Decorating within a grey palette is all the rage but can be a challenging endeavor for some. Shades of Grey: Decorating With The Most Elegant of Neutrals by Kate Watson-Smyth can help you color your home in shades of grey to perfectly and elegantly show the world your personal style. Featuring many full-color pictures and helpful advice from choosing which shade of grey is visually perfect for your space, to the psychology behind color choice, and how to use accent colors in furniture or other accents to personalize bring out the best your room can be — this book will make your journey so much easier. (NOTE: Please don’t mind the yellow post-it notes peeking out of the top of the book, I found some really great ideas and wanted to mark them for later reference)
From the inside cover of Shades of Grey:
Grey is the perfect neutral. It looks fresh and modern. It goes with every other colour on the wheel. It can be dark and dramatic, or pale and Nordic. It’s perfectly suited to Scandi chic or industrial glamour and will bring a little edge to a chain-store sofa or a hint of urban cool to a buttoned-up Chesterfield. There’s no doubt about it, grey is the shade of the moment.
However, despite its popularity, it’s not quite as simple as buying a pot of grey paint then slapping it on the wall. When it comes to decorating, grey is one of the most difficult colours to get right. Get it wrong and a room will be cold and dark, possibly even energy-sapping. Get it right, however, and your home will look chic, sophisticated and modern.
So how do we go about choosing the perfect paint? In Shades of Grey, Kate Watson-Smyth will help you find exactly the right shade for your space. Full of expert advice, essential information and decorating inspiration, this book will guide you through the minefield that is choosing the perfect shade of grey paint.
“For a painter, grey is the richest colour. The one that makes all the others speak.” — Paul Klee
Shades of Grey is the perfect companion for anyone who wishes to dabble in a grey palette. One entire section provides information about the many different shades in the grey palette, and how other colors such as blue or green can be mixed with greys expand the possibilities of this neutral decor tool. Another section focuses on how to choose the shade that is perfect for you to create a beautiful space that evokes the mood or feeling that you desire.
One thing I learned from the book (that I had honestly never considered before) is that grey will change color depending on the natural light in that space. When we built our home I knew that I wanted grey for the walls and carpeting of the master bedroom. My husband gave me a wrinkled up face like he thought I’d gone crazy! But, I had seem a picture on Pinterest while researching the topic that I just fell in love with. It was a snapshot from the bedroom of country music star, Leann Rimes. He agreed that the her bedroom looked very warm and inviting and that it was going to be a great design choice for our personal space, so the decision to go with grey in our bedroom was made. I really didn’t give much thought to the process, I just went to the paint section of a local paint store and collected swatches of different shades of grey to look over. We narrowed down out favorites and then chose a medium grey. After that we decided on light grey carpeting and white for the window frames and baseboards. With the dark cherry/espresso-ish bedroom furniture and the creamy white couch and chair for the sitting area, it seemed perfect. And it is! It is exactly what I envisioned. However, upon reading this book I realize now that we just made very lucky choices, it appears, because it could have gone very wrong if we’d chosen differently.
While the master suite is still a work in progress, here is a pic of a small portion of the sitting area of the room in its current state. It is a rather large room with clearly defined areas for sitting, working at my desk, sleeping and even features a coffee station near the dresser and the door that leads out to the upper deck . I am really excited to give each functioning space it’s own little personality with my decorative choices and use of accent colors.
I am so in love with my grey space. I apologize for the crumpled pillow in the chair, my dog loves to curl up there and look out the window and I didn’t realize I hadn’t straightened it up yet. :)
Anyway, I am glad to have Shades of Grey in my book shelf especially now as I start the journey of personalizing this space. There are so many pictures in the book that provide superb inspiration for me as I start thinking about how I want this room to make me feel when spending time there.
Do you have your own grey space or is it still a pipe dream for you? I would love to hear how you have (or would) decorate it. Share away!
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Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of Shades of Grey free of charge to facilitate review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own.