Paint Colors in Our Home 2016

Hi friends!  We’ve been knee deep in back-to-school preparations over here and I’m sending my son off to his first day of 1st grade today!  #whendidhegetsobig?! Even though it’s always bittersweet seeing summer come to an end, I’m actually ready for school to start this year and that’s a first!  I may or may not have been counting down these last couple of days like Christmas was coming!  Come this afternoon, I might be changing my tune and all sappy missing my boy, but right now, I’m all #yayforschool!  We’ll see if “my kid gets himself ready for school by himself without me nagging” is still working from last year today! We talked about it last night before bed and as I type this, it’s 5 minutes until his first alarm goes off . . .

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A frequent question I get via email is about the paint colors in our home, and especially whether the grey in our bedroom and bath is a ‘true’ grey or does it read blue or purple in person?  And also, how is the ‘greige’ in our downstairs?  Today, I’m answering your questions (even though I always respond to emails too!) and sharing all of the paint colors we have in our house.  I’m also giving you a rundown of how the paint colors look in our home, which is not necessarily how they look on the online swatches.

Of course, it’s hard to read color through a computer screen and the best way to test paint is to actually paint two coats onto different parts of your wall and view it at different times of the day to see how it looks.  Consider what time of day you’re in the room the most to see how you like it at that time of day.  If you don’t want to put the color directly on the wall to test, you can use a posterboard, but it won’t saturate the same and the texture will be different, which can affect the look.  The paint can also look drastically different with the lights on or off, so you need to consider that too.  

Below are the swatches of the main colors in our home and below that I’ll show you photos of how the paint actually looks in our home when photographed with natural light and the inside lights off. Most of the photos are taken in the afternoon.  If you want to see more photos of each room, click the ‘room tour’ link below each picture.

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Whites can be so tricky and finding the ‘perfect white’ is a challenge because there are so many variations.  Our paint, SW Divine White is definitely on the creamy side and not a stark, bright white. It’s not yellow or beige, but it’s definitely warmer than bright white, more off-white, as you can see compared to our white subway tile and marble counters.
All of the cabinets, moldings (except my office) and ceilings in our house are painted this warm, creamy hue.

Accessible Beige is as a creamy greige that, in our home, leans a little more on the beige than grey side.  We have it throughout our home in the living room, kitchen, breakfast room, and in the upstairs hallway.  It’s a great neutral that complements just about any color scheme.

 

The dining room used to be Accessible Beige too, until I decided to freshen it up with a pale blue. Finding the perfect color proved more difficult than I originally thought and after testing out eight sample colors (including SW Sea Salt).  But, because our ‘white’ is so creamy, Sea Salt didn’t look as good as I thought it would here.  We ended up going with Comfort Gray (lightened 75%), which isn’t very gray at all.
This color makes the whole room feel light and airy, but definitely on the blue, almost aqua side and sometimes leans green.  Below is a good picture of Divine White in the trim work below the painted wall.  Again, you’ll notice how the Divine White isn’t as white as the white in the vase on the console table.

I decided to make our glass cabinets more interesting by painting the back wall SW Urbane Bronze and then adding white pitchers and dishes to make them pop against the dark background.  Urbane Bronze is a deep, dark grey with dark brown undertones, but in my house it leans more grey.

To keep the look consistent in our first floor and because I’m so fond of this color, I also painted the back of our media cabinet Urbane Bronze.
And also the stripes in our entryway and under the stairs.
The door in the photo with the stripes and the doors in our upstairs hallway are painted SW Black Fox.  They should have called it Brown Fox because it has so much brown in it, especially when you just have the first coat on.  The color deepens with the second coat and ultimately looks more grey, but it’s still very warm with a brown tint.
The door in the photo with the stripes and the doors in our upstairs hallway are painted SW Black Fox.  They should have called it Brown Fox because it has so much brown in it, especially when you just have the first coat on.  The color deepens with the second coat and ultimately looks more grey, but it’s still very warm with a brown tint.

