A bit ago, I mentioned that, with Rick and me together, I want the house to reflect both of us. His apartment was very gray…pretty much everything was gray. It was a real modern look. My house, as you know, is all antique. Any and all reproduction fabrics are fabulous for my house. Gray I questioned a bit but…I really do want Rick to feel like this is his house too. So what’s a gal to do?
I figured I could easily go gray in our bedroom. I said that on the blog, and a reader sent this to me.
“Just a hint: Gray goes with NOTHING! BEEN THERE DONE THAT!”
Hmm. That had me thinking. Do I really want to go gray? The answer…I don’t know if I want to go gray, but I do want Rick to feel like this is his house too, so…I want him to pick. He had a rug from his house that I really liked. It was gray, so…why not gray in the bedroom? Rick and I talked about it enough to table the decision until winter, when we had more indoor time. Rick quickly volunteered to paint the bedroom if we ended up wanting it painted.
So what’s a gal to do? I tried to think of some quilts that had gray in them.
I made Kalissa and Craig’s wedding quilt. It was teals, grays, and yellow. I liked that.
I didn’t mind those colors. You can read more about the quilt in THIS POST. Kalissa picked the colors.
This quilt from Bonnie Hunter came to mind. It’s in her String Frenzy book that you can find HERE.
The photo is terrible. The quilt had red crosses and gray string pieced blocks. I can see that looking good in a bedroom. I actually like the idea of this quilt. One of Rick’s favorite colors is gray…mine is red. It’s a blend of us both. I could lean towards darker gray in the quilt so it feels warmer. Hmmm.
There is also the option of making a quilt like Ariel’s Wedding Quilt, a free pattern here on the blog. Find it HERE. This has grays and browns mixed.
Hmm. Rick also likes navy. A navy and gray quilt might look good.
There is also the UFO mystery Old World Fantasy that I’m working on finishing…
Now that one…I don’t know that I’d like it with my antique high headboard bed. Hmm.
So friends…what do you think about gray and antique furniture? Like I said…much of this is because I want Rick to feel like this is his home and not that he’s living in my house. How would you approach trying to do that? This is all my idea…not Rick’s. He says he really doesn’t care…but I do!
Maybe a log cabin with scrappy grays on one side and scrappy reds on the other?There are a lot of different ways you can set the blocks.It would look really good on your antique bed.
Great idea Sharon. I like that.
Jo,
There are some beautiful grays found in civil war reproduction fabrics as well as some turkey reds. If you steered clear of any ultra modern patterns, you might try something along those lines.
Those quilt ideas are really nice and definitely would work. As for the walls, a light gray might be best as the darker it goes, the more, well, kind of depressing it gets. A light grey with what you have on the walls right now would be nice.
I know somewhere on line there’s some sort of program that you can use to see how your bedroom would appear with gray. I used one once a long time ago for our home. Good luck!
Love and prayers
When we remodeled, we had to accommodate oak even though I wanted some gray. Turns out warm grays and caramel brown work as a very flexible background for almost any color. Red, teal, navy, anything because the tone of the gray is compatible with browns.
How kind you are to include Rick in the decorating choices.
I’m afraid I’m not at all fond of gray; it’s a color that makes me feel very tired. But I really like your idea of combining it with other colors to make it have more energy and to fit in well with your antiques. You are so good at choosing colors for any pattern, and your idea of using red with the gray sounds like a perfect match.
My bedroom is dark gray; walls, curtains, and bedding, because I was working night shift and wanted a cave to sleep in during the day. The window faces west, which exacerbated the light problem.
The headboard is black metal, and the antique dresser oak, the nightstand also. It looks fine. Any color will go, especially colors from the red side of the color wheel. I had an orange and green striped rag rug that looked good against the gray. Trim is bright white, including picture ledges.
I don’t think you would need to include gray in the quilt unless you want to. If it were me, I would paint the room first, and then choose the textile colors.
Enjoy!
