Here is the wall to the left of above pic

Here is the hardwood. Armstrong American scrape in river house

Check BM Silver Fox.

SW Mindful Gray always gets good press, and here it's used in a setting similar to yours.

I take back the Silver Fox suggestion. I suspect that too will look pink as it's similar, only darker, to SW Popular gray.

chloenkitty - major jealousy here looking at your build pictures; wow, does it EVER look great!

I don't have SW paints for you but am so very happy with the BM Grant Beige we put in the bedroom; 25% on the ceiling. (Oak floors with a little orange, similar to your floor).

Looks like Mindful Grey would be a good fit. Looking forward to seeing your progress pictures. Best, Karen

I'll cast a second vote for BM Grant Beige. I have used it in most of my house and I'm really happy with it. It took millions of samples and repainting twice to get to that point!

Also like Chloe, Revere Pewter looked terrible in my space.

Revere Pewter took on a purple hue in my space...

But Chloe mentioned a preference for Sherwin Williams paint, for good reasons, and so maybe more SW suggestions would be helpful. I'm not familiar with SW paints, but there are a few that seem to come up time and again.

I know Chloe said she preferred SW, but here are a lot more BM users here than SW users ... she can always take the BM chip and find a close SW match.

The colors that didn't work for me and had to be repainted were from SW ... I ended up with BM.

SW Amazing Gray

I also didn't care for Revere Pewter when I put it on my wall. It looked like cement to me.

Not going to knock SW overall, but I've used BM all along until I recently repainted my bedroom using SW. I regret it. Wish I'd stayed with BM. Could be just the one color, though, I'm not thrilled with, so who knows.

Maybe someone else's struggle will be helpful...

Here is a link that might be useful: i am slowly going gray

SW Samovar Silver

SW Uncertain Gray

I like that mindful gray peony put up, at least in that photo.

Here's another article on grays that may help. This one from houzz.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Find the right gray

I'd also look at BM Gray Owl and Moonshine - see on Annie's second link.

It may be lighter than you want, but look at Kestral White. SW

I do love Ben moore paints and would take the drive to get them if I fell in love with a color, but the ones I've tried so far are just not the one. Can't help but want the 40% off sw paint tho as the BM store said they don't put paint on sale.

As far as the sw mindful gray suggestion, it looks just like what I'm looking for in the pic above, however, on the chip it's darker than what I want.

I like sw agreeable gray but it's too dark.

As far as companies matching other companies colors, does that really work? I actually may have found a valspar color I like at lowes but would use sherwin williams paint. I'm sure they can make a sample, but was wondering from experience if anyone knows if color matching really works.

Why can't you have SW mix up a BM color?

I could Linelle, it's just that the BM colors I did try, I didn't like.

Chloe, do you want a cool color or a warm one?

Warm: SW Simple White, or the next on the strip, Alpaca?

My experience with my local SW store is that they are excellent at matching colors from other brands (and once,even another brand that I had fiddled with the can adding a bit of this and a touch of that).

Also, although the original gray that you had picked may show some pink undertones when next to the primer, remember that a lot of primers are not pure white either, and once the whole wall is painted that undertone may disappear. Do you have enough sample to paint a very large section of wall, enough to see it without much influence from adjacent primer?

Lastly, if you like a color but it is just too dark, the store can mix it in half strength or even 3/4 strength to produce a paler version of the color.

My only suggestion for gray is 'Campfire Ash' (Behr) which was my first choice for my cabinets. The cabinetmaker couldn't match that, so we ended up with Martha Stewart 'Gull' which I is more beige than you want I think.

Chloe, you can certainly color-match colors from other lines of paint to a SW paint base. I've done this many times over the years. The problem is when you walk into the SW store and say, "I want BM XYZ color..." SW simply looks it up on their computer, and the resulting SW XYZ will *not* match the original BM XYZ. This is what most who suggest color-matching don't understand. While you'd probably get more professional advice over in the Paint forum, here's what I suggest:

Each paint company's "base" paint, to which they add the color pigments, varies. So, the Valspar base is different from the BM base is different from the SW base, etc. This variance tends to be highlighted especially when using lighter colors, when even a slight variance in the base paint can impact the final color.

