Learn all about Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray in this paint color review.
SW Amazing Gray is a beautiful medium greige paint color perfect for open-concept living spaces, bedrooms, offices, and more. It works best in areas flooded with light and can even be used as a whole-house paint color.
Amazing Gray is one of Sherwin-Williams’ top 50 paint colors. It’s great for someone who still wants their home to feel bright but also wants more definition between the wall and their white trim and ceiling.
The photographs we’re featuring in today’s post are actually the “before” photos from a client’s home. The client hired us to add in some more colorful rooms (such as bedrooms and offices) throughout the home after many years of enjoying the neutral walls, but their original Amazing Gray paint color is too gorgeous not to share!
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What is the LRV of SW Amazing Gray?
Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray has an LRV of 47, which makes it a medium greige paint color that is very slightly light absorbing. LRV is short for Light Reflectance Value, which measures how light (LRV=100) or dark (LRV=0) a color is.
This lower LRV is part of what makes this color so beautiful. But it’s also why I recommend it for rooms and homes with lots of natural light.
What are the Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray undertones?
Amazing Gray is really a greige with green undertones. It’s similar to some of our other favorite green-gray paint colors, like Sherwin-Williams Agreeable Gray, and Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter, but is a bit darker than all of them.
Is Amazing Gray warm or cool?
Amazing Gray is a warm gray paint color, thanks to its green undertones. It pairs very well with other warm colors in a whole-house color palette and looks great with warm finishes like natural wood floors.
Despite its warmth, it also pairs well with crisp white trim, white kitchen cabinets, and white countertops, which you’ll see in our clients’ classic kitchen further down in this post.
When should I use Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray?
I recommend saving this paint color for areas with lots of natural light because it’s relatively dark.
The client’s home featured below has many windows and tons of natural light. The color may have been too dark if the home had had fewer windows.
As it is, you can see in some of the shadows in the hallways that it gets a bit murky, which is not unusual for any color of this depth.
You can also notice the difference between the way the color looks on the walls of the dining room (which gets east-facing light only) and the living room (which gets both east-facing and south-facing light).
In the dining room (pictured above) the walls look significantly darker than the walls of the stairway (pictured below), especially in the corners.
As long as you pay attention to the type of light your home gets and take that into consideration when using SW Amazing Gray, this can be a lovely, warm paint color for just about any room of the house!
Is a SW Amazing Gray kitchen a good idea?
Our clients’ home featured Amazing Gray kitchen walls, which looked really beautiful with their classic white kitchen cabinets and granite countertops.
The Amazing Gray walls added a lot of contrast with the white cabinets but still paired nicely with the earthy granite countertops, and tied this space together! And since this kitchen gets a lot of natural light, the room still felt bright and airy.
You could also try an opposite look and use SW Amazing Gray kitchen cabinets with white or light greige walls or even use Amazing Gray as the lower cabinet color in a tuxedo kitchen.
Does an Amazing Gray bathroom work?
I love using warm paint colors in bathrooms. Bathrooms often include a lot of white and other cool colors due to sinks, toilets, tubs, and showers. Adding some warmth with Amazing Gray bathroom walls can transform a space.
In our clients’ primary bathroom, Amazing Gray looks much darker in the shadows but still flows seamlessly with the beautiful, large-scale tile.
Is Amazing Gray a good office paint color?
This client’s home actually has two offices, and both of them were painted with SW Amazing Gray before we worked together.
I love to use darker paint colors to make an office a peaceful place designed for focus. Amazing Gray is a great option if you want something that’s not super light but aren’t ready to commit to black or charcoal walls.
I love the colorful art on display in both of these offices. Amazing Gray is a great foundation for those pops of color.
Is Amazing Gray a good whole house color?
It really depends on the lighting in your home. The homeowners we worked with on this project built the home, and their builder used Amazing Gray as their whole-house paint color.
You can see in the image above that it worked in their home because it is flooded with light, even in the hallways and stairway. It still feels airy and lovely throughout their home. But Amazing Gray is definitely darker than we would normally specify for a whole-house palette with today’s lighter neutrals and whites.
Make sure to consider the light in your home carefully before deciding on SW Amazing Gray as a whole-house paint color. It can, however, work really well as an accent color within a palette in just about any house.
When Should I Avoid Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray?
Avoid Amazing Gray if your home is North-Facing, or has low light or shadows. The house can look glum with such a dark gray color. The color will look even darker and oppressive in low light.
Can I use Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray exterior paint?
Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray is great for exteriors as a siding color. It will look like a very greige color outdoors because colors typically look 4-5x lighter in the bright sun. If you pair it with white trim, use a warm and light greige like Pearly White or Shoji White. Alabaster may be too stark as a trim color, but it could be tested.
These days, we’re seeing a lot of white exteriors with slightly darker shutters and trim. This color would be a great shutter and trim accent color in that type of color scheme.
