Gray Kitchen

We have started painting the kitchen and I must say picking a gray has proven to be a little challenging. The first color that I chose was Olympic Flagstone:

 
It looked really great in the can but was reading a little blue on my walls...

Actually this photo that's opposite the windows.. it looks like a gray / lavender. But over by the windows, it looked gray / blue. It was giving me a Country Cottage kitchen feel and I wasn't feelin' that.

I've learned that taking lighting into consideration is very important. While this color doesn't work in my light filled kitchen, it would probably look great in one of that bathrooms that doesn't get much light. It would look like a rich gray, just like the swatch on the can, in a spot that isn't compromised by the natural light. I must say, this house is making me a student of everything.

Either way, I had to go. I liked the color but not for my kitchen. I wanted a true gray that didn't lean toward blue or green.

I felt so bad because the painter had almost finished the walls but I was cringing every time I would look at it. It had to be changed and quickly. I remembered that I had some paint samples of grays and wanted to see if any of those would work. So we swatched:

The first swatch was SW Classic French Gray... too dark. Might use this for my daughter's room though.

Next up BM Stonington Gray... I think it's a winner but I have to see the other two colors.

The third swatch was BM Silver Fox. It didn't look silvery nor foxy. It looked like like a medium taupe color with a slight green undertone. NEXT!!!

The final swatch was BM Revere Pewter (bottom right), that read a little taupe-y too.

We have a winner.... love the Stonington Gray. It reads true, it's not too light, has just the right amount of depth, it looks great in our kitchen. Can't wait to see it on all the walls.

Now that that's over, I can focus on new cabinet pulls and window treatments.