I recently had a question come up about an older post.

It’s about combining gray and beige — oooooh, that’s a sticky combo. Many people have warm or even gold-toned walls and aren’t ready to paint the whole house but want to go gray.

Here’s the reader’s question:

“Can I ask a question :) Currently my house is all painted a beige color - Chaparral from Dunn Edwards paint Co. We painted the whole house this color except for 3 accent walls in our great room, back in the early 2000's we painted it burgundy ( hey, that was the style then. We just bought a beautiful blue rug with geo shapes and finally my husband is letting me paint those ugly walls. Here is my delima. I want to paint them grey because in a year we are repainting my whole house grey. But for now will grey with Chaparral beige go? If so what do you recommend! I really appreciate it!!!! Love your blog!”

This is the type of color on most of the walls in homes around here in The Woodlands. I’m very familiar with this warm color tone.

Here’s my response:

I would go with a darker blue/gray color. That will give a contrast with all the warm walls you have, and it work well with your new rug. Then, when you go gray everywhere else, it will still work if you want to keep it. The grey/beige combo is really hard to pull off if they are the same value (lightness/darkness). You need to make the new accent wall color a darker color, imo.

I’ve got some examples, below of what I’m talking about. If you put a darker blue-grey with that sand color, the combination will appear purposeful, like the color scheme was intended. Color is greatly affected by what surrounds it; it’s all about its relationships to other colors in the space.

I love this color from Sherwin Williams: Storm Cloud. I’ve used it several times, like on the base cabinets of this kitchen.

CLICK HERE to read more about the project pictured above

Do you see how that darker color makes a dramatic statement next to the oatmeal color and gives it a cooler look? It sort of has a “sand and sea” type of color scheme going on there. White trim looks good with it too.

Here’s another color I’ve used before: Benjamin Moore’s Brewster Gray. It’s a bit lighter and not as blue as the Storm Cloud color. I think it also makes a nice color combo.

I’ve used it on the walls of a bedroom makeover project here:

CLICK HERE to read more about the project pictured above

When this reader paints the rest of her house gray, she can move forward with these accent wall colors in place and do a lighter version as her new overall color.

Want to read more about color? This article explains a lot: