Being a colorful woman, I have often wondered why people would paint interior and exterior surfaces gray, particularly when they choose gray during hard economic times. Being the thrifty sort myself, I always reach for the brightest color and highest sheen I can get for the price. Not so with the general population. They buy gallons and gallons of gray paint.

Recycled Paint Not a Gray Area People used to think recycled paint only came in gray. Portland’s MetroPaint has a fifteen-color palette that includes misty (light gray) and storm cloud (dark gray), two shades of gray created by technicians using only incoming gray paint — not combining random colors until gray is produced. Jim Quinn, Metro’s Household Hazardous Waste Manager, explains, “From MetroPaint’s beginning in 1992 we believed that the highest value for recycled paint comes from blending only similar colors together to make a useful palette of colors for customers.” This recycled gray paint is neutral color, that is, color free of ghost-like undertones, like all MetroPaint colors. Reblending gray paint with cool undertones together with gray paint with warm undertones simply neutralizes both undertones and produces a muted gray or technically a low chroma (low intensity) color. For more information, contact MetroPaint at 503-234-3000 or www.oregonmetro.gov/metropaint.

Complements Complementary colors, also known as contrasting colors — any two colors opposite from each other on the color wheel. For example, red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and violet. By adding a small amount of a contrasting color to its complement, the intensity of the color is reduced. Gray results from mixing equal amounts of complementary colors. • Chroma, also known as intensity — The brightness or dullness of a color. • Tone — A color plus gray. • Value — The lightness or darkness of a color.

As the economy fell, sales of all paint slowed but sales of gray paint sped up. While gray represents financial and mental depression to me, many customers apparently see it as an earth color that represents the stability of a boulder, the strength of a cresting wave, and the comfort of a companion animal. According to the psychology of color, those who like gray are practical, patient, and dependable.

Gray as a color of nature runs from the lightest dove gray, to pewter, to slate, to darkest charcoal. From almost silvery white to almost ebony black. All shades of gray are soothing to the eye and help to re-set the eye between rooms that are painted in bright or highly contrasting color schemes. Gray is often used in hallways, alcoves, and foyers. Because gray mimics the environment, a home painted gray will blend into its surroundings. In tight subdivisions or on infill lots, a home that is too big in proportion to its lot size will not seem as imposing when painted gray.

Of the true neutrals — white, black, and gray — gray is the most complex, often called a “supernatural” or “colored neutral.” Gray house paint is rarely a simple mixture of one part black and one part white. It is a sophisticated color usually produced from a mix of hues. For example a mixture of the primary colors yellow, blue, and red results in gray. Or mixing colors directly opposite from one another on the color wheel (complementary colors) produces gray.

Gray the Chameleon
• Unless the gray paint is artist gray (a mix of black and white), it will have an undertone. To use it successfully, the undertone in the gray must be identified. Paint manufacturers offering color chips on strips (light to dark or dark to light) will group colors with the same undertone on the same strip. To identify the undertone, find the darkest chip on the strip, where it is usually easier to see. Or place the gray color chip against an artist gray sample (a mix of white and black).
• Knowing the colors that gray will be paired with is important. Gray when placed next to another color assumes some of that color’s complement. For example, gray next to a green wall will take on a blush of red.

A harmonious and balanced color scheme comes by taking into account the undertone of the color and the phantom complementary color that gray receives from its neighboring colors. A gray with a rose undertone will look warmer next to a green wall because the gray picks up the green’s complement, red. A gray with a cool green undertone next to a blue wall doesn’t look cooler because the gray paint has picked up the blue color’s complement, warm orange.

Consider the Interior Light
In a sunny room, a gray with cool blue and green undertones works well, while in a room with less natural light, gray with cool undertones looks somber and depressing. Natural light from the North will add blue to any color. Natural light from the South will add yellow. Eastern exposure adds green. Western exposure adds orange. Incandescent light with its yellow-orange illumination works well with gray paint with warm undertones, but warm gray under fluorescent lights will take on a green ghost. Fluorescent bulbs with white to blue light increase the coolness of gray paint with cool undertones. Likewise, incandescent lights will dull cool grays, and fluorescent lights will brighten them.

The color gray comes alive by moving away from a flat or matte sheen to higher sheens with more light-reflecting qualities. While semi-gloss or high-gloss finishes reflect every ding and dent, eggshell and satin finishes are a bit more lustrous and do not accent surface imperfections. The higher the gloss, the more light bounces around the room. A ceiling painted light gray in an eggshell or satin finish can make a low ceiling seem farther away, but a ceiling painted medium gray to dark gray in a semi-gloss or gloss will lower a high ceiling.

Grey as an Exterior Color
1. What color is the roof? A gray house and a gray roof can be too neutral.
2. What direction does the house face? While a southern exposure may give life to a gray facade, a northern exposure will make it look somber.
3. What colors are the hardscapes, like patio and driveway? Asphalt paving or red pavers will define a gray painted surface, but concrete (a shade of gray in itself) will dilute the color of the painted surface.
4. What about foundation plantings and mature trees? Green will cause the gray paint to take on a red glow, regardless of the undertone in the paint.
5. What is the style of the house? When painted gray, a Cape Cod, Colonial, Tudor, or contemporary house fit easily into the neighborhood. Not so with a bungalow, ranch, or Victorian.

In every painting project there is a focal point, be it an interior accent wall or exterior shutters. Even though white is the traditional trim color, both light and dark gray make good trim colors. Where white would look “startling” against a deep or dark wall color, either light or dark gray works. And while off-white can look “dirty” against pastels, light gray can accentuate the clean tone pastels invoke.

Remember with gray as with any color, proportion is important. Gray is a neutral color, but in nature not everything is gray. Gray needs to be surrounded by other colors.

Paulette Rossi is a Certified Master Recycler and a freelance writer living in Portland, OR.