Paint colors for your home, inside and out
Grey · Bedroom · colors from 3 paintings
The best grey for a bedroom depends on how much light the room gets and how calm you want it to feel. This page shows three greys measured from paintings, from a light neutral to a deep pewter, with their LRV and closest paint matches. Three more colors from the same paintings show you what to pair with them.
Quick answer
Use the light neutral grey #B3AFAA on bedroom walls, the green-leaning #9A9E93 for furniture or a softer wall, and the deep #5F6463 for one wall behind the bed.
A light grey with an LRV of 43 and no clear undertone, so it is a safe choice for all four bedroom walls. It comes from Woman at Her Toilette by Berthe Morisot.
From Woman at Her Toilette, Berthe Morisot
A mid-tone grey with a green undertone and an LRV of 33. Use it on a bed frame, dresser or softer wall for a calm, earthy bedroom. It comes from Nocturne: Blue and Gold—Southampton Water by James McNeill Whistler.
From Nocturne: Blue and Gold—Southampton Water, James McNeill Whistler
A deep, neutral grey with an LRV of 13, so it reads very dark and absorbs light. Keep it for a wall behind the bed or a small, cocooning room. It comes from Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz by Amedeo Modigliani.
From Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz, Amedeo Modigliani
A light grey-green with an LRV of 65, so it bounces light. Use it for curtains, bedding or trim next to deeper greys. It comes from Nocturne: Blue and Gold—Southampton Water by James McNeill Whistler.
From Nocturne: Blue and Gold—Southampton Water, James McNeill Whistler
A very dark brown with a warm red-orange undertone and an LRV of 4. It suits wood pieces such as a bed frame, nightstands or a floor stain. It comes from Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz by Amedeo Modigliani.
From Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz, Amedeo Modigliani
A mid-tone with a warm red-orange undertone and an LRV of 27. Use it on an armchair, headboard or painted door to warm up the greys. It comes from Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz by Amedeo Modigliani.
From Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz, Amedeo Modigliani
The same paint reads differently in cool north light, warm south sun and under evening lamps. Find the column closest to your room.
| Color | Neutral daylight | North light | South light | Evening lamps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soft Neutral Grey | ||||
| Sage-Tinged Grey | ||||
| Pale Green Mist | ||||
| Dusty Clay Rose |
Pick which color goes on the walls, the big furniture and the bold piece. Floors, shadows and trim follow your choice.
The framed picture on the wall is Woman at Her Toilette.
Start with how much light you want the room to hold. The soft neutral grey, #B3AFAA, has an LRV of 43 and no clear undertone. It is the easiest wall color here because it does not pull toward blue, green or purple. The closest matches measured are Sherwin-Williams SW 7643 Pussywillow, Behr 770B-4 Classic and Farrow & Ball No. 88 Lamp Room Gray.
Choose #9A9E93 if you want a softer, earthier room. Its LRV is 33 and it has a green undertone, so it reads as a grey with a little sage in it. It suits a bedroom with wood furniture and plants, and it can cover all four walls if you like a wrapped-in feel.
Choose #5F6463 for one wall behind the bed, or for a small room you want to feel enclosed. At LRV 13 it reads very dark. It is neutral, so it stays a true grey rather than leaning toward a color.
Grey is a quiet base, so the pairings do the work. Warm colors keep it from feeling cold. The clay shade #B97F6A, LRV 27, works as a bold piece such as an armchair, headboard or painted door. The very dark brown #4B342F, LRV 4, suits wood: a bed frame, a dresser or a floor stain. Both have warm red-orange undertones, which sit well beside neutral grey.
For a softer scheme, use the pale green #D0D5CA, LRV 65, in curtains, bedding or a rug. It echoes the green in #9A9E93 without matching it.
Keep trim lighter than the walls so the edges read clearly. The pale green is the lightest color here and can frame the deeper greys. A light ceiling sends more light back down, which helps when a wall is dark. Warm wood floors suit all three greys. Grey floors under grey walls can feel flat, so add a rug in clay or pale green.
Light changes how a grey looks, and LRV tells you how much light a color returns. At LRV 43, #B3AFAA bounces a fair amount of light and suits a bedroom with one small window. At 33, #9A9E93 is a mid-tone. Its green undertone may show more in strong daylight and fade in dim rooms.
A room with little daylight makes any grey look darker and flatter. In that case lean toward the lightest grey, and bring in the warm colors from this page through furniture and textiles. A bright room handles deeper greys more easily. At LRV 13, #5F6463 can make a dim room feel smaller, which some people want for sleeping.
Bulbs matter too. Warm bulbs make grey look slightly warmer, and cool bulbs make it look cooler. Choose the bulbs you will actually use before you judge a color, and keep them the same while you compare.
Do not choose from a screen. The hex values here were measured from paintings, and the paint matches are the closest commercial colors, not exact copies. A sample on your own wall is still the real test.
Buy sample pots or sample sheets of the matches you like. Make each patch at least two feet across. Put one on the wall by the window and one on the wall opposite, since the same grey looks different in each spot.
Look at the patches in the morning, at midday and at night under your lamps. Do this over a few days. Hold your bedding, curtains and a flooring sample beside them. If you are comparing brands, sample each one. Matches marked near-identical or very close can still differ slightly. Pick the one that looks calm at night, because that is when you use the room most.
For most bedrooms, a light neutral grey like #B3AFAA (LRV 43) is the easiest choice. It has no clear undertone and holds up in different light. Choose #9A9E93 if you want a softer, greener grey.
It can, especially in a room with little daylight. Add warm colors like the clay #B97F6A and the dark brown #4B342F in furniture and wood to balance it.
Pair a neutral grey wall with a green-grey piece of furniture, pale green textiles, dark brown wood and one clay-colored accent. All six colors on this page come from the same three paintings.
It can be, on one wall or in a small room. The deep grey #5F6463 has an LRV of 13, so it reads very dark and absorbs light. Use lamps and lighter textiles to keep the room from feeling heavy.
Yes. Grey and gray are two spellings of the same color name, and paint brands use both. Judge each paint by its LRV, undertone and a sample on your wall, not by the spelling.
A card with every color on this page, its LRV and the paintings it comes from. Pin it, or take it to the paint store.
Grey and Blue Bedroom Walls
Gray and White Bedroom Walls: Shades and Accent Colors
Emerald Green Bedroom Paint: Shades Measured from Paintings
Cool Bedroom Colors: Soft Blues and Grays for Calm Walls
Mint Green Paint for a Bedroom: Three Pale Green Shades
Blush Pink Bedroom Paint: Three Dusty Rose Shades to Compare
Painting images: The Art Institute of Chicago, public domain (CC0). Colors measured by Light & Pigment. Paint names belong to their brands and matches are approximate. Colors look different on screen than on a wall, so always test a sample.