What Are the Best Amazing Gray Coordinating Colors?
Amazing Gray can pair with a variety of colors, decor and hard finishes thanks to its warm undertones and neutral hue.
Does Amazing Gray go with blue?
Amazing Gray looks great when paired with navy blues. Look for mid-toned blue paint colors with warm, green undertones rather than cool, violet undertones for the best pairing with Amazing Gray. Some of our favorite blues are SW Needlepoint Navy, SW Waterloo, and teals such as SW Refuge and SW Bunglehouse Blue.
Does Amazing Gray go with other gray paint colors?
Yes, I love to use one color on the walls and then a slightly lighter or darker color as an accent within a space. In our clients’ home, for example, the Amazing Gray walls flow beautifully with the carpet, which is a slightly darker version of Amazing Gray.
Does Amazing Gray go with bold colors?
I love to pair Amazing Gray with warm corals, muted greens, and other warm colors as accents. Amazing Gray is also a great backdrop for colorful art.
You can see in our clients’ office below how well it pairs with the various colors of the paintings on the wall.
What are the Best Trim and Ceiling Colors For SW Amazing Gray?
In our clients’ home Amazing Gray walls were paired with Sherwin-Williams Extra White trim. This cool white paint color provides a lot of contrast with Amazing Gray and looks very crisp.
Extra White also happens to be the most popular interior trim color in the United States, so chances are you already have this in your home!
If you’re starting from scratch or want to repaint your trim, Amazing Gray walls would also pair well with cleaner whites like SW Pure White or even off-whites such as SW Alabaster or SW Greek Villa.
What is the easiest way to sample Amazing Gray paint?
You should always sample and test your paint colors. The easiest way to sample Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray (and any paint color for that matter) is via SAMPLIZE. Their peel-and-stick paint samples are easy to use and true to color.
There is no mess, and the cost is less expensive than purchasing a sample and a white poster board. Since you don’t need to dispose of the paint, it’s also environmentally friendly!
With Samplize you can easily see how different shades look on your unique wall.
Comparisons With Other Gray Paint Colors
Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray vs. Sherwin-Williams Agreeable Gray
Sherwin-Williams Agreeable Gray is one of the most popular greige paint colors and one of Sherwin-Williams’ most popular colors overall. It has similar green undertones as Amazing Gray, but it’s much lighter (with an LRV of 60) and a bit more muted.
Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray vs. Sherwin-Williams Gossamer Veil
Sherwin-Williams Gossamer Veil is essentially a lighter shade of Amazing Gray. It has very similar warm, green undertones but is much lighter, with an LRV of 62. I recommended this to our clients as a lighter version of Amazing Gray for their updated whole-house color scheme.
Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray vs. Sherwin-Williams Repose Gray
Sherwin-Williams Repose Gray is another popular greige paint color. It’s lighter than Amazing Gray, with an LRV of 58. It also looks cooler than Amazing Gray, and has violet undertones.
Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray vs. Sherwin-Williams Worldly Gray
Sherwin-Williams Worldly Gray is another color very similar to Amazing Gray but lighter. With an LRV of 57, this color’s warm green undertones keep it looking very warm.
Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray vs. Sherwin-Williams Mindful Gray
Sherwin-Williams Mindful Gray is just barely lighter than Amazing Gray, with an LRV of 48. It’s more muted than Amazing Gray and appears a bit cooler on the wall. Mindful Gray has a violet undertone vs. the green in Amazing Gray.
Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray vs Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter
Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter is one of this company’s most popular greige colors with green undertones. It is lighter than Amazing Gray, with an LRV of 55, and also looks warmer and cleaner in place. Amazing Gray looks slightly fleshy when compared to Revere, although you don’t see that unless you compare the two colors.
Key Learning Points
Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray is a medium greige paint color that is perfect for bedrooms, living rooms, offices, and more. It’s darker than we usually recommend for a whole-house color palette, but it can work if your home is flooded with natural light.
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- Amazing Gray’s green undertones keep it looking very warm on the wall, especially in rooms with warm lighting.
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- This color works best in brightly lit spaces. It can look a lot darker in dimly lit rooms or in corners.
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- Amazing Gray pairs really well with other warm colors and hard finishes, like natural wood floors, warm navy blues, muted greens and granite countertops.
Remember: NEVER, EVER use paint matches from a different brand than the one specified. Results are poor and there are no standards for the sheens. Even though your painter may truly believe it can be done, don’t do it. See results from paint matching here.
No matter what, always test your paint colors. It’s a standard best practice. Whenever I test my paint colors, they are perfect, and when I don’t test they turn out wrong. Learn how to test your paint colors here.
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One Response
In 2010 I remodeled my kitchen. I put in cherry cabinets stained walnut. I painted half the walls amazing gray and opposite walls naval. My counter tops are white with gray veining to look like marble. I still am happy with my choice.