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jillinnj

Benjamin Moore Amherst Gray (HC-167)

jillinnj
10 years ago

Has anyone used this paint color in their home?

We are picking a paint color for my 13 year old son's bedroom. We agreed on gray for the color. He is insisting on something dark. We put samples up on his wall and he is loving BM Amherst Gray (HC-167). It is soooo dark. I know, it's his room and he should get to pick. I just don't want to paint twice. Afraid it's going to be really, really dark and cave like. Of course, I think that's what he wants. I guess I should just do it if it's what he likes. I can try to convince him to go with lighter bedding than we've been looking at to lighten it up, but not sure he'll agree to that. And not sure light bedding is a smart move for a 13 year old boy.

If anyone has used this color, or seen it in someone's home, I would appreciate any feedback.

Thanks!

Comments (27)

  • sjhockeyfan325
    10 years ago

    Paint it in the color he chooses, and keep the door closed.

  • sjhockeyfan325
    10 years ago

    Have you looked on Houzz - just type in +Amherst Grey +bedroom. There's a picture of a nursery using this color and it's beautiful.

  • maggiepie11
    10 years ago

    i haven't used it, but i would! it's really pretty in all the pics i just googled. :)

    and while i dread the day my kids are old enough to feel strongly about their room design, when they are i'll want to let them design their own happy place. let him have his gray!

  • jillinnj
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks, all. Keep the door closed :-) Yup, good plan.

    I did search for it on Houzz. Didn't see the nursery. Will look again.

    This all started with pictures from Houzz. He picked one where they actually gave the paint color -- Chelsea Gray. I ordered lots of BM samples of gray including Chelsea Gray and Amherst Gray. Chelsea gray was actually much browner than the picture on Houzz showed and he didn't like it in real life.

    I've been looking at pictures of Amherst Gray on Houzz and Google image search and it does look really beautiful. The sample seems so much darker. Well, I guess we'll just give it a try and if he likes it, then we're done. We do still have some time. The actual painting probably won't start until after Thanksgiving.

    Thanks everyone! Much appreciated.

  • sjhockeyfan325
    10 years ago

    You'll be happy to know my son had red carpeting in his room from age 2 to about 26, and my daughter had a mint green room for awhile, and will have a purple room in this remodel (she's 26 now, but lives with us, and her room is separated from the main part of the apartment, so we never have to see it!)

  • kitschykitch
    10 years ago

    I think you are entitled to overrule based on wisdom he does not have; ie that choosing a paint color from a picture of a room or a swatch is fraught with error. I would not want to waste money painting it a color that is very harsh and you hate and would HAVE to be painted for resale.

    So, I would take his color, and do say, 75%. It's still his color, right?
    He will learn a good lesson from this.

  • LeslieP
    10 years ago

    He cares about how his rooms looks! Awesome. My daughter recently thanked me for letting her re-do her room the way she wanted. She is now grown with two little ones and says she often thinks about how thrilled she was with doing "her own room". Someone told me once, it's just paint.

  • My3dogs ME zone 5A
    10 years ago

    Here is a link to the nursery mentioned above.

    Here is a link that might be useful: [Amhherst Gray Nursery[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/house-traditional-nursery-toronto-phvw-vp~3841876)

  • jillinnj
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks, my3dogs, I did find the nursery. It's beautiful. But, it has white furniture and of course professionally photographed with a lot of light. My son has medium wood furniture.

    Resale - matters not. No plans to move and even if we did and I had to paint 1 room, not a big deal. Certainly would never not paint a room a certain color because of resale. More permanent things, maybe. Paint, never.

    kitschy - I will see if that idea would pass muster with him. I doubt it. He just really likes the darkness of the color. It certainly won't be garish. It just might be depressing. To me. But not to him. And it is his room. I will probably have to add more lighting which is not a bad thing. And might have to change the shades which I was hoping to avoid for cost issues. We can live with them for a while and replace down the road if he likes the color but we need some more lightness in there.

    I did order a few more samples and we'll see how that goes but I suspect we're going with the darkness.

  • msrose
    10 years ago

    Consider yourself lucky. He could have asked for black like my son :)

  • decordummy_gw
    10 years ago

    Many years ago my son asked for black, and I asked "what's your 2nd choice"?

    Second choice was "blood red". I narrowed it down to 3 reds I could live with and had him make the final choice of the 3. Slightly on the warm side with a tiny touch of orange in it - he loved it!

    He recently left home and I can't bring myself to re-paint it yet.