 

At last, the search for a perfect true gray is over!  In our home at least, SW Anew Gray looks like grey without being purple, blue or pink.  If anything it has a taupy-hue, but it’s definitely gray and so, so pretty!  We have this color in our master bedroom, adjoining sitting room and master bath.

 

Before James’ room was turned into a nursery, we gave his walls a brilliant pop of blue with Benjamin Moore Indi-Go-Go and the ceiling a pale blue, Sherwin-Williams Honest Blue. Indi-Go-Go is dark blue, but not quite navy and honest blue is a soft, light blue.

 

That big boy room sure looks different now, with the addition of built-in bookshelves and bench seat that I designed and had a cabinet maker build, and since it’s been decorated for a baby girl’s nursery!
The gray in the stripes and on the top half of the walls is SW Agreeable Gray which leans on the light blue side.  Here, because the cabinets, trim, beadboard and white stripes are all Divine White, crisp white furniture tended to make that paint color look dingy, which is why we opted for grey furniture. You can see how the pros got perfect stripes on the ceiling here.

 

When we redid my office, I knew I wanted to paint the trim a contrasting color and make a bold statement against the white walls and ceiling, so we opted for Lichen by Farrow & Ball in a high gloss.  The color is the most gorgeous creamy, olivey green.  It’s soothing and so super shiney in that high gloss finish.
Finally, we most recently painted our playroom/media room Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore, an almost-black, charcoal color.  Unfortunately, this room is difficult to photograph since it only gets partial natural light on one side and the rest is illuminated with artificial light.  I think you can get the gist of what it look like on the right side of the back wall though.

 

 

I better wrap this up – we gotta get to school! Wish us luck!!
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keep in touch! 

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Meet Megan

Hi! I’m Megan, mom to a thoughtful teenager and spunky young girl. We call Houston home and recently moved into our dream home. I traded my lawyer hat to become a full-time blogger in 2010. I love sharing my passion for affordable fashion, home decor, organization, & fitness to help inspire you to take care of you!

36 Comments

  1. Hope James has a great first day back! Had to believe he is already in first grade. Love the colors in your house. Agree, they look so different in other people's homes depending on the lighting and surrounding decor.

  2. Mine go back tomorrow! I think the amount of light and other colors play into the paint used as well. Divine white is pretty but in my house it looks like a lighter beige or almond color, so for a white or cream it comes off too dark, I love it but it's not a white in my house. Comfort grey even lightened to 75% looked like a light sage green with a grayish hue, not the pretty aqua you got. Black fox is one of my favorites it's so dark and pretty in my house but my friend did her cabinets in the same color and they look like a lighter milk chocolate color. Still pretty but totally different. Another one I have tried is SW Iron Ore a friend used it and it was a charcoal grey but in my house looked like a dark brown??? And I wanted to love that one but shocked it looked brown. I tried sea salt too hated it at first but after a few days it grew on me it was a very light green but my daughter hated it so we switched to window pane. I always try to buy the sample jugs when SW HASpaint sales so I can try them out for a few dollars before committing.

    1. I bought sooo many sample for our dining room! In retrospect, we might have went with a brighter white than Divine White, but since it's consistent throughout our house, it looks fine and no going back now!

  3. Love those colors! It makes me want to repaint our bedroom! I totally did not test the gray and it has a light blue hint to it that I loathe! That was not the look I was going for!

    My oldest daughter just moved out and I was able to convert her bedroom (which was originally the study) into my office and chose a gray that depending on the light either looks gray or has a small brown hint to it which I LOVE! My husband who already painted the entire house once and vowed to never paint it again loves this color so much he wants to paint the entire house again lol.

    =) Bridget | http://nuttyhiker.com

    1. He painted the whole house?! Whoa! My husband painted our old townhouse and it was the biggest job ever with such tall ceilings. Which grey is it that you fell in love with?

  4. Hi Megan! What do you think about painting the whole house anew gray? I have white cabinets and the trim of the house will be a true white as well. It’s a brand new home so I need to find out which color works best in most rooms for now! I don’t want the house to look dark at all and I’m afraid that it will be dark after looking at swatches online! Thank you!

