Decorating a Home with White and Grey
There is nothing more neutral than white and the combination of white and grey creates a truly dream-like setting for any style of home.
10/11/2021
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Give life to a totally neutral room with the addition of textures like the rock clad fireplace wall that sits centrally between two living spaces.
In a recent feature, we look at the combination of black and white for decorating a home but this time we look at the classic combination of white and grey. White, of course, has always been a timeless classic while grey has become the most popular neutral for decorating rooms in a home. Combine white and grey together for any room in a home, no matter the size, style or age.
An iconic duo, white and grey is a combination that can be used in any style of home from traditional to contemporary. But keep in mind that while white is white, there are many hues of grey that all work well against an absolute neutral backdrop. Think warm greys with a hint of red to add some heat to the colour scheme, or cool greys to keep the temperature down no matter how hot it is outside.
Getting it right
When it comes to decorating with white and grey, it is hard to believe that you could get it wrong, but you can. When choosing these colours for your home, you need to consider the setting in order to choose the right colour of grey. As mentioned above, there are warm and dark hues of grey and getting this right will ensure that a cold room feels warmer and vice-versa for a hot room that receives a lot of sunlight during the daytime.
And you would think that's it, right? Used to be a time when white was just.... well, white, but nowadays there are so many variables of white paint you can easily end up with something that is not quite white. The best white to go for is brilliant white that is as true white as you can get in a paint product. When painting my kitchen, I used two different brands of paint on the cupboards, mainly due to not having enough stock, and I ended up with two different colours of white.
Testing the colours
Never select a paint colour based on what you see on your phone, tablet or laptop. The colours you see are not true colours and you should always pop into your local paint store to take swatches home of the colours you like. Pick a selection of colour swatches that you can sample to see how these look in a particular room with different light sources. Natural and artificial light can affect colour, as can halogen or LED lights. View colours under these different conditions to choose the best colour for each situation.
Bring dimension to a space
White on white and even with grey can feel flat and cold, which is why it is essential that you select more than one shade of grey. What is important in interior design and that can be useful in your own decorating scheme is to build up layers of neutral colour. You might be decorating with only white and grey but by including different shades of grey you balance out the coolness of a room with just a hint of warm grey tones.
Introduce pops of colour
Almost every colour works well with white, and this includes grey hues and shades as well. In the open plan living room, below, the addition of a few carefully curated houseplants and fresh flowers instantly bring life into the setting.
In a bedroom, the warmer grey tones have the effect of softening the overall look and feel of the room. This is when it is important to select colour swatches for different rooms if you want to have both cool and warm tones in contrast to white.
According to Architectural Digest, there is a perfect shade of grey for any room in a home and in order to choose the best hue or shade, you should consider the aspect that the room faces and the amount of natural sunlight in the room at different times of the day. Use cool greys in a kitchen or sunny family room or living space and warmer greys in bedrooms and bathrooms.
The perfect solution to bringing white and grey together is to imagine your living space as a blank canvas. Let the white be the background for your landscape and layer this with light and dark hues of grey tones combined with lots of textural elements.