Each paint company has access to other paint company's color formulas (their magical computer systems). So, SW can pull a BM color or your Valspar color formula and mix it in the SW paint base. But if the SW paint base differs from the BM or Valspar paint base, the final color will vary from what you originally wanted. So, what you may like about the Valspar color in the Valspar base may differ slightly from the Valspar color in the SW base.

The solution to this is to get a sample of the actual paint color itself (like, your Valspar color mixed from Lowes), and ask SW to *scan* the color to color-match it. I don't know the precise terminology here, but what you don't want to do is give SW the paint name to look up in their computer... Instead, bring a sample of the actual paint itself (no names--no manufacturer), and ask SW to color-match it. This way, they will color-match it to their SW base.

This is a layman's explanation, so perhaps check out the Paint forum to see if they have suggestions.

This post was edited by peony4 on Sun, Jul 20, 14 at 0:46

Which direction do your windows face, N-S-E- or W? Do you have low e windows or clear glass? Really that makes a difference on how the paint looks as well.

I just went through this picking colors for our new build and I'm using SW colors. So without knowing the details, I'd say to check out the chips for SW Agreeable Gray, SW Worldly Gray and SW Alpaca.

Beautiful windows btw. Good Luck!

Sweet tea I tried all of those and they were either too pink or dark on my walls. hOWEVER, I think I have finally made a decision! There were 20 samples on the wall and I am going with sherwin williams egret white. Never thought I'd pick a color with the name white in it. It looked good on all the walls I put it on thank goodness. It looked light gray with a little tan in it and did not seem to show any pink or yellow. I never even heard of this color before (but that means nothing since there are thousands of colors lol) I just pray I like it when it is all over the walls. My floors are on the darker side so the contrast should be nice.

I know all monitors look different, but it's the largest swatch.

Thank you all for your suggestions and keep your fingers crossed for me!

Chloe, glad you found a color. Just be prepared that once painted on all your walls it will probably be a barely-there-color ... it seems darker now because you are comparing it to the white primer.

At this point, to be sure, I would buy a quart of real paint (not sample pot) in this color and paint as large a section as possible with 2 coats of paint. Preferably a small wall that goes trim-to-trim, so that it isn't next to primer. If you are still happy at that point, then you have found your color. Easy!

Is this true? Is there going to be hardly any color????? I painted almost half of one wall with 2 coats and liked it and it had plenty. That sample pic I showed above is pretty large too, it's about 2ft x 2ft. I don't want real dark walls anyway because we don't get any direct sunlight in the house and the floors are dark. Now I'm going to be second guessing my choice after all this time and over 20 samples darnit :(

This post was edited by chloenkitty on Sun, Jul 20, 14 at 21:38

I'm just going by my experience. In my house I was down to 2 colors, BM Edgecomb Gray and Grant Beige. The samples of GB seemed so much darker than the EG. I went for GB and once it was all painted it was not a dark color at all. It worked out so well that I have used it in nearly all the rooms. But I wasn't looking for a barely there color ... the previous owners had that already. Things look much different on our monitors, so if you slept on it and still loved it the following morning then you should be confident in your choice. Yeah, I know, easier said than done!

I am thinking of using SW Egret White so just wondering if you ultimately used it and if you like the result?

Consider putting different colors on different walls. I chose a darker grayer beige color on the accent wall to contrast with the white fireplace surround, but I didn't want to be surrounded by gray or taupe, so I chose a cream color for the remaining walls. The two colors go great together, and in some light you cannot see the transition.

BM cedar key is my darker color and BM collector's item is my lighter color. Floors are dark spice hardwood (red oak) and trim is BM white.

SW Worldly Gray. Definitely a light gray with beige in it. You can google it and find lots of decorator blogs confirming that. Our new build is also open floor plan and not a hint of pink anywhere.

Did you end up going with Egret? I'd love to see a picture!

anyone used Egret white? I would love to have a picture too! thank you

I ended up going with Sherwin Williams Modern Gray.

about to likely go with egret white!!!! will keep you all posted!!

We are in the process of painting a good portion of our interiors egret white. I was a little nervous at first, because in some light, not always, it seems to have pale mauve tones. But then it’s gone, and it’s back to a soft, pale greige. It looks great against pure white trim. It’s subtle and says, I’m comfortable as a neutral! We are very happy with egret white and the color has truly updated and our house.

Any pictures of the Egret White? I’m about to commit to that color tomorrow, open floor plan as well, lots of natural light with a lot of west facing windows...