    1. Hi Sam! Paint colors are so tricky and you really need to sample the paint on the walls to get a true sense of how they will look in your home and at different times of the day. I will say that, in our house, Anew Grey isn’t dark at all though. It’s really pretty!

  5. So glad I found your blogs! You have given me so many ideas… I absolutely love everything xoxo

    Thanks for sharing the colors of your walls with us!

  6. Thank you so much for sharing this! We just bought a house that had divine white cabinets but a terrible brown color for the walls. We tried Sherwin Williams “Mindful Grey” but I feel like it made the cabinets look almost dirty or yellow. I saw accessible beige on Pinterest and then googled “accessible beige with divine white” and then was directed to your website! I love the two colors together in your house and hope they look as good in mine! I was thinking we would be stuck having to paint our walls a dark color in order to make the creamy white “pop” but after seeing pictures of your light and airy looking beautiful home I am freshly motivated!! We will be painting soon. Thanks again 🙂

    1. Oh that’s so good to know! The divine white is very creamy and not bright white, so just know that going in! Sending good wishes for a beautiful outcome!

  7. What sheen do you use for your trim. I see you used high gloss in your office but all other places? I like a high shine but not sure if I want to go to the high gloss. I just did board and batten in my foyer and trying to decide to paint it semi-gloss or high gloss.

  8. Thank you for the great ideas! We have a house with blonde brick with yellow undertones and a charcoal roof. We are painting the trim alabaster and front door urbane bronze. There is wrought iron in front of the door, gates and such. Was thinking of a soft black for wrought iron or urbane bronze. With the door being urbane bronze what color should I do on the iron door in front and on other wrought iron? Thanks!!!

  9. Love this post. It’s been helpful to see Divine White shine as it’s the trim, ceiling, and cabinet color in the house we are purchasing. I love how it looks in yours. In the home we are purchasing, it appears very light but they chose a lot of darker tans for the walls like Kilm beige, nomadic, etc. Do you think using Divine White on the walls to match the trim will freshen and brighten up the space? I don’t want my house to appear “builder beige” but wanted a lighter color that is still warm but light enough to display my bold art and showcase my antique furniture. Thanks, in advance, for your input!

  10. Megan, I’m considering either Urbane Bronze or Iron Ore for my kitchen cabinets. Between those two colors, which one did you love the most? And does Urbane Bronze have any hints of green (I’m trying to avoid green).

    By the way, your home is lovely!

    1. I think I like Urbane Bronze more and doesn’t look green to me! I’d definitely do a swatch since it’s such a big project. Live with it for a full day so you can see how the color changes with the light at different times of day. Fingers crossed for you!

      1. Thank you so much for replying. I was leaning towards Urbane Bronze and now I’m more excited to try it. I will definitely get a sample and do a swatch first.

  11. Hello! The stripes in your entryway and under the stairs, that’s urbane bronze and… Accessible Beige?
    I have urbane bronze in my house but my main color is shoji white. I absolutely hate the shoji and want to change it even though it was supposed to pair so well with the urbane. Thanks!!!

    1. I think so! I’ve seen shoji white before and it’s always looked pretty. It’s funny because I always think my Divine White looks too warm!

  12. Hi Megan,
    All of our trim is Divine White and we are needing repaint some of our ceilings which are painted the same color as the walls were originally painted, which I believe is Kilm Beige. I’m thinking about painting them Divine White versus painting them the same as new wall color, which is Anew Gray, but wanted to ask if you lightened up the Divine White before painting the ceilings?

    Thanks for your help!

  13. I have Divine White cabinets, doors & trim. It’s too creamy but there’s too much of it so it will just have to stay., I want to change the wall color to a lighter color. If I want the Divine White to look more white & less creamy, should I choose a cool wall color or a warm wall color?

    1. I’m struggling with the same thing! Need some advice.
      We just painted my daughters bedroom white and I don’t like it with the woodwork. I want to change the rest of the house which is nomadic desert.

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