Ask him. Set him loose in the sewing room and ask him to pick out three or four fabrics he likes. When we moved, one of the criteria we had was no gray. It’s a depressing color to me and I’m not going to live in it. PS He seems perfectly happy in your house.
I agree…ask Rick. You seem to have great communications and should be able to trust his responses. Maybe gray was just an easy way for him to decorate. Maybe he’s tired of gray. Maybe he really doesn’t care. Maybe he should pick his favorite things to incorporate into the house. Maybe you’re stressing over nothing. Maybe gray and red become your favorite color combination. Ask Rick…not us :-)
I agree with Connie 100%. If Rick hasn’t expressed any concerns why look? If he brings it up then work on it. Until then let it be. More important things in life.
In my opinion gray is a neutral that goes with any color. Have a gray rug and any color quilt you want. Throw a quilted pillow on the bed with gray in it if you must.
I’m not a fan of gray walls. But I like your other readers ideas of using civil war reproduction fabrics or warm browns in a quilt to offset the grayness. That way the gray will fade into the background and highlight your colorful accents.
Nope….gray is boring and cold! Your home is warm and welcoming. Just my 2 cents.
I agree. It’s very cold and depressing to me. I was going to have my living room painted and the painter told me to choose anything but gray. He said he had done so many walls gray and he has been called back for some clients to re-paint because they were depressed looking at such a dull color all the time. If she doesn’t over-do the gray in the bedroom, it might be OK. It’s just not for me.
Hi Jo, a suggestion for exploring gray paint colors is KylieM Interiors website: https://www.kylieminteriors.ca/ She is a paint consultant (for hire) but she also has an excellent blog on paint colors. I have been reading her blog for years and I have used her paint information for my own home. Although the current trend is warmer/beige colors, she has lots of information on grays (paint reviews, colors with wood finishes, LRV and room exposure, etc). I’ll send you a separate email about it. Janice
I let my husband pick our bedroom colors because I chose for the rest of the house. He chose blue & grey, so we have light grey walls & navy trim. We have navy curtains because he worked nights sometimes. Sponge painting was “in” when I painted (that’s how long it’s lasted) so I took the 2 lightest greys on the paint chip strip & used the darker one as the base & the lighter one as the sponged accent. The both has “silver” in their names. It looks great! I have used a multitude of bedding colors through the years. Currently, I have a scrappy quilt with no discernible color theme (it’s a puzzle quilt pattern) and it’s what you see in the room. All the furniture is cherry wood. The grey is like a good background fabric. It fades into the background so everything else shines.
Two years ago my husband and I moved from MN to IA. Our son lives in the area and he rightly suggested that we have the entire interior of the house painted, even the garage, before we moved in. I’d lived with off white’s and beige tones forever. We decided on a light gray. I absolutely love it. It is neutral enough to go with anything. Originally, we’d figured we could easily change the paint color if we waves. Nope – 2 years later, we still are very pleased.
I feel uniquely qualified to comment on this ;)
I love a gray gingham or a gray pinstripe. That would be a nice base for sheets or a bedskirt. I think antique two-color quilts in a bold color like turkey red or ochre would look good with it.
There’s a lot of variation in a gray… I would lean towards a taupe or mushroom gray than a lightened black. This would blend best with your walnut furniture.
Also, lean into the marble of your antique furniture. That pulls gray too.
I agree with Kayla about using taupe … it’s definitely on the warmer side of gray, and the brownish tone to it should go nicely with your antique furniture and trim. Bonus … pretty much any color looks good with it (IMHO).
I’m not a fan of gray and never have been. I do like the idea of using very pale grey with the turkey reds and caramels from Civil War Fabrics. I wouldn’t go overboard changing things in your home right now. A gray rug on the floor might be nice, but don’t change the rest of your house Jo. Just go slow OK?
