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Painting Our Kitchen A Soft Blue Color: Colorado Gray

Can I get a kitchie kitchie ya ya da da? (name that song) Also, we painted the kitchen. SURPRIIIISE!

Fireplace Shot

We’ve mentioned that we’ve been flirting with the idea in our last two Listy McListersons (here and here), and when Nonna came to hang with Clara this past week we jumped at the chance to tear the kitchen apart and get to it. Just to keep it real, we grabbed this shot to demonstrate that when one room is getting love, some nearby room is getting dumped. It’s like saying “kitchen, will you accept this rose?” and meanwhile we’re sending the dining room packing (with a bunch of extra baggage). There’s usually one of these “displacement messes” going on at all times in our house. And of course this particular mess was directly behind the front door on the day that the neighbors stopped by just to chat. It’s always nice when it looks like you run a furniture and accessory agility course from your dining room, no?

Dining Room Messy

As for more about the kitchen color change, although you guys know we love grellow with a passion, it has been notoriously impossible to photograph (remember a hundred different phases of the kitchen project with “ahh, this color looks so much more subtle in person but is reading as lime green/bright yellow/neon slime for some reason”). And although that’s sort of definitely a dumb reason to repaint a room, I can’t tell you how annoying it is to not be able to share what you see in front of your eyes when you’re a home blogger.

But the main reason for the change wasn’t that the color was hard to photograph, it was that over time we realized that the grellow didn’t let the other things in the room shine as much as they might have with a different choice. Take the white cabinets and counters for example. They looked little yellowed thanks to the wall color reflecting on them – and even the cork looked a little orangey-yellow (especially at night) instead of rich and mocha.

Before Painting

So here’s how we reasoned our way to a new color pick in five bullets or less:

  • we worried that other tones of yellow and green would have the same yellowing-ish issue (say that three times fast) since they’d reflect on the counters, cabinets, and cork  – even if they were deeper or lighter, so we nixed those options
  • we wanted something deep enough in tone to provide a little more contrast, so the counters and cabinets would pop more (but nothing too dark since the room is windowless)
  • we have gray backsplash tile and a few adjoining rooms are gray, so we didn’t want to go with more gray on the walls (dark, light, or schmedium) for fear of grayverload

Kitchen Art Hung

  • we wanted an actual color on the walls (since we chose such safe things everywhere else like: brown floors, white cabinets, stainless appliances, white counters, and gray backsplash tile)
  • we wanted a color that would tie the kitchen into the four spaces (yes, four!) that the kitchen opens up to – without getting too matchy-matchy (when a room adjoins so many other rooms, the wall color should work with those rooms since you’ll see them together all the time – it’s sort of like very carefully picking a hallway color that works with all of the rooms off of it)
So after taking a good hard look at each of those adjoining rooms, we decided to draw inspiration from the powdery blues in the background of the dining room curtains (top right) and some of the blue pillows on the living room sofa (bottom left) among a few other things, like the kitchen shade, the subtle blue undertones in the gray backsplash, the two paintings I made for the kitchen, the lanterns in the living room, and some of the art in the nearby hallway o’ frames.

Hits Of Blue

And that’s how we landed on a bold, deep-enough-to-let-the-cabinets-pop blue tone. We went for an eggshell finish (still wipeable but not too shiny, since the backsplash covers the splashy spots) in Benjamin Moore’s Natura line, which we bought at a local paint shop for $52 with a Facebook coupon (we only needed around half a gallon, so we still have a lot leftover). As for the color name, it’s Colorado Gray, which made us laugh because it’s definitely blue and not gray – but it’s right next to Aegean Teal on the swatch, which is a lot truer to the name. So I vote that we rename it Colorado Blue. Or $herdog Blue. Yes, that.

Kitchen Other Side

We definitely loved having a soft blue kitchen in our first house, and we actually don’t have any blue on the walls in this house except for the deep teal in the guest room and on the back of the dining room built-ins, so it’s nice to bring in a mid-tone blue that’s sort of in the middle of the guest room and our first house’s kitchen.

Kitchen Corner

The funniest thing about this whole repainting escapade, which we realized while applying the second coat (we’re always loopy by then) was that in our first house we repainted every single room except for our kitchen and our master bedroom. And in this house we’ve only repainted two rooms: the kitchen and our master bedroom. Hilarious.