    This post was edited by decordummy on Sat, Nov 9, 13 at 18:01

  • amyktexas
    10 years ago

    My son, 11, wanted his room amherst grey. It is beautiful. We kept the ceiling white. His drapes are grommet top velvet from ikea in a grey that is a perfect match to the walls.

  • jillinnj
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Consider yourself lucky. He could have asked for black like my son :)

    He actually did ask for that a few years ago! Black/gold were the colors of the baseball team he was playing for at the time. We were going to add a chair rail and do black below and gold above. We were having trouble finding a gold we could agree on. Everything he wanted at the time was very garish. Anyway, we never got around to doing it. And now he doesn't play for that team anymore and doesn't want that color scheme so a good thing we didn't do it. Although it is the color scheme of the schools and I assume he'll play for the school team, so I guess it would have still worked.

    Anyway, I am not sure what happened, but his older sister was home this weekend and we were looking at more colors, and he agreed to do Coventry Gray. Much, much lighter. A gray with blue undertones, which works with his window shades and the bedding he picked. I am relieved!

    amyktexas- do you have any pictures you could post? I would love to see. If you don't post pictures, I totally understand.

    I am now thinking about painting my dining room (above the chair rail) a very dark gray. Maybe I will move those dark samples from DS's room to the dining room...

  • juliekcmo
    10 years ago

    There are so many things that parents have to say NO to when raising kids.

    This is something that in reality has no negative outcomes possibilities that are serious.

    Say yes.

  • Tmnca
    10 years ago

    Why ask him to pick a color and then censor his choice? I think it will look great.

  • jillinnj
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks, all. As I said above, he's decided to go with a lighter color - Coventry Gray.

    Now I am considering painting my dining room a very dary gray - Benjamin Moore Artic Seal (CSP-15). Anyone have an experience with this color? There's not a lot of pictures on the internet of this color.

    Am I brave enough (or have enough time) to paint the dining room before Thanksgiving???

  • jillinnj
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    After (still need to hang his baseball pictures). We also rearranged the furniture and moved bed into center. More grown up!

  • jillinnj
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Are the pics upside down for everyone? They are for me. Not sure why. Sorry! Hope you still get the idea of the beautiful color.

  • nosoccermom
    10 years ago

    Yes, they are upside down for me. Something with posting from an Ipad?

  • tuesday_2008
    10 years ago

    I have to share this paint story! My DIL converted my 12 year old grandaughter's "playroom" into a "tween" room as a Christmas present. She got a cheap Walmart futon, TV console with a cheap flat-screen for the Wii, small desk, cheap cube type side tables, posters, etc. Grandaughter wanted the walls painted DARK GRAY!

    I tried to "encourage" a pretty lighter color by telling her how dark her room was going to be. She said "But, Mama, men caves are dark and cozy - girl-caves should be "dark and cozy". DIL did paint some wide pastel stripes on one wall :).

    Her girl-cave turned out "nice and cozy".

  • romy718
    10 years ago

    The Coventry Gray looks great. Perfect with the window treatments & bedding!

  • theclose
    10 years ago

    It looks great! My dining room is Coventry Gray and I love it!! Did you end up painting your dining room dark gray? I wanted to go darker but a colorist talked me out of it. We have a small dining room.

  • jillinnj
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    No, I didn't paint the dining room. Yet. I don't know. I keep going back and forth. One day I want to paint and the next I love the current color. I can't figure out if I really want to change the color, or I'm just looking for a project!

    The pictures were taken with my iPhone, loaded to my PC and then here. Probably related to iPhone/PC incapatability. I wonder if I uploaded to photobucket and then put there, it would be ok. I will try.

    Tuesday - your granddaughter's girl-cave sounds wonderful! What a nice gift for a tween!

    The bedding in his room is going to change. Right now it's all black and it was originally bought a couple of years ago when we thought we were going to do the black/gold theme of his baseball team. Right now he's liking this one from serena and lily but I'm still looking around.

  • jillinnj
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Uploading to photobucket and posting from there fixes upside down problem. Here is before and after again --

    Before:

    After:

  • theclose
    10 years ago

    I understand looking for a project. I keep doing the same!

    I love that Serena & Lily bedding. I have S&L bedding for both my son and daughter. Great quality. Their sheets are so soft and wash really well. They run lots of sales/specials. Like them on FB and you can see what types of deals they are running.

    Good luck!

  • jillinnj
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you, mamorella, for the review of Serena & Lily. I've never bought from them, so definitely good to know.