Interior walls painted in Analytical Gray
July 09, 2012
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When we built more than eight years ago, we found out during the process that the builder would paint the interior walls for us if we wanted. Since our dining room, living room, loft and staircase are all connected, and all but the dining room have soaring ceilings (about 25 feet up at the tallest point), we jumped on that option big time. (For those spaces.) And the fact that they were going to paint it all for $600 (that we rolled into the mortgage) made it so we couldn’t pass it up.
We chose a color called Beechwood Grey by Porter and they were able to spray it on before floors or trim were installed (hence the cheap price).
Thing is, it wasn’t too long before I regretted our color choice. Sometimes it had more of a gray tone and I didn’t mind it. But other times it had a pinky hue that kind of drove me crazy. Eventually I no longer saw any grey, just PINK.
Pink as pink could be, pink.
And the kicker, beyond the color, was that they painted in flat paint. Flat paint has it’s place (ceilings!) and on big walls it can be a good idea, because it definitely hides imperfections in the wall.
But for all that is good, it is NOT a good idea on high traffic areas, like say…a staircase? A staircase wall that a little boy touched ever. single. time. he walked up the stairs as he was learning to climb them?
A staircase that showed every little smudge from every piece of furniture we’ve ever carried up the stairs:
Thing is, at least with the old flat paints (the newer ones are coming out with wipeable versions), you just can’t clean them. You could scrub all you want and it it won’t come clean. And then if it does come clean, you wipe off so much of the finish that it leaves a mark where you cleaned.
There’s no winning with it.
But we couldn’t just repaint those stair walls because a.) there’s no way the color would match perfectly b.) the walls are about 25 feet tall.
Uh, this girl? Not going up there. :)
So they sat there, all grody, and honestly I didn’t know that we’d ever be able to do anything about them. I just thought it would be too much to have them painted. But man, that staircase was looking AWFUL.
One day the guys that have been working on the basement took me to a house to show me how they had done something. While we were there they pointed out all the stuff they had done in the house, including painting a two story family room.
DING DING DING!!!
I had no idea they could do it, and it planted the seed.
So months later, we saved up the money (which turns out wasn’t even much more than we paid the builder!) and had it done and I AM SO HAPPY!!!!
The color is Analytical Gray by Sherwin Williams and I am head over heels in love with this color. Here it is in the dining room soon-to-be library:
(The top isn’t cut in because I will reinstall the crown up there eventually. The dining room transformation is coming along, more on that soon!)
Here’s that room with everything crammed in there as they painted – I had painted the dining room myself, but you can see where it stopped on the wall going to the front room:
I used to have a piece of trim up there so I could paint each room a different color. You can see that’s gone and I’ve since installed the wainscoting around into the dining room (above). Doesn’t it look so much better?? (And my money plant is growing like a weed!)
This is a LOVELY neutral color, beige mixed with just the right amount of gray. I think they call it “greige?” I call it perfect. :)
I took some before and after shots of the spaces to show you the difference this color has made. Here’s the living room window wall, before on top, after on the bottom:
Oh my goodness, I can’t believe how pink those walls look now that I look at them in pictures!
Here’s the desk area in our living room:
The foyer/staircase area looks soooo different:
Wow. Pink.
Not sad to see ya go.
Here’s my favorite before and after:
Ah yessssss…the joys of an eggshell finish. I use eggshell pretty much everywhere in our house – it’s not too shiny, and it wipes up well. (Sometimes eggshell is called satin.)
And I like that it bounces the light around a little bit – I swear it makes the spaces brighter because it has a teensy bit of reflection to it. The flat just absorbed all the light and sucked it up into it’s dark, pink, flat chasm.
I think this is one of the BEST changes we’ve made to our house – LOVE IT!!
So do you have a go-to neutral paint color? It can be SO hard to find one that works for so many different spaces, like this one had to. If you’ve got one you love, please share!
WHOA now I see the pink crazy! I love the new subtle change. My first house Picked out all of the colors and painted away happy as could be. Then I sat back and went OH NO. Literally you could sit in the bathroom and see all 4 rooms at once and oh it was all shades of pastels looked like a had a house full of nursery rooms. Now I tell my husband the color I am going for and he goes and gets it. I can't always see the shades now stinking eyeballs.
