When updating our home, one of the crucial initial decisions was choosing a cohesive neutral color palette. This foundational choice not only defines your decor style but also creates a harmonious flow throughout your space! While selecting a neutral palette may seem difficult at first, we’ve put together a list of colors that work together seamlessly to bring balance to our home.
This guide simplifies the process, providing insights and inspiration for selecting colors in your own home. We’ll showcase how different neutral tones, such as Sherwin-Williams favorites like Repose Gray, Alabaster White, and Agreeable Gray, blend effortlessly to achieve a unified and stunning look.
Say goodbye to overwhelming decisions. This roadmap helps you discover neutral tones that align with your style, transforming your living spaces into a true reflection of you. Let’s create a beautiful and cohesive home – together!
Our Neutral Color Palette
Choosing Your Neutral Paint Colors:
Choosing a set of nice neutral colors sets the tone for your home, and selecting the right shades can make a significant impact on the overall look and feel of your space. Here are some popular Sherwin Williams paint colors that can help you achieve a cohesive and inviting atmosphere in your home:
Meet Repose Gray – Sherwin Williams 7015
As we prepped our new house for move-in, painting the main floor was a top priority. Choosing a cohesive color palette for this expansive space felt like a daunting task. After countless paint swatches and online research, I landed on Sherwin-Williams Repose Gray, and it proved to be the perfect anchor for our downstairs.
Repose Gray has a calming greige hue – a beautiful blend of cool gray with subtle hints of brown and unexpected purple undertones. This unique combination creates a neutral that shifts subtly depending on the light. Despite our northern-facing rooms, Repose Gray consistently appears as a stunning, balanced gray, adding warmth and dimension without feeling overly heavy.
To learn more about this gorgeous gray, check out our Repose Gray Color Review to see the other spaces we painted this color.
Meet Alabaster White – SW 7008
Initially I was going to use Repose Gray everywhere, because I loved it so much. After deciding on the cabinet paint color in the kitchen, I changed my mind! Our cabinets were being painted SW Alabaster White, which is a warm white (not yet into the off-white family). We chose this color because of the warm taupe hues in our backsplash and the creamier tone of the granite countertops. All of the kitchen tones had a warmer element, so I needed to pick a warmer gray color paint for the walls. We decided on SW Agreeable Gray, which really ties everything together and allows the Alabaster White cabinets to show off their true white appearance.
When deciding your color choice for you kitchen walls, focus on the tones in the room. This includes items such as the cabinets, countertops, and backsplash. This will help you trend towards a warmer tone or a cooler tone, so all the elements work well together.
Meet Agreeable Gray – SW 7029
Once it was decided that Agreeable Gray was the one for our kitchen, we decided to continue it into the living room. This decision created an interesting challenge: several points where the two colors would meet side by side. Could Repose Gray (a cooler greige) and Agreeable Gray (a warmer greige) go together? The exciting part – in my experience, these colors flow together beautifully, you can hardly notice a difference at the transitions, but the overall feel of each room is different.
Let’s take a look at these two greiges a little closer: The secret lies in their subtle differences. While both are considered greige hues, Repose Gray leans slightly cooler with its brown and purple undertones. Agreeable Gray, on the other hand, has a warmer presence with a touch of green peeking through. However, the magic happens in the different lighting. Thanks to the different lighting throughout the day, the distinction between the two colors becomes delightfully subtle. In day-to-day life, you wouldn’t notice the slight difference unless you actively stopped to scrutinize the walls side-by-side.
Stepping back and looking at each room individually, the presence of two distinct shades is apparent. But the colors are able to be in the same neutral color palette because of the similar tones and lightness. This creates a cohesive flow in your home, an easy transition from one room to the next. The ability of these greige colors to adapt to changing light conditions, creates a unified and inviting home.
Meet Anew Gray – SW 7030
While Agreeable Gray proved itself a fantastic choice for our kitchen, we wanted another complimentary color for the basement stairway. This led us to Sherwin-Williams – Anew Gray, which is the next shade darker on the color palette than Agreeable Gray. Anew Gray retains the beautiful greige character like Agreeable Gray. It has a similar blend of cool gray and warm undertones, but in a noticeably darker shade. This subtle difference in darkness allows Anew Gray to create a distinct feel but with a smooth connection between the spaces.
An Anew Gray review is in the works, where we’ll delve deeper into its characteristics and how it works with this neutral color palette. And if you needed any more convincing – it’s listed on Samplize as one of the Best Neutral Paint Colors 2023!
Meet Silver Strand – SW 7057
For our master bedroom and home office, we wanted something calming and serene. A neutral gray that could flow easily with our other color choices, but provide uniqueness in it’s own way. Enter Sherwin-Williams Silver Strand, love at first swatch (lol)! This captivating hue is a chameleon, shifting between calming gray, soothing blue, and refreshing green depending on the light. This captivating hue is a chameleon of the color world. It changes between calming gray, soothing blue, and a touch of refreshing blue green depending on the lighting.
Silver Strand’s inherent calmness puts you at ease, making it ideal for both sleep and productivity. Stay tuned for a deeper dive into Silver Strand’s characteristics and also view our master bedroom project reveal.
Sherwin Williams Trending Colors
These are Sherwin Williams most recent trending colors. Years later, Alabaster and Agreeable Gray are still a very popular choice.
A Space for Every Color
Here is a list of all the neutral paint colors and the spaces we used the colors:
Agreeable Gray: Kitchen, Family Room, Small Foyer
Anew Gray: Basement Stairs/Landing
Repose Gray: Foyer, Living Room/Dining Room
Silver Strand: Office, Master Bedroom
Alabaster White: Kitchen Cabinets
The Perfect Neutral Color Palette
Choosing a neutral color palette may seem like a huge challenge, but it’s a journey filled with exciting possibilities. Really explore in the process, use the color swatch progressions the find similar tones and what to pair together. Also, experiment with different shades and don’t forget to see how the colors interact with your lighting. Remember, there’s no single “right” answer! The perfect neutral palette reflects your unique style and creates a home that feels both beautiful and comfortable for you!
