Situation: You have no idea what color you want to paint the walls in your home, have no interest in putting a lot of thought into choosing a color, and really just want a sweet neutral that will go with everything. The idea of using a color everyone else uses sounds fantastic, because well, it must be a pretty great color if everyone is using it, right? Your first inclination might be to go to your local paint store and ask them what colors are popular right now. Well, let us save you the trip. We do this for a living, ya’ll!! We know exactly which colors look great, which colors are chosen over and over, the tried and true, the go-to’s. Today I’m going to tell you about our Top 5 Most Used Interior Paint Colors.
It’s no surprise that 4 out of our top 5 are grays, at least I’m not surprised. Gray is the mega millions winner in the neutral lottery right now and it has been for a minute, several minutes, actually. It’s clean, bright, versatile. It can be warm or cool and pairs nicely with most brighter colors. All 5 of our colors happen to be from Sherwin Williams. I’ll be honest, though I have recommended these colors to folks during consults, the reason they’re in our top 5 isn’t necessarily because I’ve recommended them. Sometimes our clients actually have colors picked out when they hire us to paint. Either way, these are the colors we use the most. So, let the introductions begin:
1. Agreeable Gray SW7029
Agreeable Gray has been a constant color recommendation during my consults for the last 3 years. It’s a warm gray that I like to call a “bridge”. Homes built in the 90’s and early 2000’s tend to have an excessive amount of honey oak throughout. Floors, trim, doors, cabinets, built-in’s, fireplaces, even ceilings, it can be like living in a yellow-orange cave. Fast forward to now, the days of gray. Cool gray and yellow-orange don’t look so fantastic together. So, for folks that want to go gray on the walls with white trim, but don’t want the hassle of staining their hard wood floors, I always recommend a warm gray. Agreeable Gray is just that, a warm, agreeable gray, so it “bridges” those two worlds nicely.
2. Accessible Beige SW7036
The next three colors are also bridge colors, but Accessible Beige is a bit different. It is in the gray scale but is definitely more beige than gray. It’s always a great recommendation for folks that want to update that honey oak but are scared to paint their trim or have a mixture of white and honey oak trim. It’s a fair compromise.
3. Mega Greige SW7031
The word greige comes from a mixture of the words gray and beige, or more accurately in this case, a mixture of the colors gray and beige. Mega Greige is on the same strip as Agreeable Gray, just two spots down, so it’s third from the top on the strip and has a little more depth. It’s a nice mid-range greige, for sure.
4. Requisite Gray SW7023
This is one of my personal favorites as I’ve used it in my own home (along with Agreeable Gray). If Requisite Gray were a person, it would be extremely optimistic, a good leader that complements and brings out the best in everyone they meet. A real humble kind of fella. It makes everything in the room stand out and like a good team captain, never takes credit for the win.
5. Pure White SW7005
Remember that honey oak I mentioned before? Well, it’s the reason Pure White made the top 5. Most of our clients want to get rid of the stained trim in their homes and white painted trim is the popular option. However, thanks to the Farmhouse craze, white walls are making a comeback so we’re using it there too. Pure White is a great option because it’s a nice, clean white that compliments gray well. It’s not the bright, antiseptic white you’d think of from seeing the word Pure. It, in fact, has a warmness to it, but is definitely not the yellowed down Dover White, the trim color prom queen of the 2000’s.
And there you have it, the Unique Painting KC Top 5 Most Used Colors. As much as I love bright, bold colors, I do recognize that neutrals have their place. They are, indeed, necessary, and obviously quite popular. We hope this list gives you a helpful kickstart to your next interior painting project.