ReplyDeleteThe new color looks great!
ReplyDeleteWow, you're right, it did look pink. I always thought you had painted your walls a pinkish-taupe color. Who knew? I can't believe that was actually gray! Love the new look!
ReplyDeleteI agree. Whoo, indeed!
ReplyDeleteLove it! We just repainted our entire foyer/family room/upstairs hallway and I know how you feel! Also went from old flat to a nice new eggshell! Looks great!
ReplyDeleteYep - Toasted Cashew in eggshell finish - by Behr.
ReplyDeleteWow, that looks so great! I am obsessing over the rug in your soon to be library! I hate to ask this...but I swear I didn't see where you said it in the post (unless I am blind - and I even read twice)...where did you get it? I want one for my office!
ReplyDeleteWOW, HUUUUUGE difference!!! Pink is my biggest fear when it comes to neutrals. Hence the reason I'm hanging onto my green "neutral" walls. they were supposed to be tan, but I'm scared I may go pink if I try and change. What a beautiful difference this new color has made!!
ReplyDeleteUniversal Khaki by Sherwin Williams. Sigh, I'm addicted. Living room, kids room, kitchen, office & bath. Going on 6 years now & I guess it's time to admit that it's 'My Signature Color' (Julia Roberts: Steel Magnolias)
ReplyDeleteWow--you weren't kidding about the pink. Isn't it funny how we see it over time? Love the new color. We have painted "Accessible Beige" by SW and love that too, such a nice greige color.
ReplyDeleteWhat a difference, wow!!! Your new color really makes the white trim pop. Just lovely. My husband and I are in the process of repainting a majority of our house. Ugh. It's so worth it though. We've lived with the color 'Blonde' SW since we bought our house 4 years ago. We finally said enough with the yellow! We decided on 'Yosemite Sand' by Benjamin Moore and are so in love with the color. It's a great warm neutral that's not too dark and not too light. Perfect.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with paint (or any wall treatment actually) is that the color looks different depending on how much light there is and if it is natural or artificial. Light changes every color.
ReplyDeleteI hope this doesn't make you crazy but in the photos you posted of the new color, I only see one photo that looks grey, in the others I see Beige, Khaki, Light Blue, and Yellow! And even one that looks a little pink!! It's really all about the light!!
I have Analytical Gray in my house! Love it! It's the perfect greige. I also have a 75% version of AG in a few rooms that I wanted to be a little lighter - like my office and our powder bath and laundry room. LOVE!
ReplyDeleteOh man!! That looks awesome! Though, I'm a little mad at you because I thought I had chosen a paint for my master bedroom and now I HAVE to go check out this color at Sherwin Williams! :P
ReplyDeleteI never noticed how pink it was until the before and afters! Wow!! I love me some blush and bashful, but this new color looks so great. And hooray for finding a great deal and not having to rent scaffolding to do it yourself. YIKES!! Hope you're having a great week! (The dining room is coming along so well!!)
ReplyDeleteOh well done for getting rid of the pink!!! I hate it when walls turn a different color after you paint. Actually, it's the light. Anyway, good for you!!!
ReplyDeleteI am a chicken when it comes to color so I stick with something safe!!! Our master bedrm, family rm., kitchen and dining are all PITTSFIELD BUFF! And I'm happy as a clam.
That's a great color! You did an awesome job!
ReplyDeleteThe color looks gorgeous Sarah ! It's similar to what I have in my eat in area,myounare going to love the way it looks when the sun hits it. What a difference! You've made such amazing changes to your home, they are just beautiful .
ReplyDeleteA trick I learned in, I believe, my color theory class is to use white (like a white piece of paper) and hold it next to another color. You should be able to pick out the undertones of the color. Or maybe this was just for neutrals? I can't remember, but I think it works for any color you are considering :)
ReplyDeleteLove the new wall color! Such a big beautiful difference!
