Grey rooms don’t have to look dull and dingy, but making grey the main colour within a room is something of a bold style choice, and it can be easy to get things wrong and leave yourself with a plain – or worse, cold and unfriendly-feeling – space.
Whether you’re just at the planning stage of trying to determine what colour warms up grey before you get as far as committing to it, or if you’ve already styled or inherited a grey room that needs a bit of help, this blog post is for you.
How do you add warmth to a grey room?
So, how do you add warmth to a grey room? The most obvious approach to this is to weave in some other colours, but this is far from the full story, and the type of colours that can energise a room that feels a little flat might not always be the ones you expect!
As well as exploring colour options, you might also want to look at the type and position of the room’s lighting, the tone of the grey you use, and other ways of making a room feel more warm and welcoming, like bringing in some plants and foliage.
Even using interesting interplays of texture might achieve the end result you’re looking for, which means that there are plenty of options if you’re hesitant to move down the path of adding other colours and shades in any meaningful way to your grey starting point.
How do you brighten up a grey room with poor lighting?
The impact of unsympathetic lighting certainly seems to be amplified in grey rooms, whereas rooms in other tones or shades might well get away with anything short of a flickering fluorescent ceiling panel working against it!
However, getting the lighting right in your grey room can absolutely salvage this common problem, and so think about whether the room needs more light, better positioned lights, or a different type of light, with a warmer colour spectrum and a more diffuse aura.
Does grey make a room look cold, and what colours bring warmth to a room?
Does grey make a room look cold? Not in and of itself, and as is the case for all colours, there are warm and cool toned ones; and this applies to grey too, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent than it does for bolder and brighter shades.
Grey doesn’t automatically come across as cold, but if you do find that this is the underlying effect achieved, you might be exploring options for what colours bring warmth to a room with a lot of grey going on in it.
The obvious suggestions are of course colours in the yellow, orange, peach, and red area of the colour spectrum, but these are far from your only options. Rich cream, light warm coffee, and beige shades can all add warmth to a grey room without overpowering it, nor making the room look busy or as if it has too much going on colour-wise.
Another idea is working with other shades of grey to create a graduated or textured colour effect, which can also remove any suggestion of coldness from the room if you pick the right sort of shades, even though what you’re actually doing in practice here is adding more grey!
How do you add warmth to a grey room with accent colours or statement features?
If you are looking at integrating bolder, brighter, and stronger warm colours to warm up a grey room, you have plenty of choices; and you can decide how much of the room’s visual real estate these colours take up by means of how much of them you use.
Items/areas you might want to think of integrating your accent colours or features into include the skirting boards, cushions and throws, blinds, shelving or other furniture, and more or less anything else that can be made from fabric or painted over too!
FAQs
What colours add warmth to grey? ›
Rich cream, light warm coffee, and beige shades can all add warmth to a grey room without overpowering it, nor making the room look busy or as if it has too much going on colour-wise.
How do you soften a grey bedroom? ›- Light blue. : Both being cool colours, light blue and grey make a bedroom comforting and inviting.
- Turquoise blue. : A turquoise feature wall in a bedroom with grey furniture brings personality to the room.
- White. ...
- Pastel tints. ...
- Yellow.
If your living room walls are charcoal grey, lighten the mood with contrasting hues and textures through different design elements. Try adding a leather couch, furniture with natural wood tones, a colorful or bright white accent wall, patterned pillows or a chic boho rug.
Is there a warm shade of gray? ›While cool grays have undertones of blue, green, and purple, a warm gray will have yellow, red, brown, or beige undertones. (Also included in the warm gray category is the hugely popular gray and beige hybrid, greige.)
What colour compliments grey in a bedroom? ›Warm greys can be paired with shades of creamy whites, mustard or bright yellows; light greys can be contrasted with teals, blues, purples and pinks. Using combinations of colour, even if used on accent features or patterns, can help a room inspire or cosset the user, whatever the time of day.
What colours make a room feel warmer? ›Warm colours have the ability to lift the level of cosiness in any room and can make you feel like you're being greeted by a big, warm hug every time you enter the space. Warm paint colours typically consist of oranges, reds and yellows. But warm tones of blues and greens can give your room a snug feel, too.
What looks good in a grey room? ›Mix in Metallics
Choosing a flat gray paint color allows the rest of your decor to shine—literally. Metallic accents and smaller furniture pieces transform a gray room into a glam oasis. And for even more visual interest, a funky patterned ceiling draws the eye upward.
Tan curtains, oatmeal curtains, cream colored curtains, or even neutral stripes are ideal for adding visual interest without detracting from the serenity of neutrals and grays.
How do you accessorize a grey room? ›Brighten a cool gray space by bringing in bright yellow accents. Start with a foundation of gray furniture and yellow accessories, then add navy blue accents for a dynamic decorating scheme. Limit the amount of sunny yellow you add to keep the scheme fresh and bold.
What do you do if your room is too cold? ›- Use blinds and curtains to trap in heat. ...
- Try space heaters. ...
- Use draft stoppers with exterior doors. ...
- Warm up with a heating pad or heated blankets. ...
- Add fresh weather stripping to doors and windows. ...
