Picking Popular Gray Paint Colors by Sherwin Williams

Learn to pick out the most popular gray paint colors to style your room.

Picking out a paint color palette for a home can be a challenge, let alone choosing the best gray paint colors. But the hardest part is knowing how it will look in your own home. Whether you enjoy cool grays or warm undertones, take the guess work out of picking which popular gray paint to use and get the color right the first time.

How to Pick the Right Popular Gray Paint

Get a Visual

When picking the best gray paints to use in your living space, you want to find the right color. To help you pick that perfect shade of gray it is a good idea to get a visual. The best way to start is by searching for these popular gray colors on online blogs, Pinterest or even magazines for a picture of how the desired gray walls look in a room.

Here are some of the current most popular and some of my favorites too!

Visualizing the wall color will help to decide if the color scheme will work. Make sure you look at a picture with white trim color next to the gray colors. It is always hard to tell the true shades of paint from a picture, but comparing white molding and a wall color will help with determining undertones and darker shades.

Pick a Brand and Make a List

Sherwin Williams is a great choice for finding the most popular paint color, though it really comes down to personal preference and any additional cost. Sherwin Williams has a convenient location near us.

As you find a gray look that you like, make a list. When you are at the store you can then find the matching paint swatches and compare the similar colors in store.

Pick 3 Wall Colors and a Molding Color

Gray can be tricky but it is also a very versatile color. You can get all different hues within gray, some leaning towards a greige color and others leaning more towards blue or green undertones. Also consider if you want your gray to be a warm color or to have cool undertones.

Picking three popular gray colors is a great way to start. Once I got into the store I narrowed it down to my three favorite gray colors:

• Sherwin Williams Repose Gray
• Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray
• Sherwin Williams Crushed Ice

I also went with Sherwin Williams Snowbound for my molding color. It's a great idea to find something in between bright white and creamy. Snowbound was a good choice for a middle ground.

Buy Samples of Popular Gray Paint

Purchase a sample size of each color and buy small walls. These are basically thick boards that you can paint and then stick to the wall. Mini wall boards are fabulous because you can create a larger sample of paint that can then be moved around the entire room or different rooms of your house. This helps with factors such as different lighting or design styles.

Pro Tip: Cut your small walls in half so you have four, instead of two. The walls will go farther in determining the perfect gray paint color.

Paint Your Samples

Paint each small wall sample with 2 coats of your paint color. I chose light gray shades to do this. Let them dry and then move them around to various areas of your entire house to see if you really like the color.

I also painted one with the molding color so I could see the white contrast. Paint can appear different based on what it is up against, as well as how it looks in natural light.

I picked Crushed Ice for the walls and Snowbound for the moldings.

I want a very light popular gray paint color for our new home. We are currently remodeling our master bedroom so using that color here first seemed to be a great option to see if we like it. It's always best to try a paint color in a smaller space first before doing an entire house.

Here is what the master looks like with that perfect paint color. What an amazing and calming retreat to return to each night. The popular gray paint is Crushed Ice and the bed is painted in Peppercorn.

Picking popular gray paint colors is easy with these tips. You can also see how to pick out the best white exterior paint as well as finding the perfect shades of off white interior paint.

Happy Painting!

Brooke