ReplyDeleteIt looks great. The main part of our house is Wingham Creme from Benjamin Moore. I love it. However, like you, the painters used flat paint back in 2005. Now the house could really use a new coat of paint, but I can't reach the high ceilings. It was $1200 7 years ago, so I'm thinking it's at least $2,000 now. :(
ReplyDeletenot sure how you lived with the pink that long - I couldnt have done it.
ReplyDeleteNOW, it looks spectacular~!
my go to color is relaxed khaki by sw.. 3 years and I still love it with any color combo I use in any room.
How is it possible that I didn't notice this before! The new color is perfect! You must be thrilled:)
ReplyDeleteI never thought they were that pink! They looked to me like a salmony tan... ;) But wow, what a change!!! Looks Great!
ReplyDeleteWow! I never saw the pictures before and thought 'pink' but now that you mention it...
ReplyDeleteWhat a difference. The new color looks great. And did you say 'grody to the max'? I'm going to have to go dig out my copy of 'Fer Shurr! how to be a valley girl' ;)
It looks great!
ReplyDeleteI am confused, in your area if you build/buy a new house it doesn't include paint? I am in the Kansas City area and have never heard of such a thing. But it is interesting how different regional areas can be.
ReplyDeleteHoly cow, Ha-UGE change. You must just find yourself staring at it a loving it. :) Or, at least that's what I'd be doing.
ReplyDeleteAw, pink walls. So familiar. We bought a house with pink walls and 2.5 years later still have pink walls with LOTS of paint swatches painted in becuase I can't pick a color! We have to work around the fact the spaces we're painting don't get much light (lots of trees on the lot and the windows face southwest) and CRANBERRY colored carpet that we're not financially ready to replace. *sigh* Maybe I'll give a sample of the color you did a try. :)
ReplyDeleteLooks great!! And you are right..it did look pink!! That would have driven me crazy as well.
ReplyDeleteOMG, I TOTALLY see the PINK!!! Yikes! When we moved in to our house, most of it was painted in a neutral, yellowish color, which had the same dirt attracting tendencies with a small boy... I just repainted most of it in classic taupe, though. I never want to paint again.
ReplyDeleteYour gray is gorgeous - it makes me wish I'd done gray instead, but it wouldn't have worked for us, I don't think. :-)
Love the grey! I am a new blogger that just bought a home and we are updating it one room at a time! I would love for you to check it out!www.recreateanddecorate.com
ReplyDeleterecreateanddecorate@yahoo.com
Huge change! I'm so glad to hear someone (you) saying you like eggshell, I think everyone has jumped on the flat or gloss bandwagon and they forget that with little kids we are not either a) repainting every handprint (for flat) or b) spraying off the walls (for gloss).
ReplyDeleteTapping my toes waiting for my matching dining room rug to arrive:)
Jessica
Oh. my. goodness. That color is gorgeous! I'm going to add that to my "go to" list of great neutrals.
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the flat paint. Our house had flat paint THROUGHOUT, so I have been working my way through it, one flat wall at a time.
I totally know what you mean about being bugged by a paint color too - I just repainted my dining room because the color (Horizon Gray, Benjamin Moore), while pretty, kept taking on a green hue with the light in there. Paint can be so tricky!!
Love the changes - it's a gorgeous color!!
It looks awesome! We have flat paint in our house too and although we've only been in the house two months the fingerprints from my kids are already everywhere. We're definitely using eggshell in the future!
ReplyDeleteOH my goodness. I never thought "pink" when I looked at your pics before, but when you compared the two pics, you really could see it! I guess I need to be extra careful when I pick out my gray!!
ReplyDeleteLove it! We are going to paint soon, and I am deathly afraid of picking something that ends up PINK. Making it harder, when we moved into our house we ripped out the carpet and installed neutral tile. At the time, I didn't understand that "neutral" can mean about 1000 different things, and Ignorant-2008-Me picked something that I fear leans a little too pink to work with some of the pretty greige shades I so love.
ReplyDeleteI never noticed the pink tone before, but you can definitely tell the difference with the new color. A fresh coat of paint always makes everything feel brighter and cleaner, doesn't it? :)
ReplyDeleteI can clearly see what you men about the pink. I lived with a groddy Martha Stewart minty green for YEARS and didn't realize the extent of its yuckiness until I painted over it. I love soft sandy shades on the wall. So natural and they take the light so well. I painted a Behr color that's called Creamy Mushroom in the master bedroom that I LOVE. Goes great with the other colors - burgundy, grass green, and black. i feel proud every time I look at it!
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree about the flat paint! I am always touching up the paint on our staircase. However, I love our color! It is called Utterly Beige by Sherwin Williams, but that name does not describe it well AT ALL, It isn't even beige. It is a tan that can look brown or grayish/putty depending on the light, but I like it in every light. ;-)It just seems to go with everything and look great everywhere!
ReplyDeleteI seriously think your pinkish shade may be the same awful color that the previous owners of our house chose to paint the ENTIRE house, walls, ceilings and I'm pretty sure that's the same color on the OUTSIDE of our house. I hate it and have repainted all but one room - the one with the high ceilings. Luckily, that's our Guest Room (formerly the room of our 22-y-o), so I don't have to see it every day. Now, I just need to have all the ceilings painted to finally rid our house of that nastiness. Oh, and the outside of our house...ugh.
ReplyDeleteSuch a huge improvement! We had a pinky beige in our dining room (total mistake on my part) that I just painted greige. You don't realize just how pink it is until you can compare. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLove the new color. It looks fabulous. Yes I agree, flat paint is for the birds. Love the wainscoting also. Beautiful additions and such a great transformation. Hugs, Marty
ReplyDeleteI would not have thought so pink until seeing those before and after shots. Wow, so pink! Congrats on a great change. And holla! for eggshell finish. LOVE IT. It's just the touch of glow walls need without being too... well, shiny shiny.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about flat paint. NEVER, NEVER again will I paint a wall in flat paint. I have the same ugly, grody, dirty problem in my living room because of flat paint but I am going to have to wait until next year to do anything about it. Love your new color choice although I am not a big gray fan because I have never found one that doesn't have an undertone problem, just like your "pink". It's hard to find a pure gray that goes with everything. There's either blue, pink, green or brown undertones. Such a challenge to work with sometimes.
ReplyDeleteWow - you can see the pink, that is wild!! I just painted my kitchen a grey, but I sure hope I don't see pink either!!
ReplyDeleteThe new grey is gorgeous!! I keep debating what color to paint the new house...but it will probably have to wait until after the baby now! :P
ReplyDeleteI am a pink lover and even I couldn't handle all that pink hue around my house. What an awesome trasformation!! Enjoy!!!
ReplyDeleteLooks awesome!
ReplyDeleteEggshell is totally the way to go over flat. One quick note though - eggshell is different than satin. Satin is much more shiny (not as shiny as a semi-gloss, but definitely more than eggshell.) Eggshell is "the happy place" between flat and satin. : )
Can't wait to see the dining room when it's finally converted to a library!
Yep, satin is a tad glossier, but some paint companies don't offer an eggshell finish, so the satin is the closest to it. :) I always go satin if eggshell isn't an option.
DeleteLove the new color, and Eggshell is my friend too. I love how the paint stores always try to sell you something more "shiny". It really changes the color.
ReplyDeleteWhen we moved two years ago, the house we bought was painted a very flat (ugly) grey. The house looked so cold and sterile. We ended up painting it with Benjamin Moore Shaker Beige. It looks so warm and inviting now. We really love it.
ReplyDeleteJocelyn @
http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com/
Wow! What a difference - this post is perfect as we are trying to make decisions about our own wall colors. Color seems like such a commitment. Thanks for your tips:)
ReplyDeleteLove the AG. Have you considered putting up a hand rail to avoid future smudges from your little and other little hands? Those are much easier to fix than whole walls! :)
ReplyDeleteGlad you are back.
Love the color - what a difference! Could you email the name of the painters you used in Indy... I'm not far and wonder if they come to my area. Can't seem to find painters that have done a good job around here. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteLaura
Lau99ra@aol.com
When we bought our house, we paid someone to paint our living areas for the same reason (I don't want to EVER paint a staircase!). They also used an almost flat paint and I can't get it clean! It bugs me so much! One day, we'll redo it or pay to have it redone... one day. :)
ReplyDeleteLove the new color! I never noticed the pinkishness until you did the before and after pictures. WOW, what a difference!
