The Grey Blues

Who knew finding the perfect shade of grey paint could be so difficult?

I have been driving myself potty with tester pots. It started with boxing in the ugly pipes in the downstairs loo. This left a lot of bare MDF and made the rest of the room look a bit shabby in comparison. A grey makeover is planned but grey is tricky!

It is a pretty small room so there is some concern it could end up looking like a Bat Cave if we go too dark. Too green and it looks a bit like a hospital period drama. Too blue - ditto. I don't like lilac much so I don't want lilac tones but I don't want it too cold either. You can see where this is going can't you?

Anyway..... 17 paint samples later and some have been instantly discounted. Dulux Grey Steel 2 is definitely veering into Bat Cave territory. Porcelain Doll is pretty but pale. It feels like a waste to spend all that time covering up the white paint with a slightly creamier white paint. Lots of samples are more greige and they seem to work. Grey - Beige. Perfect!

Five shades of greige currently occupy the wall. They are painted onto A4 paper and blu-tacked up so I can add comments to them at various times of the day. There is no clear winner as yet. Polished Pebble was leading but, since I changed the light bulb for a brighter LED one, it's all up in the air again. Thimble Case is edging into the lead now... I think.... maybe. I am boring myself with the indecision. Please somebody just confiscate my colour cards!

The playroom is going much better. I completed one project this week with no such messing around. Coral Flair looked gorgeous in the Dulux colour book, I convinced DS it was hardly pink at all (it isn't - it is a really beautiful coral) and painted a huge backdrop for the kid's pictures all in one day. I really love it - the room was a bit cold and boxy before so a splash of colour is perfect.

I am now trying to decide on a nice complimentary teal colour for the other end of the room. Dulux Teal Tension is nice but a bit dark. Blue Hawaiian 2 is also lovely - a lot like Teal Tension except fractionally less green.....still a bit dark though. Maybe I should get 17 samples, blu-tack them all to the wall and rate them out of 10 at varying times of the day as the light changes? Or maybe I should just stick pins in the Dulux book and let fate decide?