Gray goes with EVERYTHING! Black/Red/Gray, Gray/Yellow/Teal, Orange/Yellow/Gray
Our entire home is a light gray that has a blue tone to it. EVERYTHING we had works. Our bedroom is old Cherry, family room is rustic credenza, dining table is dark “beat up” wood.
I suggest looking at his upper body wardrobe because men tend toward dark bottoms and denim. What 2 colors are most common in his shirts? Add those to gray.
I love that you’re doing this for Rick!!
I also have gray in my house. White walls, light gray trim and wood furniture. I love it. Lots of colors go with gray. The trick is to find a gray you can live with. Note. My husband’s favorite color is black. Which also goes with gray.
Choose warm greys, not cool ones. Warm greys have a red undertone so that may go with your other decor better. Back the quilt in all grey so that is peaking out during use.
Our first house we had light grey walls in our bedroom and purple was our accent color. Our bed quilt was grey with purple flowers. We have a piece of art that was also purple flowers on our wall.
Our bedroom furniture is a mash up, because we’ve never invested in it. (Money is spent on the the kids instead). We had an 50 year oak dresser in there. Now we have lighter wood set that my husband’s grandmother bought from when the church rectory closed. She would have been like 110 this year, it gives you an idea about how old those pieces are. We also have a Sauder dresser in there that is oak veneer.
I think you can match up a whole lot with grey, as others have pointed out.
We bought a new house 3 years ago and the interior was painted a soft dove gray, and I have mostly black furniture and antiques. Our bedroom furniture is cherry wood, and I found I like the gray color a lot. It goes great with my all of my burgundy and blues colored bedding and the valances. I would not have chosen this color, but I think it is the new neutral. Be brave and let Rick paint.
I would use the pattern you used for Kalissa’s quilt in colors you both pick. Grays and shades of red would be lovely.
Our main hallway is a light gray called Ghost Writer, we have a couple accent walls with Gibraltar Gray. It’s been 9 years and I still love the combo
If you paint your bedroom grey, maybe only do one wall (it’s an accent wall). We do that in our living room. All the walls are a soft white and then one wall is the color. We’ve had a medium/light grey and it was great. Liz
Like Kayla said, I would search for a taupe gray. It would have to have a brown undertone to go with all the wood in your home. You might also consider just sticking with the navy, if that is one of his favorites and have the warm gray as an accent. Cooler grays just don’t look good in warmer toned homes. I tried that for out kitchen years ago, and finally realized that the cooler grays just didn’t work with all the wood in the house.
Ooh…I googled “grays that go well with wood” and it brought up photos that have warm gray/blues and it was really pretty. That might be something Rick would like.
Ooh…I googled “grays that go well with wood” and it brought up photos that have warm gray/blues and it was really pretty. That might be something Rick would like.
As long as you pick warm grays they should work with the wood furniture, but definitely agree there should be some other pops of color so the room doesn’t come off prison-like.
I’d wonder, does he really like gray, or was it easy when he was on his own? So much of the ready to buy furniture over the last 5+ years has been gray. Maybe he just bought the gray furniture and went from there? But if you use it, you’re right to use red or blue with it. Those would bring it together, as you said.
I didn’t think that I liked gray too much either. But with finishing a basement family room, I wanted to use a more modern wall color without having to change all of my decor and my love of color. I found a wonderful shade of very light gray at Sherwin Williams called Ice Cube. (SW 6252
Ice Cube) It looks like a white until you put white next to it, then it is certainly gray. This shade goes well with both cool and warm colors! The basement family room does not feel gloomy at all. It might be worth looking into if you decide to add gray by painting. Many family and friends have commented on the color and have now used it in there own homes. I even used it to paint the walls of a very brightly decorated bathroom, think lemon yellow, hot pink, lime green and navy. It is a wall wonderful color!
Kalissa’s quilt is a perfect solution. As much as I like navy, tan, or blue. No
I have had several houses where the base color was gray. It goes with everything, not sure why someone commented that it didn’t. I’ve used it with red, teal, pink, blue and white. It may depend upon what shade you choose. I also have a lot of antiques in my house.
