Filed under: Color, Design, etc
Notes and snippets for people who love decorating with color. Today, why this modern neutral is turning heads in the design world.Whether it's a calming dove gray or a much more dramatic charcoal, we can't get enough of this go-to color. Neither can interior designer Mary Nolte, owner of Mary Nolte Designs and Kaleidoscope Color Consulting. Nolte has been tracking the emergence of gray and is bringing it into many of her clients' homes. "I absolutely love the way gray looks. It's part of my favorite color combination actually, which is black, white, red and gray," says Nolte. "Gray, like beige, can go in so many directions."
And it combines well with numerous colors, like blue, green, even yellow, making it a perfect neutral.
Yellow and gray make the perfect pair. Photo: Apartment Therapy
One color combo that has recently caught Nolte's eye is gray and yellow. "The colors together are just so fresh and trendy," she says. "I really love how they play off one another." She loves it so much that when Nolte helped her sister decorate her East Hampton, New York home, she introduced chartreuse to liven-up the gray-based living room.
While yellow dominates the happy space shown above, found in a house tour on Apartment Therapy, the gray in the upholstered table and file cabinet ground the palette in a subtle way.
In addition to using this hot hue in accessories, Nolte is using darker shades like charcoal on living room and bedroom walls. "A dark gray wall can be really dramatic," she says. If you're a little bit cautious but still want to try it at home, she suggests painting a smaller room, such as a bathroom, especially if you have marble or tiles with some gray in them already. "That way, it's less of a commitment," she says, "but it gives you the opportunity to really play around."
Keep an eye out for gray-colored flooring too. Some designers are staining floors in different shades of gray. "It gives natural wood a nice, sophisticated update," she says.
Consider pairing gray with other neutrals, like white and tan, as shown in this bedroom at the Crosby Street Hotel in Manhattan. The result is a beautiful, soothing color scheme that you'll want to replicate in every room.
When paired with white and tan, gray is soothing. Photo: Crosby Street Hotel