Benjamin Moore Gray Owl
Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore is one of the most popular gray paint colors out there. It’s a soft gray with slight blue green undertones
A few months ago, I was helping an e-design client with a whole house color scheme for her new home. And it was challenging.
Finding a paint color is always challenging but doing a whole home is always a bit trickier. Every room has it’s own lighting and ceiling heights, different flooring and furnishings.
And every paint color has it’s own undertones that will work differently in such rooms with different lighting and ceiling height and flooring.
You get what I am saying.
I wish there was just that one perfect paint I can go to and know it will work in every home and in every room.
Unfortunately for all of us, there isn’t such a thing…even if you tried praying to the paint Gods. They won’t even have an answer for you.
But sometimes you have to try to find the next best thing…the “almost” perfect gray paint color. And I think I found it.
Benjamin Moore Gray Owl is such a versatile paint color and one of Benjamin Moore’s most popular paint colors and there are so many reasons why.
So let’s start discussing.
What Color is Gray Owl
Gray Owl is a soft gray paint color with touches of green and blue in it. This all depends on your lighting and one of the reasons why you really need to test Gray Owl in your home before painting….(even though I just said it was an almost perfect paint color)
(I get all of my paint samples from Samplize)
My wall color is Silver Drop by Behr but you can tell that Gray Owl has a touch more color to it than Silver Drop.
Gray Owl has an LRV of 65. Without getting too confusing, all you need to know is that Gray Owl has a touch of depth to it but will still bounce light into your room. (A white paint color will have a LRV around 80-90 for reference)
Undertones of Gray Owl
Gray Owl is a chameleon paint color. The undertones of Gray Owl are dependent on the lighting in your room, other fixed elements and some of your decor.
Gray Owl has blue and green undertones and can look different in every room.
When paired with Repose Gray in my family room that gets lots of natural light, you can see the blue undertones in Gray Owl
The green undertones can show up in a room that does not have alot of natural light
Is Gray Owl warm or cool
Gray Owl is more of a cool gray but does have a touch of warmth to it which makes it the versatile and popular paint color that it is.
Some people refer to Gray Owl as a warm color but once on your walls it can read cool if you have lots of natural light.
I suggest pairing Gray Owl with cooler elements in your home (I’m talking to you gray couches).
Where can you use Gray Owl?
Anywhere and everywhere that you want.
Gray Owl is a great paint color for cabinets especially if you have a white or an off white backsplash and counters.
If you have an island and want some contrast, you can paint your island Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore. I got a little carried away and did a quick little mood board.
If you do want to paint your cabinets Gray Owl you can always keep your cabinets white and paint your walls Gray Owl with a Hale Navy Island.
Click on any image to shop:
That’s a winning combo right there.
Walls are an obvious choice but do not be afraid to paint your interior doors or front door Gray Owl if you need a little change. If your walls in your home are white and you want some color…slap some Gray Owl on your interior doors.
I did that in my home and I love the slight contrast the doors give.
Gray Owl vs Repose Gray
Repose Gray is one of Sherwin Williams most popular gray/greige paint color. Repose Gray is more of greige paint color with some beige undertones.
Gray Owl is slightly lighter in color but definitely cooler than Repose Gray as you can tell from the swatches.
Gray Owl vs Stonington Gray
Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray is also a cool gray paint color but as you can tell has some more depth to it than Gray Owl.
Both paint colors have similar undertones but Stonington Gray will show more of the blue undertones than the green undertones.
Gray Owl vs Agreeable Gray
Another very popular Sherwin Williams paint color is Agreeable Gray. I talked more about Agreeable Gray in my most popular greige paint colors post.
As you can tell, Agreeable Gray has much more beige undertones in it…thus making it a true greige paint color and much warmer than Gray Owl
Benjamin Moore Gray Owl Complementary Colors
This is a fun one because Gray Owl goes well with lots of colors but you do have to be careful with the undertones.
Gray Owl looks great paired with Simply White.
(See more of my favorite Benjamin Moore White Paints here)
Gray Owl and Revere Pewter can be really good friends. This is a great combo if you want to coordinate adjoining rooms in your home.
Gray Owl and Chelsea Gray is a great combination if you want to add more depth to your color scheme
Let’s just do a whole house color scheme. All of these paint colors are so pretty and combining them together in your home is such a good idea (in my opinion)
Behr paint color similar to Gray Owl paint color
Behr Eon is almost an identical match to Gray Owl. If you are afraid to color match and want to stick with a Behr paint color then Eon is your color
Sherwin Williams paint color similar to Gray Owl paint color
Sherwin Williams Silverpointe is a close match to Gray Owl
How to choose the right paint color
Start with inspiration:
I talked a little bit about this in this post but I’ll touch on it again. Picking your paint color for your walls should be one of the later things you do when designing a room.
Find a large focal piece (rug, art, window treatments) and look for colors in those pieces that catch your attention. Get on Pinterest and look at magazines. Get some ideas of what you like. It is your house.
Decide on the mood of the room:
Do you want your room to be light and bright or dark and moody? If you home doesn’t get a whole lot of natural light, stark white walls might look dingy. I would consider a paint with some color to it.
Grab your swatches and bring home samples
Bring home some swatches and ideally some sample paints if you feel extra ambitious. Use large foam boards from the dollar store and paint sample boards. Test them in every room. Remember each room gets different natural light. See how they look in the morning and at night.
You can orders samples as well from Samplize. This is where I get all of my samples. They get shipped overnight and the samples are large so you can get a real representation of how the color will look in your space.
Consider everything in your home…your trim, your floors etc. My floors are Brazilian cherry (aka very red) and I knew I wanted a color just a tad cooler to play off the warm red tones of the floor.
Is your trim bright white, or creamy white? Very cool gray colors might not play well with very warm white trim.
Get what I am saying?
If you want to see the undertone of color, look at the darkest color on the paint color strip. If you love a paint color but fear it can be too dark, ask them to cut it with 25% or 50% white.
Keep a list of your home paint colors
It’s always a good idea to keep a list or spreadsheet of the paint colors you have used in your home. I can’t tell you know much it has helped me.
DIY Painting Supplies
I listed out some of my favorite items I use when painting…
(This post contains affiliate links.You can see my disclosure policy here)
Benjamin Moore Classic Colors Fan Deck: Just in case you want to be even more overwhelmed you can order all of the Benjamin Moore classic paint colors
Same goes for Sherwin Williams Paint Deck
Paint brushes: I love all of Wooster’s paint brushes but this one is hands down my favorite one to use. It makes cutting in so much easier.
Painter’s tape: I hate taping and I really try to avoid it but when I can’t I make sure I use a good tape
Drop Cloths: Yes, you need them and you need many. I have used trash bags and old shower liners before too.
Cleaning Cloths: These are amazing every day cloths for cleaning but work great for baseboards and walls before painting.
Paint Cup: This paint cup is brilliant and has a magnetic strip so your paint brush stays safe from falling in your paint.
Multi Position Paint Brush tool: The best tool you will ever use if you have tall ceilings or just in general. I used something similar to this to paint my 15 foot ceilings in my family room and it was a life saver.
Paint Edger: This might get a bad rap but if you do it right, it has been a nice helper for me. Especially when trimming around windows and along baseboards.
Touch up cup: Nothing is worse than having to pull out the whole can of paint for a little touch up.
Good luck and happy painting!
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