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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

    2. Sabrina says

      It looks great! I may be a little biased though, since I recently worked (*working) on a kitchen remodel of my own with really similar colors. Thanks for being such an inspiration – including inspiring me to document my own successes and disasters in home improvement.

      Reply

    3. M.C.@ ThousandStoryKitchen says

      It really is gorgeous! Good job on that color! My husband looks at me like I have three heads if I mention repainting a room I’ve already painted…anyone else have that problem? (okay, to give him credit, it isn’t our house…)

      Reply

    5. Carly Cleghorn says

      I don’t know if someone’s mentioned this, but …

      Denver has ~300 sunny days a year–more than even San Diego! The skies are hardly ever grey over Colorado. The sun shines even while it’s snowing.

      So I reckon the paint name is a play on that. A joke for the locals! (Coloradoans?)

      Looks great, guys!

      Reply

    6. Carley says

      I’m in major <3 with this color and room. Blue is my favorite color, and I can't believe how it just brings the room together! Gorgeous!

      Reply

      • YoungHouseLove says

        My best tip is to “like” the page of your local paint store that sells Benjamin Moore (here it’s a store called Virginia Paint). Since you’ve liked them, you will see them post pics and sales periodically, so we try to buy our paint when we see a sale pop up on Facebook!

        xo
        s

    8. Erin says

      Thanks for painting your kitchen and giving me inspiration! I have been looking at websites galore trying to find the right blue-gray color. I think this is it! Picked up a gallon after work and I’m gonna paint the guest room this weekend!

      Reply

    9. Cheryl says

      I like the way the blue contrasts with everything. It doesn’t look as bold as you describe it on my screen. I like SW Aleutian and SW Distance. They are found with the gray shades, but very blue and make the white pop.

      Reply

    10. Jennifer F says

      LOVE IT! We took our kitchen from oak cabinets, green and white tile counters, white walls and an ivy boarder to white cabinets, grey granite countertops, blue walls and a glass tile backsplash in blues and greys. Happened a few years ago and I still love it so much.

      Reply

    11. Amy W says

      I LOVE the blue your choose for your kitchen. I’ve been looking for a new color for our kitchen that would work with our bisque colored cabinets. What do you think? Yay or Nay? P.S. We live just west of Charlottesville in the mountains, and loved seeing your house tour of a local farmhouse awhile back. So fun!

      Reply

    12. Ashley Smith says

      I love the blue! Where did you get your yellow accent pieces. I’ve been looking all over for some of these for my home, but haven’t had any luck:(

      Reply

    13. Chloe says

      Ah it looks so much better! I was never a fan of the yellow, even though you insisted it looked different in person. Amazing how the blue has made everything else pop.

      Reply

    14. erin says

      LOVE!!!!!!!! Now your yellow accents pop and the color you chose really DOES look sophisticated. I’m stoked that you got to keep your grellow in the laundry room. It looks even better from the kitchen now. woot woot!

      P.S. I painted my master bedroom Carolina Club in Aqua (your MB’s ex-bff). Do you miss it? Ever think of bringing it back in another room or painting an accessory with it? I just love it sooo much. It might travel with me to my next house too.

      Reply

    15. Misty says

      I love the blue! I have actually been toying with re-painting my pale lime-ish kitchen [for the THIRD time] into a very similar blue that is in my adjoining laundry area… you guys may have inspired me to do it [when my husband isn’t looking so I won’t have to hear him grumble about my lack of decision making skills]… Anyway, my random question of the day is: where did you get the cake plate on your open shelving?

      Reply

    16. MelissaG says

      I was at our local Farm and Fleet and noticed that they had B Moore paint there. I looked for both Moonshine and your kitchen swatch (blanking on name but I looked it up there). They had neither. I know they could probably look up the formula but I was just curious to see what the swatches looked like in person. Any idea why they wouldn’t have them? They had a flip book thing that you could look for colors by name and it told you were to find it in the huge array of swatches. Thanks!

      Reply

      • YoungHouseLove says

        Hmm, I have no idea other than just that they have 1200+ colors, so books probably don’t have every color in them, maybe just a smaller collection of them (and the wall of color at most of the big stores has all of them). Hope it helps!

        xo
        s

    18. Chelsea says

      Wow, your kitchen is GORGEOUS. I like my house ok but wish you guys could come tell me a few pointers to make it incredible, like yours. So, so, so pretty. The blue is awesome.

      Reply

    19. Claire says

      You’ve probably answered this question before & I’ve not seen your response…do you mind sharing why you choose not to prime before painting?

      I’ve always primed because I was afraid that I would have to do more than 2 coats of paint but I’d love to end the hassle of priming & get straight to the fun part–paint! :-)

      Reply

      • YoungHouseLove says

        We prime when we’re going from super dark to super light or vice versa, so in this case two coats of paint worked well without any primer :)

        xo
        s

    20. Brenda Cofer says

      I only have two comments:
      1. “AAAHHHHH! so peaceful and serene looking now!”
      AND,
      2. “LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!”

      : )

      GREAT JOB, guys!

      Reply

    21. Lauren L says

      omg WHAT a difference! I literally feel calmer looking at your kitchen in that new color. You guys are so awesome. Great pick, it looks SO good!

      Reply

    23. Jenny B. says

      I almost squealed when I read your color choice! I’ve been eyeing Colorado Gray for our kitchen lower cabinets! It looks SO awesome in your kitchen – like it was always meant to be. Now, I’m second-guessing my plan to use it on the cabinets… maybe it needs to go on the walls instead. :) Love it!

      Reply

    24. Susan Telfer says

      I love it! I am thinking about what colour to repaint my kitchen right now (The Summer Harvest makes our tile look dirty) I was thinking of Sesame because of a mood board of yours but now I will think some more. We have a beautiful blue (Blue Grass) in our living and dining rooms, but like you say, I don’t want all the rooms the same colour.

      Reply

    25. Christine says

      I was so happy to find out about your blog in HGTV magazine this month. I read a lot of “house porn” and will be adding your stuff to the pile. I loved your house redo featured there and it’s motivated me to try some projects after a while of not doing much. My job as a newspaper editor keeps me busy, and it is creative, but sometimes you just want to forget about it and do some homey stuff. I might make an “all you need is love” painting, for one thing.

      What motivated me to write was that I was looking at your kitchen in the mag, and my 3-year-old granddaughter came in and started looking at it with me. (I won’t tell you where I was … hint: it was in the room with the bathtub.) The first thing she noticed was the pig on the pillow in the sun room photo, which I didn’t even notice. She couldn’t stop talking about the kitchen. She’s a little nonverbal for her age, so I like to show her pictures and ask her what things are (banana, spoon, pig, doggie were some of the items in the photos). All of a sudden she took off, giving an entire narrative of the kitchen like we lived there. “Nana’s chair? My chair? Spoon. Make pancakes. (points to stove) Here, pancakes. You sit on chair with me? We go ride to house. Come in door. We eat food here (table in sun room). I sit on piggy with my butt. Etc.
      It was hilarious. She’s never done that with a decorating magazine before, but something about the room just struck her, I guess. It is a great kitchen, I admit.
      Can’t wait to see what you do with the new place!

      Reply

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