More than 50 shades of gray

Forget about the title of that racy best-seller. Color expert Kate Smith says our eyes can distinguish more than 500 shades of gray.Add a color to white or beige, Smith notes, and eventually both will become lighter versions of the added color. Add color to gray, however, and only its intensity will change. “It becomes more complex because there is more variation,” she says. Those vague hues we describe as grayish-blues, or reddish-grays are what she means. Such blending is what enables grays to play well with other colors, taking on cool or warm qualities depending on the colors mixed in.

And not every color can be as effective in sweats as it is in a tailored business suit. As with clothing, gray interiors can be fun and relaxed or no-nonsense formal. They can be dressed up or down depending on the materials, accessories and supporting colors used. “Gray can change depending on what’s next to it,” Smith says.

Use gray with orange in a dining room, and the result is surprising warmth. Try it with pale pink in a bedroom, and get soft sophistication. Pair gray and white in a kitchen for Ceramic tile alternative to safe, vanilla predictability. In a nursery, gray and white make a gender-neutral baby room that’s friendly to all those colorful toys.

“Gray really creates that perfect backdrop for a simple, timeless nursery,” says Kim Terry, spokeswoman for Pottery Barn Kids, which offers numerous gray options in bedding, room accessories and even its kid-size Anywhere chair. Younger parents who grew up around beautiful, contemporary furnishings want the same in their own homes, Terry says. “That modern aesthetic has made its way into nurseries.” In kitchens and bathrooms, gray has become a new “it” color, according to the National Kitchen and Bath Association. Earlier this year, the Hackettstown-based organization surveyed its interior designer members and found that the use of gray is a steadily rising trend.

“People are just more interested in a softer look than stark white,” explains South Orange interior designer Antoinette Fraser, who recently used gray elements in the kitchen and dining area of a Millburn home. Gray grout anchors a beautiful wall accent of gray glass with gray and white marble. “Gray is a natural transition from the white,” she says. “A lot of the whites were gray-based whites.”Those grayish-whites complemented stainless steel appliances, whose popularity helped usher gray into our kitchens, says Becky Ralich, head of color marketing and design services for paint-maker Sherwin-Williams. “All that stainless has given us the acceptance of gray,” she says. “We are now accustomed to it, and we are open to it.”

From the steely color of stainless to grays with a hint of morning coffee, gray wall paints and finishes for cabinetry should be chosen with consideration of what will be nearby.“Gray is a little bit tricky,” Ralich notes. With its various undertones, grays should be tested with a room’s permanent fixtures to ensure a good marriage, she says. “Take a bunch of samples home and see what each is going to look like in your light.” Careful selection will ensure that the chosen gray complements rather than competes with its surroundings.

Good effect is magnificently illustrated in a kitchen (at top) that Heidi Piron of Summit recently designed for a Bayhead summer house. European apple wood cabinetry, with its striking stripe-like grain pattern, warms the schist stone countertops and an abundance of blue-gray glass tiles. “The last two to three years, I have used quite a bit of gray in kitchens,” says Piron. “It’s a great neutral and it blends with everything. It can go traditional, it can go contemporary.”

In gray kitchens and bathrooms, fixtures can help set a casual or formal tone, says Piron. For more traditional designs, she works with deeper, richer grays and the sheen of Floor tiles, polished brass or pewter hardware.And for anyone who thinks of “gray days” and “gray moods” and wonders if too much gray will be an interior design downer, color expert Smith notes that a gray area can become decidedly sedate or stimulating.If the goal is a more upbeat space, bring in brights and high-contrast colors, she suggests. “The more contrast, the more stimulating,” she notes. “Excitement is created by color and contrast.”

But Smith appreciates gray’s quiet side, and selected it for her own bedroom. “Gray can be rather calming,” she says. “I happen to like gray because I look at color all day long. Gray gives me a little rest from all the visual stimulus.” SnapStone was one of 18 “recommended” floorings out of the 51 products tested by Consumer Reports, with an overall score that ranked second highest in the magazine's rating system.

The World-Herald featured SnapStone while examining Nebraska's ties to China. A reporter and photographer visited a Shanghai factory that produces some of the porcelain tiles that the company uses. The tiles are shipped to Omaha, where SnapStone employees insert them into plastic trays with interlocking tabs. The tiles can then be snapped together to form a floating tile floor.Company president and CEO Jonathan McIntosh said it's hard to say yet whether the rating will increase sales, but he said his company is hearing from people who read the magazine article or saw news reports about it.

SnapStone is sold at home improvement stores such as Menards as a do-it-yourself product. A similar product from the company is sold under the Avaire brand name at Nebraska Furniture Mart and other retailers. In addition, McIntosh said, “two large, prominent, national chains, within the past two weeks, have suddenly become much more receptive to our advances.”

The stove would have to be moved to get at the flooring underneath it. The stove is heavier than most, so it would take two guys to move it, one of whom would be me, but that wasn't a problem. Moving the stove means turning off the gas to it, which means I wouldn't be able to cook on it, which would in fact be a problem. But we have another stove in the basement, so the problem would be an inconvenience, not a tragedy.