We usually feel confident picking paint colors, but choosing the perfect gray for two major living areas made me unusually nervous. We planned to use the same color in the future dining room, main hallway, and living room for continuity, so the decision felt weightier. Sherry had fun teasing me about my indecision. I found myself second-guessing every swatch: “Sure, I like it… no I don’t, I hate it.” Yep, that was me.
I partly blame my neurosis on a regrettable middle school bedroom paint choice. I picked a dark gray because I liked the name—something like Cannonball or Cannon Smoke—and it ended up too cold and prison-like. I tried to warm it up with a bright red Looney Tunes rug and Tasmanian Devil throw pillows, which helped then, but this time I wanted a solution that didn’t rely on cartoon accessories.
I persuaded Sherry—who was much less hesitant and kept saying “let’s just pick one and DO IT!”—to try paint testers before committing. She recommends that to readers who are nervous about painting, so it wasn’t hard to convince her to give it a whirl. We narrowed the options to three similar but distinct grays to help make a final decision:
From left to right they are Collingwood, Grey Owl, and Moonshine—all Benjamin Moore shades mixed into Olympic Premium No-VOC sampler cans from Lowe’s. Sherry guessed her favorite before I even picked up a brush. Can you guess? Hint: it rhymes with “spoon mine.”
We painted them in the future dining room in that same order: Collingwood on top, Grey Owl in the middle, and Moonshine on the bottom.
We applied a single coat with a brush, which gave good coverage. We feathered the edges instead of using painter’s tape so the test patches wouldn’t leave visible raised squares once we painted the whole wall.
Sherry dove in and tested large swatches in the family room as well—one set near the TV…
…and another set beside the big window, since natural daylight would show the colors differently.
One major advantage of samplers is seeing how the colors change throughout the day under different lighting. Small swatches can help, but large test areas let you judge the color from across the room, which is invaluable.
We also compared the colors at night under the warmer artificial light so we could see how they read when the room was lit by lamps instead of daylight. They were painted in the same order—Collingwood, Grey Owl, then Moonshine.
After a few days of living with the samples, I admitted Sherry was right: Moonshine, the bottom swatch, was our favorite. Collingwood almost won us over, but it leaned warm and tan—more like the Sand White we used in a previous home, which we love but didn’t want to repeat. Grey Owl read a bit green-blue in our lighting and risked looking like a muddy blue-gray, which we’d had before and wanted to avoid.
Moonshine feels like the most straightforward gray of the three. It has a subtle, soft quality—almost a hint of silver—that makes moldings pop, especially once the trim is painted bright white. It’s neutral enough to let bolder curtains, artwork, and accessories stand out without competing with them. Now we just need to find the energy to paint the two largest rooms and the connecting hallway. We’ve started, but with a baby and blog tasks in the mix, it may take a few days to finish. We’ll share photos when it’s done.
Have you used paint testers to choose a color? Did the samples confirm your instincts or send you in a new direction? Our test patches stayed up for nearly a week, but depending on how decisive you are, they could easily stay up longer until you’re completely sure.