Gray living room: Interior design and decoration

hackrea / July 14, 2020

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Modern designers successfully refute the established stereotype that the use of gray in the interior is undesirable: supposedly this shade gives the room boredom and dullness.

In fact, this is not at all the case: the whole secret lies in the correct selection of the right shades. Only then the living room in gray tones will turn into a fashionable and stylish room, comfortable for relaxing and meeting guests.

Pros and Cons of Gray

The popularity of this shade among designers is primarily associated with its versatility and practicality. Also gray color combines different parts and other tones into a single whole. Other advantages include:

the ability to design rooms in any style;
if the gray tone is the main one, then you can change the design of the room by simply replacing the color of the textile, which will radically transform the living room – while the costs will be minimal;
gray color is practical: it does not fade and pollution on it is hardly noticeable;
the dominance of gray in the living room contributes to deep relaxation.

BASIC RULES FOR USING GRAY

In order for gray color to show its maximum advantages when using it, you need to follow some rules. This will help you create a truly comfortable interior.

Applying this shade as a fundamental, for small rooms, choose only light shades.
In a plain interior, dilute the background with pastel colors: beige, peach or cream.
In the small living room, make the ceiling as light as possible, and the protruding walls and niches dark. This will visually increase the volume of the room.
For large rooms, boldly use the monochrome version. The union of gray with pearl, graphite or anthracite tones looks successful.
If the room is narrow and small, use warm colors: gray-green or natural ebony. Cold tones are suitable for spacious living rooms: ice, silver, steel.
When buying furniture, keep in mind that it should not have exactly the same shade as the walls: otherwise the products will simply be lost in the general environment. Cabinets and sofas, chairs, shelves will be clearly visible on the main background, if their tone is lighter than the walls. But there is an exception applicable for excessively small rooms: it is allowed to put furniture in the same shades as the walls. Thus, the bulkiness of the products is reduced.
The use of bright decorating details for the living room in gray tones is mandatory. These can be classic figurines, paintings in original frames, posters, green indoor plants, photos with landscapes or posters (for the loft style).

Bright accent elements in the interior

Living room – a place where the family gathers, guests come here; it means that this room should attract attention and please everyone. Bright colors can help with this, reviving the living room in gray tones. Accessories or furniture with brown, yellow, red or green colors can play the role of accents.

Blue is also suitable – it adds some severity and coldness to the interior, which suits business people who are used to getting relaxation in public places: clubs, restaurants. Feel free to use the sofa cushions, vases, lamps, carpets as “revitalizing” elements. Sometimes even mural wallpaper is glued with bright inserts of small sizes. The main thing here is not to overdo it.

Wall decoration in gray

First you need to decide on the choice of shade, for which it is necessary to assess the level of illumination of the room. In a fairly bright room, use darker shades and vice versa. When choosing a color for floor and ceiling materials, apply the following rules:

the flooring should be darker than the walls;
the ceiling is lighter than wallpaper;
the floor is darker than the furniture.

A lightened ceiling gives more space to the living room in gray tones. The same can be said of the walls. If their finishing material is light enough, then the room visually increases. There is a small nuance: in an overly elongated hall, design the end walls using dark shades – this will visually make the living room wide and short.

Do not make a mistake by making the floor excessively light. In this case, there is a feeling of lack of support. In turn, the dark ceiling brings the walls closer, causing a feeling of tightness. The use of gray material for wall decoration is most appropriate in the styles:

hi-tech;
minimalism;
modern;
abstractionism.

Of decoration materials, when decorating a living room in gray tones, the people most often prefer mural wallpaper. Manufacturers offer a fairly wide range of them: you can choose a material with different textures and shades.

The combination of gray and white

These are two similar monochrome colors, so together they look very harmonious. Gray and white shades are actively used in creating the interior of Art Nouveau, art deco, less often – classics. Many replace pure white with its shades: creamy, dark milk, etc. Interesting combinations are also created if different textures are used – for example, wallpaper or plaster. All this helps to create a cozy and comfortable interior.

