What color of walls goes well with gray furniture
Gray furniture a long time ago became a world design classic. The opinion about its boring, faceless, and monotonous form is regarded as a stereotype – not only by designers but also by those interested in creating a harmonious interior.
Soft and cabinet furniture in gray tones adorns living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, hallways, and bedrooms, both for connoisseurs of the classics and fans of modern simplicity and practicality. And this is quite natural since such a solution has many advantages – from a calm and natural look to versatility, which allows you to fit the environment into any color scheme and design style.
Simultaneously, the designers and owners of houses and apartments who have chosen gray furniture are faced with a rather difficult task – the correct choice of the background. As you probably already guessed, we are talking about the color of the walls. For all its simplicity, gray can be pretty erratic with its own environment, and if the shades are not chosen correctly for it, then there is a risk that it will behave unpredictably – and seem unnecessarily dull, overly gloomy, frighteningly impersonal or vague and dirty.
To prevent this from happening, decorators recommend taking the time to select paint, wallpaper, or wood panels for the room where you plan to install a sofa, armchairs, bed, table, or wardrobe, decorated in shades of gray. Experts striving for excellence often spend several days choosing the most consonant tones. However, you can easily cope with such a task on your own, and we will try to help you with this. Let’s find out what designers recommend for a balanced indoor environment with furniture in the colors of morning haze, slate, or ash.
Gray furniture styles: matching wall colors based on design
As you probably already know, each interior style has its own palette, based on which color solutions are chosen for decoration, furniture, and accessories. In the case of gray upholstery and facades, you will not only have to select a suitable wall shade but also try to balance within the framework of the chosen design. Each style dictates, albeit not too strict, but still more or less definite rules, which we will discuss in more detail.
Classical and neoclassical
It is noteworthy that gray furniture is entirely uncharacteristic of the so-called traditional classics. A design that insists on elegance and balanced luxury requires a color that is more emotional – deep, intense, perhaps with a metallic sheen. That is why in such interiors, gray, in principle, manifests itself very little and exclusively in decorative details.
The situation is entirely different with neoclassical and the American style, based on all the same classical principles. Simultaneously, both styles are focused on modern trends, and therefore these directions are distinguished by a tendency to lighter colors. Gray furniture in neoclassical and American interiors is quite common. Cool and warmer, gray-beige shades of upholstery and wooden facades look very sophisticated and, of course, require an appropriate background with which you can experiment. So, gray furniture, combined with darker walls, looks elegant and mysterious; a light neutral base is more typical for a sleek and lightweight setting.
Modern style
Gray is the number one color for modern design trends. The variety of its shades, which designers and factories use in furniture production, sometimes makes you dizzy. Dark and translucent, cold and palpably warm, smoke and ash, quartz and asphalt – the number of options is incalculable. The more interesting it is to match the color of the walls to sofas, armchairs, beds, and kitchen cabinets.
The fact is that the range of solutions with gray furniture, in this case, is vast. So, you can choose a contrasting tone of paint for the walls or use wallpaper that is consonant with cabinets and ottomans. In the latter case, the rhythm and decorativeness are based on different materials, which we will talk about a little later.
Minimalism
For minimalism, gray is the leading color in the palette. Embodying restraint, tranquility, and laconicism that is more relevant today than ever, it becomes the ideal partner for furniture of strict geometric shapes without any decor.
This style opens up enough opportunities for integrating gray furniture into the setting of any room. At the same time, contrasts are used exceptionally rarely here: as a rule, for the walls, designers choose a color one or two tones lighter than chairs and sofas, or they prefer neutral beige and brown shades.
Loft
Any furniture for a loft can be gray – this also applies to the upholstery of armchairs and sofas, cabinet doors, and countertops. In this case, you will have two ways to integrate it with the walls’ help – both due to the color and the texture. Gray furniture works equally well against brick and concrete as well as next to richly painted surfaces – ultimately, the decision will depend on your project.
Scandinavian
You can distinguish Scandinavian-style furnishings by very light shades of gray – such as moonlight, white sand, glacier, silk gray, and quartz. Such furniture is in perfect harmony with beige or light gray walls, which differ from it by one or two tones. In some cases, you can use paint a couple of shades darker than the furniture, but then you will have to take care of warming accessories and softening ornaments.
