Grey, Gray and Greige... Dapper By Any Name



Dior Gray

 Gray is a favorite color of ours.  In fact, after more than a decade of sleeping in a peony pink bedroom, we've decided to cool it down.  I am not a painter.  Not of rooms, anyway.  I do not have the patience and I curl up into the fetal position at the thought of tackling a whole room.  The results of my painting aren't all that successful, either.  In an attempt to get through the painful process as quickly as possible, I tend to slap the paint on, generally making a mess of the trim, the floor and myself.  It's not pretty.

Melissa, on the other hand, enjoys the whole process.  She tapes, she spackles, she removes curtains, furniture and outlet covers.  She paints one wall each day, making sure that she never gets too bored or too overwhelmed by the size of the project.  She takes her time, is thorough and the result is lovely.  This is one of the many things that make our marriage work...  Where I fail, she achieves and, generally, vice versa (I have to be careful here...  I've just implied that she might fail in some area...  Not the message I am trying to send...  Really...  She's perfect.)

The fabulous Indiscreet set.

Couldn't find a good photo from Susan Slept Here, but in looking
I remembered that Desk Set is another great "gray" movie!  All the
color of the holiday and the actor's costumes really pops against
the steely, neutral background.

Back to the point of this piece...  gray.  Gray is the perfect background for virtually any color.  Take a look at any Technicolor film of the 40's and 50's and you'll notice that, nine times out of ten, the walls of those lavishly decorated rooms are some shade of gray.  Ingrid Bergman's fabulous apartment in Indiscreet?  Gray.  Dick Powell's festive Hollywood apartment in Susan Slept Here?  You got it...  Gray!  And Lucy Ricardo's cozy New York apartment?  Well, that doesn't really count, does it?

Grays can be warm or cool.  They can be stark or comforting.  Always, they are serene, simple and easy to work with.  Our bathroom is a lovely, light and airy Platinum.  Our bedroom is about to be a darker, more sophisticated Dior gray.  It's the sort of color you'd expect to see in a smart suit, whether for a man or a woman.  It's perfect with crisp, white, glossy trim, and gives the room a certain dressed up look.

Next time you are considering a new neutral for your house, eschew the taupes and tans, the creams and whites...  Be a little bolder and let yourself go gray!