Blue Side Kitchen

 And if you count the time that we painted the fireplace area a different color for book photoshoots (only to repaint it back to normal a few days later) some parts of this room have seen four different paint jobs.

Fireplace Shot

A few of our favorite things about this color pick are:
  • it’s definitely an actual color (there’s nothing neutral about it)
  • it still feels sophisticated (even though it’s not gray or navy or chocolate or taupe)
  • it allows the white cabinets and counters to really pop (without yellowing them)
  • it’s a great balance to the warm tones in the room (like the cork floors, the wood stools, the rustic cutting boards on the counter, etc).

Office Into Kitch

Plus it ties into all of the rooms around it without being crazy matchy.

Kitchen Wide Main

So Colorado Gray Blue, I ain’t mad atcha. In fact, I want to put a ring on it.

Kitchen Corner

As for the specifics to this paint job: it took two coats and I used a brush to freehand most of the cutting in while John rolled. I actually like a good freestyle cutting in sesh (I live life on the edge, what can I say?). And we paint without a drop cloth (sealed wood or cork floors can be wiped down if there’s a rogue drip, but we mainly try to keep from overloading our brushes and rollers with paint, which eliminates most drips anyway). Oh and we didn’t repaint the laundry room because we actually think the grellow looks nice in there. There’s a big glass door and a window to let in natural light, which the kitchen was severely lacking (the window over the sink is an interior window that just looks into the sunroom) so I think that makes a huge difference when it comes to how paint reads. Plus the yellow accents in the kitchen (like the urn next to the sink and the patterned window treatment) create a nice balance to that glowing grellow doorway over yonder.

Kitchen Main Side2

Not gonna lie though, the star of this room is still that wall full of penny tile. Picture me having an as-soon-as-the-show-ends bachelor breakup with the wall paint to run back to the penny tile with open arms. And it’s not that I don’t love the wall color – I just love the penny tile more than a person should love any inanimate object.

Kitchen Art Hung

Our Favorite Paint Colors

If you’re having trouble picking the right color to paint your room, check out these detailed deep-dive posts about our favorite paints:
  • Sherwin-Williams Extra White

    • Comments

    1. Shanna Gilbert says

      Love the color you chose! I just painted my dining room and it was a disaster! The color looked completely different. It was supposed to be aqua but turned out to be a neon aqua. It was so bright it actually glowed when you turned out the lights! So after three coats of that and the two coats of a new color (and a very unhappy husband who painted it)it still isn’t quite right but at least it doesn’t glow anymore. I would like to try once more to get it right, but the hubby says no way. Trying to paint with three dogs, a cat and a teenager with lots of friends in the house is too hard! Great job guys!

      Reply

    3. emmy A says

      I have a blue kitchen with white cabinets too. It’s a great combo. I started with the wrong shade of blue and had to repaint with a turquoise that had more green undertones. Now it’s perfect! Now I just need some new flooring and countertops and maybe a new sink……..

      Reply

    8. tracy says

      Wow, this is beautiful! I really liked the grellow, but this color takes the kitchen to a whole new level of awesome. I find myself gravitating toward blue paint this year as well.

      Reply

    11. Sarah in Sydney says

      Oh Thank God!!!! I’ve not left a note for aaaages… but still read occasionally. I have never ever been a fan of the grellow. I think I love you guys again ;) Looks so so so much better. Good choice.
      p.s. we have a paint brand in NZ/Australia called Resene… my interiors are painted 1/4 tea.

      Reply

    13. Cheri says

      So funny thing. I spent a good deal of time looking at your site at paint colors last night. I’m repainting a “grellow” bedroom that we are about to put hardwood floors in. I’m thinking a grayish whiteish color … so I can easily change out bedding and accessories. Boring. I know. I have the blue you painted your kitchen in my master bath. Love. it.

      Reply

    14. Becky Horst says

      Thank you for doing this!! I loved the previous grellow “concept” but I just wasn’t feeling it! As if you care! But this just makes the kitchen!! Well done busy bees you 2 are & I love the inspiration.

