reading about grays in your forum two nights about, and yesterday during my errand-running, stopped by three paint stores to collect sample cards of all the grays. :) Thank you!
Thanks for the color choices, especially the color for the stripes! Is it just me, or do you also see a person in the the little house on the paint chip with mindful gray? It looks like a woman with black hair looking out! :D
Oh KariAnne, I wish I would have asked for your advice on gray paint two months ago when we thought we were painting my teenage sons room gray! It looks grayish certain times of the day and then it look lavender the rest of the time ;-(. Thank you for this post...I would like to try one of your suggestions next time.
Thank you. We will almost certainly be starting some remodeling projects soon. I want a clean, neutral look with specific pops of color in accents only. I have custom curtains already made (previous home) and I believe you just saved me a ton of time looking for the paint to match them. FYI-Winter Mood is a great soft white for anyone looking for a white.
Thank you. I'm so dreadful with picking paint colors. The last gray I picked for my kitchen had lavender tones that I could of sworn weren't there on the paint chip at the store, lol.
I have accessible beige in my kitchen. I loved it so much, I painted our dining room....the livingroom is next! We used both accessible beige and jogging path in the Syracuse Parade of Homes a few years ago...perfect warm grays.
I will join the chorus and say ... where were you 8 months ago? I had no problems picking out cabinets or countertops for my kitchen reno, but paint colors??? SOO hard. I wanted a subtle greyish/beige-ish color. I'm actually pretty happy with what I ended up with (sorry, don't remember what it was and am too lazy to go check right now) but the agony of choosing .... arghhh! I will bookmark this post for future reference. Love it when you help us out like this.
Almost my whole house is painted in Modern Gray and I love it! It really is the perfect gray.
Grrr... I meant Mindful gray.
I have 3 of the 5 in my house and I couldn't agree more.
Thank you so much! I love the exterior color of your home also. Is it one of those grays?
We recently painted our living room, after waiting almost 8 yrs due to my inability to decide on a color. I kept changing my mind. We happened to go into TJMaxx and I found some curtain panels on sale. They are a almost light bluish gray with white damask design all over them. For some reason this hit me right so I bought the curtains, only 2 pkgs of 2 panels each left. I usually make my own curtains but they seemed to really hit a note with me. Then I had to find paint. Got low voc paint at True Value, lovely very light almost white gray, what an incredible difference in our living room. Sigh. Our l/r tends to be a bit dark at times of day so the gray lightened it up so nicely, looks so pretty now. I've used couple shades darker gray on some picture frames, also 2 shades of aqua and it looks so beach/cottage. I'm so glad I found that color, it was on sale and close to home to get it, we live few miles west of Grand Junction but the True value is about 5 miles from us, yeahoo. We have a single wide (16x80) mfg. home so living room, kitchen and mud room share a common wall. This post will be extremely helpful with helping me plan other rooms. Finally. When we first bought this place I bought paint but since have totally changed what I like, thanks to two years of being exposed to extremely talented bloggers. Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks. we're in our early 70's. Since we didn't use the paint it got put out in shed, frozen so not useable any longer. Glad I can't use it, don't think I'd like it at all. Thank the dear Lord for so many extremely talented bloggers, I have learned so much. Pinning this wonderful post. Happy summer days
Hi KariAnne...thanks for the info! Question...do you have any rooms painted with the jogging path? I'm trying to find some real world examples and I'm coming up short. I'm thinking I like this for a bedroom. Your help would be appreciated! Thanks, Kelly