I have used gray in several houses and it goes with everything. Not sure why someone posted that it didn’t. I suspect it was the shade they used. I have used it with red, teal, aqua, pink, white and orange. I also have a lot of antiques.
Have fun redecorating.
Jo, Grey can go either green, blue, sometimes purple. I have had several homes built and used Sherwin Williams # 7672 “knitting needles”. Very pale grey, with none of the above colors showing up. Other grey’s I’ve used Dorian Grey # 7017, Repose Grey # 7015 the numbers are Sherwin Williams. The grey has a calming effect in a room, I’ve put turquoise, blues, different shades of grey in different rooms and they all work together well. Don’t be afraid. The wood furniture we have is built with alder wood and a grey teal pickle stain. We are very happy with the results. You could even make lamp shades with your quilt blocks you most likely will have left over too !!
Allietare had grey in it.
Honestly, Jo, I am pretty sure that Rick really doesn’t care. My husband and both sons don’t care about that kind of thing. I’m guessing that, if you are happy, Rick is happy. Men don’t care about stuff like that–now cooking is another matter! I think the two of you have such a great relationship. I’m guessing that if you’d like to update the bedroom, Rick will be all in, but that he really doesn’t care.
There are some pretty shades of grey out there. All the quilts you mentioned would be great options. The red and grey by Bonnie Hunter is pretty. Hugs,
I scarcely think of gray as a color! It can be really depressing. It has been used in kitchens for years now and is falling out of favor finally. And navy! Maybe if it were mixed with other blues. I like color!!!! Yellow, green, blue, red, orange, peach, pink…..color!!!!! Gray is drab and colorless. Just my thoughts!!!!!
I agree with Liz. I’d do an accent wall. Maybe a gray that was a shade darker than the one used on the rest of the walls in the room. If it was me, I’d make the wall the headboard was on the “darker” color or choose a wall that you can decorate with lots of artwork or cross-stitch pieces. That would draw the eye to that special wall. Also, I really like the Bonnie Hunter quilt you showed…grays and red. That would look great on an antique bed. Ariel’s Wedding quilt looks very modern to me.
my bedroom is grey and deep red, almost burgundy with with a some black coordinates. i like it. A note on picking out a grey for the walls. get samples. Unless you plan on adding blue incorporated, get a grey that has no blue added. It will take on a blue hue. I got a very light grey from Sherwin Williams and they helped me find one with no blue added. If you have blue in your room and get a grey with blue hues, it will look blue.Been there done that. Looks fine if that is what you are looking for.
Hi Jo. First, I’m so glad 6our Dr visits were so good. Now you can get excited about Christmas!
Second, If Rick paints your bedroom walls a pearl grey, the first quilt you showed with grey & gold looks great with the wood on your headboard as well. Grey walls would look good with that quilt.
Have a great day.
I just ran across a fabric collection by Pam Buda called Black Sheep Cottons (Marcus Fabrics). Pam designs beautiful reproduction fabrics. This collection might be the perfect combination of warm creams mixed with grays. There is a 108 wide backing that looks like English Paper Pieced Stars. Maybe a whole cloth quilt?? Take a look at the collection, maybe it will give you an idea of what to look for in your stash if you don’t want to buy fabrics. I love how these colors work together!
https://www.marcusfabrics.com/category/2-242201/black-sheep-cottons/
Great Idea Barbara. It’s my favorite idea so far. I’m trying not to buy anything so I might have to check my black and cream stash.
If Rick says he doesn’t care I would take him at his word. Being with my husband as long as I have been (35 years total) I’ve learned when he tells me he has no preference (his better way of expressing he doesn’t care) I know he doesn’t have a preference. While I don’t know Rick personally from what I have read about him in your blog posts he is quite similar to my husband. If he had a preference he would tell you. Myself I would incorporate his and your favorite colors together in one quilt, that way you will have a sense of including him in the color scheme. Gray and red look lovely together.