      Reply

    16. Athena Warner says

      I love these posts that show when you’ve changed your minds. I always worry about if I do something that isn’t going to work out how I can back out of my “brilliant” idea gracefully. You guys just inspire me to say, Well…I just changed my mind! No big! =D Let’s embrace the new!

      Reply

    17. Christina says

      Mocha Choca-lata yaa yaaa… it’s totally stuck in my head now. : )
      Also, $herdog, if you haven’t checked out Kendrick Lamar’s new album, you should!

      Reply

    18. Jerri C says

      You two are my “go to” style experts and the grellow never did anything for that beautiful kitchen on screen any way…….BUT this is a 3 Pointer. Love it!!!!

      Reply

    19. katalina says

      I love it both ways and would to have your kitchen either grellow or blue.

      I must not be good at guessing because when I saw the tease squares i actually thought– maybe blue-green or the color in your guest room!

      But then the difference between you and me if that you have painted your kitchen TWICE while I mull over the perfect green sage color!

      Reply

    21. Cara D says

      I really liked the grellow but the blue looks so much better and the grellow in the laundry room pops as an accent now. I just repainted my kitchen from dark red to a dark turquoise and I LOVE it! Paint makes such a big difference.

      Reply

    22. Kathleen says

      Love how the kitchen looks with the new color!

      I’m debating repaint my living room and dining room. They are currently turquoise and leaf green. I found a couple new chairs for the living room and its prompting a change. I think I’m going white. I’ve got lots of color but want to tone things down some.

      Easily Distracted By Shiny Things

      Reply

    23. Kiki says

      I totally agree with you about letting the counters and accent colors pop–the blue really does just that! And I love how you’re always open to changes and changing your minds (and openly saying that on your blog!). It puts the indecisive girl like me at ease a little.

      Looks good! But then again, all of your projects do! :)

      Reply

    24. kathy says

      Can’t go wrong with a calming light blue. I liked the grellow, but this is beautiful with the natural textured browns in the room. Nice choice!

      BTW, do you have plans for the blank side of the large kitchen pantry cabinet? I am visualizing some nice molding or beadboard or something there someday. :)

      Reply

      • YoungHouseLove says

        Yes, we’d love some sort of message board or something (but chalk or dry erase markers might rub on our clothes when we walk through the door, so we’re still brainstorming….)

        xo
        s

    26. Michelle says

      I LOVED the grellow. I was shocked to see the change, but it’s growing on me, and I can see why you changed it now. I’m sure I’ll come to love it too, and I’m really glad you kept the laundry nook grellow. Thanks for continuing to show me that change is good!!

      Reply

    27. Kim says

      As a matter of fact, I just repainted a room upstairs that the color just never felt right in. I picked Lotus Leaf by Behr, over the already painted Teal Zeal. I loved the teal by day, but by night it looked like a dark and scary lagoon. In other news, I used a chair I found at Target.com as my color inspiration. I felt like it was just right–and something I had seen before. See, the chair is upholstered in what looks to be the same fabric as your faux window shade in the kitchen, which I just realized… http://www.target.com/p/avington-upholstered-armless-accent-slipper-chair-gazebo-cloud-floral/-/A-13916598#?lnk=sc_qi_detaillink

      Reply

    30. Courtney says

      I love love love it! I literally scrolled up and down 3 times, yelled for le hubs to come take a gander, and then scrolled up and down 3 more times. That looks beautiful! It is for sure not neutral, but something about it allows everything else to pop so much more. Your counters and cabinets look much more white and crisp as well. Brava!

      Reply

    31. Carolyn says

      This is my first time commenting even though I read your blog pretty much every day so that is saying a lot about how much I like your choice :). The blue is perfect! I did like the grellow but like you said, it just didn’t make all of your other great choices for finishes come together for their full potential! Definitely worth the effort to repaint! :)

      Reply

    33. Abby says

      We had to reprint our yellow (almost grellow) kitchen, too. Something about it just felt off. We finally figured out that they yellow was making us feel…strange..almost anxious compared to how we felt in the other rooms in our house. So we painted it an off-white color. Now it looks awesome and fresh and our accessories stand out a lot more and it just FEELS better. It’s amazing what a paint color can do.