Walls color for gray furniture based on the room type
When choosing the color of the walls for gray furniture, not only the interior style is essential, but also the purpose of the room that you are decorating. If you take this criterion carelessly, there is a risk of getting a beautiful but unnecessarily emasculated or uncomfortable interior. Therefore, it is worthwhile to dwell on each room separately.
Living room
Gray furniture for a room where the whole family gathers and greets guests – a solution that is as practical as it is fashionable. Simultaneously, background surfaces are selected a little lighter or slightly darker than furniture upholstery or facades, if necessary, complementing all this with colorful color accents.
Bedroom
A room for relaxation and restoration of vitality takes on a particular sound if you buy a gray bed, cabinets, armchairs, or a dressing table for it. However, to not disturb the harmony, it is imperative to consider the color temperature: only warm shades are permissible in the bedroom. This applies to both gray and its accompanying palette – if you want to avoid a depressing atmosphere, you should completely abandon cool tones in a room with gray furniture.
The dining room and kitchen
Kitchen cabinets, as well as chairs and tables in gray tones, are prevalent in trendy interiors. When choosing the color of the walls for such furniture, it is customary to focus on the style. Thus, dark vertical surfaces combined with gray cabinets make it easy to recreate an industrial atmosphere. At the same time, walls painted in dusty blue and mint green tones with wide white moldings emphasize the charm of neoclassical.
Children room
At first glance, it may seem that gray furniture is not a very good choice for a kid’s room. However, it’s all about the nuances – namely, the correctly selected shade and the corresponding color of the walls.
So, for a baby’s room, a bed, a wardrobe, ottomans, and chairs in soft gray tones – the same lunar, quartz, river mother-of-pearl or gray-beige, are suitable, and the walls in calm beige and pastel shades will complete the picture of serene comfort. When decorating a teenager’s room, you can act more boldly – use a combination of dark and light gray furniture with dark walls, choosing one of them as a bright accent.
How to choose a background color for gray furniture: basic rules
It is complicated to characterize each color in detail as capable or not capable of combinations with gray furniture – it would take a whole encyclopedia to do this. And yet, designers have several specific rules that allow, if not accurately and from the first time, to choose the shade of the walls, then at least move in the right direction. And we are happy to share these secrets with you:
The best wall colors for gray furniture: win-win options
Experimenting with colors and shades for wall decoration can take as much time as you want to spend on them. But if you don’t have days and weeks to spare, then you can easily use the palettes that provide one hundred percent hits in the case of gray furniture. In fact, everything is quite simple – the main thing is to remember the rules that we mentioned above.
White
White is an absolute godsend for gray furniture, as it allows you to emphasize the lines and shapes of each item. You can safely use it in any modern interior; however, designers insist on cooler and more neutral shades. Among the most suitable are:
By combining white walls with gray furniture, you need to add some color accents. It can be a bright poster or a collage, an elegant wall lamp, or a spectacular wall clock.
Gray
Gray on gray can be a fascinating solution if you skillfully use the play of shades. So, the combination of light gray walls with a sofa in a darker tone looks cozy, allows you to focus on the silhouette of furniture, and demonstrate your ability to work with monochrome – and this is an absolute plus for modern and laconic interiors. Of course, decorative details in colorful tones – mustard, purple, or terracotta will not be superfluous.
Brown
Furniture in warm shades of gray will perfectly match light brown walls. In this case, the following shades may well become your favorites:
Beige
Beige walls will create a magnificent background for gray furniture, add coziness, sophistication, and warmth. Also, the beige helps to balance the entire palette used for the room and bring it to a common denominator, which is especially valuable in modern design.
Blue
Shades of blue create an excellent base for gray furniture. However, in this case, preference should be given to cool tones:
Green
Green walls and gray furniture are a symbol of supreme elegance. If, of course, you combine them correctly. However, in the case of green shades, everything is quite simple: choose tones with prominent grayish inclusions – this includes at least sage, jojoba, and mint.
Purple
A living room with gray furniture and purple walls (or accent wall) looks exceptionally stylish. However, designers are persuading to give up shades with a pronounced purple undertone and try lighter tones that are close to pastels:
Wall color for gray furniture: Conclusions + Photo Gallery
Gray furniture successfully combines practicality and the latest trends. It is enough to choose the right color of the walls for it – and every day, you will enjoy the interior, which is impeccable both in terms of harmony and in line with trends.
