It has to coordinate with our dark gray-brown fireplace since you see it from anywhere. I think I tried every possible color in the BM and so far the gray-brown tones look best. But the problem I am having is finding something that doesn't have any yellow, green, purple etc. undertone (immediately shows up next to the stone and conflicts with it) and which also wouldn't look dark and depressing.

We don't have a great natural light although there is some. The bigger problem is the same color has to go in two rooms, one of which has a incandescent lighting and the other one has halogen recessed lights.

The best one I found so far isn't a BM color, it is a F&B Stony Ground which looks greenish on the chip but actually is a gray-brown. I had it mixed with white 1 to 1 to lighten it, and it isn't too dark but it looks kind of dirty and uninviting.

Does anyone know of a color that is similar, soft and neutral gray brown but still looks fresh and clean?

"Gray has three undertones. It's either blue, green or purple."

I think gray can be a lot of things that are good in the right setting and light, but "bright and fresh" are not the two things that come to mind when we hear the word gray.

Her face turned gray.....
It's a gray and gloomy day...
The ocean is stormy and gray.......

See what I mean? And FWIW, I read in House Beautiful that one designer, when asked which gray, falls back often on Benjamin Moore's Horizon Gray for the cleanest look.

Red

I have a home clipped out where the used Cape Hattaras Sand (I think that's name) and it looked very nice.

Mega Greige Sherwin Williams

Theresa Green Farrow and Ball

Veil Cream BM ( a creamy gray that looks light)

Peau De Soie BM

Manchester Tan BM

Silver Sage by Restoration Hardware

Red, that is a great blog, so entertaining that I quickly forgot what I was looking for :)

You are right about the "gray face" logic but the picture of Veil Cream above (Thanks boxerpups!) is very close to what I am trying to find. The veil cream is a metalic color though so wouldn't work.

The color we ended up with when we mixed the F&B Stony Ground with white is very close to both Manchester Tan and Elmira White. It looks browner in our narrow hallway because the ceiling light fixtures are much closer to the walls and the light highlights the brown tone in the color. In the living room it looks "dirty" gray. Maybe we need to add more white.

I tried greenish grays and bluish grays which I love except that in that space they just don't go very well.

I didn't try Indian River but did try the Cedar key which is on the same card, didn't work.

Except I need a really light color with the same hue. Any ideas for a BM or SW color that would come close and comes lighter as well?

So, I am a little confused...do you plan to use London Stone and need a lighter color elsewhere? Or are you looking for a lighter version of what London Stone does? And if so, why? Can't go that saturated/dark?

Also, if you have Pratt & Lambert paints available, you might check those. I found their newest colour chip system quite good the last time I looked (although I was in a different colour range) and it is supposed to be good quality paint.

KarinL

KarinL

This BM color called Alexandria Beige
works great in small rooms and is just
slightly darker than the BM Tapesty Beige

Peau De soie by Ben Moore is similar to Stoney Ground by FB
and London Stone

Nomadic Taupe by Dunn Edwards

Wheat Bread by Behr