Vered Rosen Design: "Gray on gray" - too much of a good thing?

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

"Gray on gray" - too much of a good thing?

Remember the days when everyone had beige sofas, beige carpets, beige walls and beige everything?
Practically speaking, beige became the default color for upholstery, tile, carpets and wall color, and this is exactly how we ended up with boring, static and dull spaces, so much that some people actually started hating beige, and so beige started getting its "bad" reputation.

Here's an example of that "too much beige" look.

Is it possible to create a beautiful all-beige room? Absolutely yes!
Does it take skill that the most of us don't have? unfortunately, It does. To get a "beige on beige" room right, you need to mix dark and light colors to create contrast, add pattern and texture to create visual interest. It's best to introduce different neutrals colors as well.

Here's an example of lovely rich beige room

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What about Grays? I suppose you've already noticed that Gray is the "new beige". If you happened to walk around in the Boston Design Center lately, you would have a hard time finding a beige sofa. Almost all of them are gray. The rest are brightly colored.

So, do I think the same kind of " too much beige" phenomena might happen with grays? absolutely yes! I have already seen pictures of it online. However, I don't think gray will become the "default choice" like beige did for a while.

Here are some examples of "too much gray" ...