      Reply

    35. Sarah G. says

      Yes! 800 times better! I have to tell you, i never really liked the floor with that yellow. But I kept it to myself because it was my opinion and why would you care. But this is really great! The floor and the cabinets really compliment $herdawg blu ivy (yeah, I went there ;D). Great job, dudes!

      Reply

    37. Jules says

      Looks great. I was never offended by the grellow but this actually makes your floors stand out more. I read every day and I’ve never stared and admired the cork floors like I did with this new blue color. Nice change.

      Reply

    38. Lauren says

      We are redoing our kitchen and just put in white cabinets and painted the walls a similar blue-gray color. Thanks for stealing my idea….haha! ;-) I love the way the cabinets pop off the new color!

      Reply

    39. Samantha says

      OMG. I loved the grellow you guys had going, but this looks amazing! Im actually kind of obsessed. No, i’m definitely obsessed. The blue walls and the brown floor together makes me want to cry (in a good way). Not to mention the white cabinets and how they pop. I also LOVE the way the laundry room color shines into the room the way it does, good call on not changing it! Great choice, you guys have such a good eye! I’ll def. let you come paint my room if you want! Hah!

      Reply

    40. Isobelle says

      OMG You guys did a great job it looks like a BAJILLION times better and i loved the Grellow! I may borrow/steal this idea.

      Peace.

      Reply

    41. Kelli says

      It’s beautiful! I painted two rooms Colorado Gray a couple of years back…love me some Benjamin Moore paint!

      Reply

    42. Alyce {Blossom Heart Quilts} says

      Oh so calm and serene! I’m a tad biased being a blue-lover, but yes, blue and white and grey… be still my beating heart! PS – have you considered adding a Pin It button when you hover over a photo?? Not that you need any help getting on Pinterest, lol.

      Reply

    44. Charlotte says

      The kitchen looks awesome.
      I/we (my husband did help) just repainted our bedroom. I love it and so glad my husband comprimised with me on painting. It’s painted a grey colour called Silver spoon. And it gives me a calm feeling when I enter. He even said he likes it!

      Reply

    45. Em says

      I like the change! But I do have a question…lately all your pictures are so blown out. It almost looks like the air outside all the windows are glowing white! Are you guys upping the brightness in photoshop or something? If so, please don’t :) It makes a lot of the details harder to see. These pics are so blown out, you can’t even see the paneling on the walls. I don’t mean any of this in a negative way, just a loyal reader giving a perspective!

      Reply

      • YoungHouseLove says

        Nope, we don’t up the brightness or exposure or anything – we just find that when you shoot with natural light (without putting lights on in a room, which is the way the pros do it) many of the windows are blown out. The way to avoid that is to take two photos (one very underexposed) and photoshop those less bright windows into the shot, but it takes a lot of time (and can look unnatural unless you’re really good at it) so it’s something we might do on special occasions, but not for every one of our 50+ photos a week. Hope that explains it. Oh and you can take down the brightness on your monitor, which might help. That might be why you think it looks different recently (your own monitor brightness might have been increased) :)

        xo
        s

    46. Meredith K A says

      I LOVE it. Love. This might be the biggest “Oh so THAT’S .how perfect looks! Moment so far, and I’ve been reading for probably 3+ years now. Seriously, you nailed it, that color is perfect.

      Reply

    47. Laura says

      I love this!! All of your accent colors (art, dishes, etc.) pop even more. And the fireplace and hanging basket light look gorgeous in the blue… not to mention how much I love the gallery wall frames in the hallway with the new color as a backdrop.

      Reply

    48. Virginie says

      A-ha !
      Now I realize I never really liked the grellow and absolutely LOVE this blue ! With the wood accents it almost looks like a beach house, something very calming about it.
      But I am wondering, you must have had to remove the open shelves to paint ? You never cease to amaze me with how fast and easily you paint (took over repainting the smallest bathroom in our home, and the million little nooks that were a nightmare to get to drove me nuts). One day, maybe…

      Reply

    49. Krista says

      Looks fabulous! I painted my living room coffee table and my front door Aegean Teal and have been looking at Colorado Gray as a potential kitchen colour for months now… I’m thrilled to see how great it looks in your house!

      Reply

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