Makes me want to paint my grody looking stair well even more. My stairs go down and are the first thing you see when you walk in the front door. Glad to see that there is hope.
ReplyDeleteWhat a stunning transformation! I see what you mean about the pink, and wholly agree with you about flat paint. Our 12-year-old can't seem to walk through a room without touching the walls, and the flat paint our builder used (a pale Tuscan gold) looks jaundiced now. Ugh.
ReplyDeletefunny...I used a very similar pinky taupe color on the EXTERIOR of our last house. When the painter had a sample section done, I approved. It was just the color of tan I wanted. Perfect in the morning light...but in the evening, it looked like Pepto Bismol. yuck
ReplyDeleteOh man! I definitely didn't see the pink in the walls until you did the side-by-side pictures! The new color is absolutely gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteLooks beautiful! We built 2 years ago, and although we got to choose our paint color, they used flat paint. I hate it! Shows everything! But the color we chose is great. Macadamia, by Sherwin Williams. Settled on it after lots of internet research to find a really neutral beige. The whole house is done in this color, and it truly does look neutral. No obvious pink, yellow, or green! Yay! It seems to go well with any color accents, so I'm a happy camper!
ReplyDeleteHUGE change, girl!! And I would have never thought it looked pink until seeing it against your new color. I know how good that feels to have something updated that's bugged you for ages! Great job and congrats on choosing a great color!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are a ROCK STAR!!!
ReplyDeleteWow, this looks fantastic! The new color just gives your rooms such a fresh feeling. LOVE it! So happy for ya.
ReplyDeleteAhhhh, that explains it...I never figured you for a pink wallled gal...so I couldn't figure out why you had pink walls! Love the new color, goes beautifully with your other choices..your curtains really pop now.
ReplyDeletemanchester tan by Benjamin Moore is my go-to neutral beige. It's perfect in every light!!
ReplyDeleteWow that is an amazing change! I'm searching for a greige colour to paint our new house that we're building. Unfortunately I live in Australia and we don't get the same shades here.
ReplyDeleteSisal. Yup, Ralph Lauren Sisal. I think I got that idea from you somewhere in the past. We used it to cover up the pink (go figure) striped walls in one of the bedrooms of our newish house. Worked perfect, looks awesome and the paint quality is the best I've ever found! Completely covered the crazy stripes in just one good coating. It was a little difficult to find though since Home Depot doesn't sell it any more, but we found It in a nice little independent paint store.
ReplyDeleteJuly 10, 2012 10:38 PM
Picking the right paint color is like rocket science! I won't even admit to family and friends how many times I've repainted our walls, but my husband knows the craziness that went on, hahaa! Your new color looks great!
ReplyDeleteThis looks awesome! I hate that some beige colors are so pink/peachy. In our last house I had my hubby paint our bedroom a yellowish color and hated it before it even dried so I ran out and grabbed a beige color and it was so much better than the yellow but it had a lot of pink/peach to it and I couldn't stand it. No one else seemed to notice the pink but it drove me batty! Of course he was not about to paint it for a 3rd time so I just lived with it but the day we moved out I was so thankful to be able to start over on wall a new wall color for our bedroom. Now i've been very careful about choosing any beige colors because there shall be NO PINK!!
ReplyDeleteI have been looking for the perfect color for our living room,staircase, upstairs hall and this is PERFECT. Thanks for sharing!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how that new color changes the look of your rooms. LOOOVE. Gotta remember this one!
ReplyDeleteAnother great job, Sarah! My hubby and I are looking to build and I have a question I can't seem to find an answer to: we love "greige" shade like this one for the walls but I'm concerned it won't work with our furniture in the living room. We have tan couches (the material almost looks like corduroy) with dark cherry wood accents and a cherry wood coffee table. Will greige work with these colors??? Would sincerely LOVE your advice! :)
ReplyDeleteWOW!! Never noticed how much pink showed! Beautiful outcome. We've just purchased a house and ALL of the walls are a flat chalky white. So I'm so glad for this post to get some paint ideas.