- Use your fireplace. ...
- Or block off your fireplace.
How can I make my room warmer naturally? ›
- Close up any cracks in your window frame. ...
- Reverse the direction of your ceiling fan. ...
- Invest in the best blankets. ...
- Make your curtains work harder. ...
- Use draft stoppers on your doors. ...
- Cover your floors with rugs. ...
- Prevent drafts around electric outlets.
Peaceful Gray
Lighter shades tend to make a room feel calm and airy while darker grays give a more masculine and sophisticated look. As a neutral color, it makes it quite easy to decorate a room with a few bright pillows or a statement word art wall.
The shades of gray that are out of style
Overall, home decor trends are moving in a warmer direction. Colors like rust, brown, amber, and ivory are taking over, as well as burgundy and olive colors. That means cool-toned shades of gray, especially pale ones with blue or silvery undertones, are starting to look dated.
Edgecomb Gray. Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray is lighter, cleaner, and warmer than Agreeable Gray. They are both warm greige colors with green undertones. Edgecomb (sample here)would likely be the better choice for a room with low light or Northern exposure.
What is the lightest warm gray? ›"If you're looking for a very pale warm gray, Classic Gray is your choice," says Monte of the Benjamin Moore shade. "It is one of our go-to colors because, although it's very light, it adds such a strong warm energy to a home."
What color accent wall goes with grey bedroom? ›Cool Tones
"I love using shades of blue and green which are on the cooler side and relate to the gray," designer Nadia Watts says. "I select these colors because the base is gray before blue or green are added. This combination is soothing to the eye and adds visual interest to the space."
Pair it with white, pink, or soft blue, and it inspires a calming essence. Team it up with vibrant reds and yellows, and you'll instantly feel its energizing effects. Regardless of what you do with gray, you can count on the fact that it will fit in with just about any decorative style or space.
What neutral color goes best with gray? ›Neutrals – If you want to create a soothing vibe, try combining gray with a neutral color palette of white and off-white shades, beiges, tans, blacks, and browns. These are colors that go well with gray of all shades, both lighter shades and darker shades.
What color draws the most heat? ›If you consider it a color, black absorbs the most heat. A black object absorbs all wavelengths of light and reflects none. Objects that are white, on the other hand, reflect all wavelengths of light and therefore absorb the least heat.
What is the coziest color? ›Cozy colors are saturated tones, and they tend to be dark shades of a warm hue, such as red, orange, and gold. A cozy color also can be a neutral, such as chocolate brown, caramel, fawn, or charcoal.
What are the 3 warm colors? ›
Warm colors include red, orange, and yellow, and variations of those three colors. Red and yellow are both primary colors, with orange falling in the middle. Warm colors appear closer to the observer.
What is a good complementary color for grey? ›'Cool greys are best paired with cooler colour schemes, such as blue, green, and light purple, while warm greys better complement reds, oranges, and yellows. For fans of the monochrome look, incorporate different shades of grey, alongside white and black, to create depth and visual interest.
What color accent wall goes with grey? ›Orange and Blue
Orange or blue may be the accent wall color for you. "For the more vibrant at heart, bright colors like oranges and blues can be exciting accents to give gray furniture and accessories life," DeWitte adds.
TAN OR CREAM - neutral shades that stand the test of time
Tan curtains, oatmeal curtains, cream colored curtains, or even neutral stripes are ideal for adding visual interest without detracting from the serenity of neutrals and grays.
Even though green color can be typed in different shades and variations, its variant tones fit well for gray walls, and vice versa, including olive green, emerald green, dark green. Bring green furniture or green wall decors to the gray room to make the space vibrant and positive.
How do you brighten a room with gray walls? ›Brighten a cool gray space by bringing in bright yellow accents. Start with a foundation of gray furniture and yellow accessories, then add navy blue accents for a dynamic decorating scheme. Limit the amount of sunny yellow you add to keep the scheme fresh and bold.
How do you make grey look good? ›When you've gone gray, or white, or salt-and-pepper, your skin can look washed-out and dull. So use a luminizing, moisturizing foundation, and apply powder only where you absolutely need it, says New York City makeup artist Mally Roncal. It makes every complexion more vibrant, says Roncal.
What goes with grey bedroom? ›Warm greys can be paired with shades of creamy whites, mustard or bright yellows; light greys can be contrasted with teals, blues, purples and pinks. Using combinations of colour, even if used on accent features or patterns, can help a room inspire or cosset the user, whatever the time of day.
When should you not go grey? ›As a general rule, Mike Liang, advanced colorist at Julien Farel Restore Salon & Spa in New York suggests going gray when you reach 80 percent non-pigmented or white hair. If your hair starts to feel increasingly dry, brittle, or damaged or you experience scalp irritation, it might be time to ditch the dye.
What is the negative color of grey? ›A true, colorless gray has no opposite color. It doesn't exist on the color wheel, and therefore has no corresponding color on the other side of the wheel.
What is the most angry color? ›
Undoubtedly, the strongest link between an individual emotion and color is “red” and anger, which has been noted across studies and formats (e.g., Kaya and Epps, 2004; Sutton and Altarriba, 2016).