A couple of weeks ago I posted about our new home and mentioned that we were doing all of the painting ourselves. That comes with advantages and disadvantages, but one of the advantages is that when you paint 15 gallons on a wall and decide to change the color, you can do it without paying the painter thousands of dollars, only if you have a very patient husband of course. 🙂 Not that we did that, actually if you have been following me on Instagram, you know that we did EXACTLY that, ha ha. But I am so happy that we changed when we did and I love our new color. Man, paint can be so agonizing! So today I am showing you how a slight color change can make the world of difference on undertones and the look and feel of a room. The competitors? Agreeable Gray and Revere Pewter. 🙂
A little background, a few weeks I posted these samples on Instagram and had so many people tell me they loved number one, which was Agreeable Gray. The other colors are 2. Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore, 3. Edgecomb Gray by BM, 4. Collonade Gray by Sherwin-Williams, 5. Light French Gray by Sherwin-Williams.
I loved the first sample as well. I had seen it in some homes before and have actually recommended it to others. So I decided to go with Agreeable Gray, and I bought 15 gallons. I loved it at first, but the more we painted and got on the walls, and as I looked at it in different lighting, I felt like it was a completely different color.
That is the trickiest part of paint is the lighting. It can totally change the look and undertones. Now I’m not saying Agreeable Gray is a terrible color or that you shouldn’t use it, because it’s a great neutral and in some lights I LOVED it, it was exactly what I was looking for, a warm gray that didn’t have any crazy undertones, most importantly purple, and I was happy for the decision I made. But then on another wall, in a different light, it DID look a little purple, sometimes blue, and definitely cooler.
So my patient husband amazingly told me that if I didn’t like it, now was the time to change it, so without sampling I went down to the paint store and got the color I have loved in every home I have seen it in, one that I have recommended to numerous people, and the most popular color on my blog. I didn’t initially go with color because it has been so popular and I wanted to change things up a little bit, weird I know, but I should have listened to my gut. SO, our new color is Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore. It is warmer and it looks great in every light of our home. Do you remember seeing this?
I completely agree with Christina. 🙂 (source)
Also, Benjamin Moore describes Revere Pewter as having an “LRV: 55.51. (Light Reflective Value) A light gray with warm undertones, this classic shade creates a unifying look that calms and restores. A great transitional color, it’s perfect for an open floor plan.”
How does that compare to Agreeable Gray? Agreeable Gray has an LRV of 60, just a smidge higher which means it reflects just a touch more light.
Now these pictures that I am going to show you may look identical to you, cameras can be really tricky picking up the undertones, but I hope you can see what I am talking about.
This is Agreeable Gray in good light. It’s a great color, but if you compare it to Revere Pewter below, it is slightly cooler and has some taupe undertones which tend to bring out purple.
This picture is of both Agreeable Gray and Revere Pewter. Agreeable Gray is the color on each side of the blue tape and Revere Pewter is the color that you can see in the kitchen and great room. Can you see the taupe undertones of Agreeable Gray?
Same thing different angle.
These are the paint formulas for a 5 gallon bucket of paint. You can see that Revere Pewter has a lot more Deep Gold, which helps warm the color as well.
Here are the two colors side by side, Revere Pewter is on the left and Agreeable Gray is on the right. Again, you can see that Revere Pewter is a little warmer.
Bottom line, Agreeable Gray is a great neutral, but definitely has some taupe undertones depending on the lighting. In our house it is what you would call a chameleon gray. Sometimes so much that it looked like some rooms and walls were completely different colors. I haven’t seen that with Revere Pewter. I would be really curious to see how Agreeable Gray would have changed once we got our flooring, trim, and lighting in. I’m sure that if we left it, it would have been just fine, but I believe everyone should walk into their home and love the color on their walls. At least that is my goal and I didn’t have that LOVE factor with Agreeable Gray. On the other hand, I am so happy with Revere Pewter and I’m excited to show you more pictures of it as we progress.
That was my paint dilemma, I hope you don’t have to go through the same thing that I did, and if you are trying to decide between Agreeable Gray and Revere Pewter, I hope my experience has helped!
Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful day!
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