‘Fifty Shades’ of color advice

I’m about to declare, “Fifty Shades of Enough Already!”

Ever since a certain movie started dominating conversations public relations outfits have been sending home-related pitches based on the theme. Fifty shades of gray for the outside of your home, 50 for the inside. Fifty shades of gray paint, fabric, countertops, accessories.

The barrage has slowed a bit since the movie opened, but one arrived the other day that promised a “Fifty Shades” graphic that could be published in the newspaper. Really? Right here, alongside tame home design stories?

Well, yes. Turns out it was from a well-respected maker of high-end roofing products, DaVinci Roofscapes, along with a handful of familiar paint manufacturers and color expert Kate Smith. It offered suggestions for the top shades of gray for a roof, the best grays for your home’s exterior, and how to combine all those roof, trim and siding grays to create the most pleasing palette.

You can see it for yourself at sensationalcolor.com. Click the link for Color for Your Home and then Color for Your Home’s Exterior.

You can download it free in PDF format (when nobody is looking over your shoulder).

Despite all this silliness, of course, gray is a hugely popular and important color for homes. The public relations types just can’t resist the “Fifty Shades” connection, but some offer pretty good advice on choosing grays.

All grays aren’t the same. Some grays have warm honey undertones, while some have cool undertones of blue or green. You’ll certainly see the difference if you choose the wrong gray and plunk it down in the middle of your great room.

You don’t have to be on public relations mailing lists to take advantage of the “Fifty Shades” advice, though. HGTV online – which nobody could call racy – explores “50 Shades of Gray Interiors.”

HGTV says that “greige,” a mix of gray and beige, is the hottest neutral, but that dark slate is gaining. The site offers 50 pictures of gray interiors for inspiration, plus other online stories with tips for using gray at www.hgtv.com. Click Remodel at the top of the page, and then click Interiors.

Angie’s List asks: A new dominant paint color? Let’s all guess: Could it be gray? What do you think? Go to angieslist.com.

Houzz gets into the act, too. The folks at Houzz have put together the most popular pictures of gray interiors. Fifty of them, of course. See them at www.houzz.com.

There’s also a quick quiz: What’s your favorite gray paint color? Martha Stewart’s “Dolphin” or Benjamin Moore’s “Gray Owl?”

Also, which actor would you have picked to play “Mr. Grey” in the movie?

Wow, Martha Stewart and Mr. Grey in the same paragraph. ...

This story was originally published March 5, 2015 at 5:49 PM with the headline "‘Fifty Shades’ of color advice."