OUR DINING ROOM UPDATE: THE GREY PAINT COLOR DILEMMA

Here we go, my friends. I’m finally jumping in and taking the plunge…or, at least I think I am. To paint or not to paint our black dining room walls a new refreshing grey paint color has been on my mind (or in the back of it) for months. I shared my dilemma in my Instagram stories recently, and so many people still love our black walls! I still love our black walls. I’ve been torn, and have flip flopped for so long now. I know black walls are super on-trend right now, so they definitely have that going for them. Black walls are different and unconventional, and grey walls can seem well…ordinary. They’re also in almost every home you see lately. That said, we already have a warm grey paint color throughout most of our home anyway, Collingwood by Benjamin Moore, and I am still very happy with it, eight plus years later. The main reason I wanted to paint, is that I’d like to visually open up the room and bring in more natural light. I’m also craving change, and I think this is the perfect room to do it in. I’ve been seriously eyeing some new pieces for our dining room as well (check them out here), and with a lighter table and new rug – fingers crossed, I think the grey paint will be the perfect choice. So…thinking about trends, popularity, the updates I want to bring in, and the natural light I’m seeking, I think I just need to dive in and go for it.

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I’m sharing a few angles of our existing dining room from a few different seasons as well as my favorite Benjamin Moore grey paint colors, that I am considering for this space. I’m hovering between a very soft light grey to a more full-bodied medium grey. Some of these are warm and some are cool, and I’m trying to decide which route I want to go down.

The one thing I do know for sure, is that I’ll need to test the three or four final color choices we narrow it down to. Trust me on this one – you always need to test your paint colors before painting the entire room. In my many years of painting multiple rooms, homes, and furniture pieces, the color never, ever, EVER looks like it does on the swatch. I’ve made this mistake more than once! So many reasons that happens… Light exposure being the most important one, especially with lighter paint colors. Have you ever seen your walls change color with the seasons and time of day? We live in a wooded northern climate, so our colors change quite drastically throughout the year. Here’s a before shot that I shared recently in my Favorite Makeovers Part 1 post (click here), where I shared this room’s evolution. Pretty basic and bare bones with Ikea Rtiva drapes and a zebra jute rug that’s way too small!

This color is a soft black, it’s warm and brings a lot of depth to our little dining room. It’s called Cracked Pepper by Behr, and it’s the same color that we have used on all of our interior doors also. Below is the most recent look I shared with you this past summer, with a collected and curated table that creates a casual feel in the space. You can read more about this look here. Oh and don’t you love Oscar? He’s our lion head bunny for those of you who don’t know him. He’s my little cutie.

When I first revealed a more neutral palette in this space (read it here), we had updated the rug, and hung my original Ikea Ritva drapes (I had a totally different look in here at one time that was pattern galore!) that finished off the look. We’ve since added custom drapes with a more tailored look and they’re perfect, so they won’t be changing. I do still love this rug, and at the time is was perfect for what I wanted to achieve in our dining room, but since then, we updated our entryway (see the reveal here) with a new rug (shown below), so now I’m looking for something a little more complimentary with a vintage feel, also in greys.

Our light fixture was updated about two and a half years ago, and I still do love this too! I love the clean, modern lines and I added the shades to dress it up a little bit, a little styling trick if you want to customize your lighting. You can read about more simple tips to update your lighting here. I think I’d really love to dress the room up a little more, with a chandelier that’s a little more refined. I’m crossing my fingers I will be able to get the one I’ve been dreaming about!

The only thing that makes me nervous about taking the plunge and painting, is that I’m afraid I’ll miss the gorgeous contrast these black walls give our home. This is the view from the entryway and I really do love it…
I also love how it picks up on our interior doors, which are also painted the same color. 

There’s no doubt, I’ll miss this beautiful black statement in our home, and it’s going to take a lot of courage for me to paint these walls a new grey paint color! But I’m also excited, and I think the updates I want to make, if we do them all, will be absolutely fabulous in here. Tell me what you guys think? Do you like my grey paint color selection? Do you think I should bite the bullet and go for it? I’m almost there, but I’d really love your insight too! Thanks for reading with me, and as always, I love to have you here! xo