What Does this Infamous Movie Got to Do with Your Home?

In the last few decades, home decorators and interior designers have regarded the color “white” as the neutral standard. Home decor and design themes are considered elegant and top-class in white. But things are FINALLY shifting in the way of color and design trends for homes. No pun intended, but about (50) Shades of Grey are now the hottest thing for home decorating, with grays serving as a new neutral in all tones, “from soft silvers to dark charcoals”.

Dee Schlotter, color brand manager for Glidden Paints, explains to The Washington Post that the recent change in neutral preference may be due to the fact that “gray plays well with other colors.”

“Gray gives life to everything in a room. Gray makes everything look more modern and fresh. Gray makes all your possessions pop out. It gives them presence. A good picture on a gray wall — it’s amazing!”

-Kate Watson-Smyth, London-based interior blogger

It seems that home furnishing stores are also keeping up with the trend. Retail giants like Ethan Allen, West Elm, and Restoration Hardware are displaying gray items on their storefronts. Gray kitchen cabinets and gray flooring are also becoming a popular choice among home builders and interior decorators.

“Gray is edging out the beige era; we were beiged out.”

-Jackie Jordan, Director of Color Marketing at Sherwin-Williams

Jackie Dettmar of the carpeting manufacturer Mohawk Group also attests to this by saying that “shades of gray have become some of our top sellers for the last five years.” The famous plumbing fixture brand, Kohler, also offers five shades of gray in its plumbing fixtures for bathrooms and kitchens now.

To read more about gray and its impact on modern home design, you can access the original article at The Washington Post here.

Here are a few more good reads about Gray as a home color: The Power of Gray in Staging and The Hot New Neutral Has Home Owners Feeling a Little Gray