ReplyDeleteAmazing Transformation! I've got to ask - and I DID look through the FAQ to see if you've already addressed this - where did you get your windows for the staircase area? And did you paint them or did they come those colors? L.O.V.E. them!! If you have some time (HA!) I'd love to know - beckie dot johnson at gmail dot com. Thanks for some great inspiration!
ReplyDeleteWhoa, such a huge difference! Its funnny how such a subtle change can make all the difference (and men say that gray is gray is gray!). It looks fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThe power of paint to transform! What I most love is the before and after pics and how things are placed nearly identically...are you sure you didn't just photoshop the walls. Ha, ha...:)
ReplyDeleteJanell
Oh, I thought the pinky-taupe was supposed to have a bit of extra personality :). But if pink was not the goal, then, yeah, no good. The new color looks so nice!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a go-to neutral - I am actually anti-neutral :). I painted our two-story hallway (that opens onto two bedrooms, a bathroom, the living room, and the dining room) Behr's Spring Morn (it was formerly half battleship gray and half white; no idea why). And I LOVE it. I have a lot of pastels going on, but it doesn't feel Easter basket to me -just cheerful. Of course, I don't have any actual pink or purple, and most of the shades are very light. I just really love color. Now, I did paint the living room walls Behr's Dolphin Fin, and I am extremely pleased with it, but it is not really a neutral - it's definitely gray.
And I have to say one thing in defense of flat paint. I've done almost everything in flat enamel (one bathroom is semi-gloss, one is satin, and the kitchen and laundry room will be satin), and been very happy with it. But we have mostly real plaster walls, with all their character and imperfections, and I don't think those look their best with any kind of sheen. (I believe paint was flatter, back when.) I even painted one bedroom with satin and hated both the sheen and the color so much I painted it AGAIN - even though it has a 17-foot-high stair wall! I haven't had much trouble with the paint being damaged, but we don't have kids, so that may be why. (I did try to VERY gently wipe down the semi-gloss in the bathroom, and that left major burnishing marks, so at that point I lost patience with the high-sheen theory and just went with what I thought looked better.)
I actually don't mind that hue of pink, but I'll admit that the new color looks much brighter and sophisticated. Awesome job!
ReplyDeleteI have been on a crazy hunt for the perfect beige-y neutral with a smidge of gray in it. It's got to work in our entire living space because the living room, dining room, and family room are all very open to one another. SO HARD TO FIND! May have to give your new color a try. It looks great!
ReplyDeleteWhat a difference! I love the new color. Sometimes it's so hard to predict what undertones are going to show up when the paint is covering all your walls, but you definitely picked a winner this time! :)
ReplyDeleteLove this site first and foremost!
ReplyDeleteI too have painted a room gray and the pink hues drove me crazay! I kept taking the paint back to Lowes and tinkering around with it. The paint guy said I was seeing pink because the paint has red mixed in with it. BINGO! So....we started pulling out some of the red paint. Doing this gave me the gray color that I absolutely LOVE!
I always use eggshell. There is more of a sheen with satin than eggshell. I painted my son's room in a taupe like color..eggshell finish. I loved the color so much that I decided to paint my living room and hallway the same color. Lowes accidently gave me the same color but in a satin finish. Changing the finish changed the color. We did not realize this till after we were almost done with the painting. Changing the finish from eggshell to satin made it appear more pink. Just a helpful tip.
ReplyDeleteOk, I realize I am reading this post several months after you posted, but I HAD TO COMMENT!!!
ReplyDeleteGirl, I feel your pain in those STINKIN PINK WALLS! Oh, I think my builder called it Tumbleweed and it was painted in the entire house. I still have several of those rooms in that color, including the stairway. ACCCCKKKK!
Thanks for the name of the The color is Analytical Gray by Sherwin Williams. I have heard so much about the color "Greige" too
Soo much more sofisticated. GREAT J-O-B!!!
Marilyn C.
P.S. Now if I can figure out what to do in the dining room to hide that ugly Martha Stewart yellow paint. It was called Goats Beard - what was I thinking?????!!!!!!
While it looks totally beautiful. I must admit, I like that pink.
ReplyDelete