Gray and brown

Most of the designers associate such a living room with a rustic style common in the UK. Brown in alliance with gray calms: the neighborhood of these tones seems elegant, soft. Moreover, this combination does not distract from the decor elements. The decoration of the hall using gray and brown can be done in several ways:

natural wood furniture and gray wallpaper;
dairy furniture plus a brown-gray palace or carpet;
the brown surface of the walls and gray pieces of furniture (the latter look elegant, luxurious and expensive, convincing guests of the excellent taste of the owner of the living space).

Combination with pink

This combination looks fresh and gentle, it is never annoying and contributes to good relaxation. After all, it is because of him that the family spends time in the living room. If you use a bright shade of pink, you get an original accent, characteristic of such styles as high-tech or loft.

Add green

In this case, the interior is natural. This is due to the fact that green is natural. Here you can use indoor plants with wide leaves or curtains, a carpet of the same colors. It is important to remember that green you don’t need to use it too much. From the shades, choose olive, malachite, lime, etc.

Gray and red

A very interesting combination. But you need to remember that the red color is quite provocative and therefore it can not be much. In the gray living room, it is enough that curtains or armchairs, plus several decorative elements, have a red tint.

Dilute in blue

The union of these tones gives the living room peace and tranquility. The color blue is characterized by saturation, depth. Choosing its shades, try to make the furniture more light than the walls. Also golden and silver tones in which accessories are painted can be considered a good addition: for example, curtains or sofa cushions.

Gray with light blue

This combination is used if the blue color seems overly saturated. The presence of light blue gives airiness to the room, makes it fresh and airy. Based on this combination, you can design a room in a Mediterranean style. When using a combination, turn the walls gray and the pieces of furniture blue (or vice versa).

A variety of shades in the living room: from dark to silver

The tones are in a wide range: from almost white to almost black. Such variability allows you to choose the most suitable design option in accordance with your taste. It is worth noting that the described tone is achromatic, i.e., it does not contain other color pigments. Warm and rich color gives the living room a nobility and some luxury. But cool tones, reminiscent of steel, are associated with the “factory” interior. Such shades must be handled carefully, even in pseudo-industrial styles such as high-tech or loft. Manufacturers of finishing materials know the above features and most often offer the following shades:

smoke;
ash;
french gray, etc.

Of the cold tones, white lead and tin are the most popular.

Furniture in a gray living room

If you visit a furniture store, you can make sure that this color is used quite often. Usually this is an upholstery that looks very elegant. The most popular are metallic shades, as well as concrete or wet asphalt. The latter gives upholstered furniture an expensive and luxurious look: genuine leather can play the role of upholstery, in some cases – tapestry.

In the described tones, withstand not only sofas and armchairs: the coffee table will have an elegant dark milk shade in combination with milky chairs. That is, it is not necessary to buy only all gray items of furniture exclusively.

For example, a natural brown tone of wood in combination with a leather sofa in concrete color looks interesting. Outside the recreation area, the described shade is appropriate for hinged shelves, cabinets. Gray color gives elegance and at the same time unloads the interior without cluttering it.

Gray textile and additional elements

Many forget that one of the main components of the interior are the elements that are invisible at first glance. But it is they who often form the character of the design. If your furniture and surfaces are light, then buy decor details in darker colors. Wet asphalt curtains look exceptionally stylish. The silver shades of the lamps will bring elegance to the interior, and the sofa cushions that draw attention to themselves and make you pull to lie down to rest.

Style Directions

According to most designers, the color described is appropriate in modern interior design. This is a loft, minimalism, high-tech, as well as modern or underground. It is the gray color that helps to reveal the specifics of these styles, the palette of which allows emphasizing vintage elements of decor.

These shades can be used in classic directions: baroque, empire, classic. But here it is recommended to use halftones that provide retro styling. As stated above, a combination of blue and gray with the addition of pearl tones gives a good effect – in fact, this is a finished design of the Mediterranean style. But here it is necessary to provide full natural light (it is desirable that the windows face south).

The interior of the living room, designed in gray shades, is quite elegant and is able to satisfy the needs of the most demanding design fans. To a large extent this contributes to a wide selection of shades of this popular color. On the site you can choose the most suitable option for your living room.