You may have heard me yelling from the rooftops about the overturning of the gray empire. It’s not that I don’t love a good neutral but gray was overused and often misused and we just saw way too much of it. I have happily reported on how beige has risen to the top of the neutral favourite pile (read more about how to pick the perfect beige here). I’m not the only designer who is excited by this new trend so you may have already read about the benefits. So if you’re onboard but not interested in wading through the enormous selection of beige paint, this is your shortcut. I’m sharing my go-to beige paint selections.
In case you’re wondering why I would have a go-to list and not pick something different with every client, let me explain. Just like with anything, there are always clear winners that rise to the top. Think about your weekly or monthly recipe selections. There are millions of recipes in cookbooks and online that you could pick from but some are so good they bear repeating. The same goes for paint. Some of them have the perfect undertone and are the perfect chameleon and they go on to rise to the top.
PAM’S GO-TO BEIGE PAINT SELECTIONS
1/ Accessible Beige – Sherwin Williams
If beige has a cult following this is one of the reasons why. This beige from Sherwin Williams is an absolute winner. When someone says to me that they want “just beige” it’s hard to nail down what that means because of the undertones. This one comes darn close to being the perfect “just beige”. It’s got a slight gray undertone that keeps it really neutral. It sits on the lighter end of the beige spectrum as well so if you get a lot of light in your room this could possibly be too light for you.
2/ Shitake – Sherwin Williams
This is a beautiful warm beige that acts as a perfect neutral. This has both a warm and cool undertone depending on the amount of light and the direction of light coming into your home. If you have a room with east or north facing light this colour will read a bit cooler but definitely not cold. If you’re in a south or west facing room this paint will be warm and creamy. And if you’re looking for a paint colour that can handle all directional light, this is your guy.
3/ Bungalow Beige – Sherwin Williams
This beige has some reddish brown undertones peeking through so it makes it more of a brown beige than the others above. Somehow even with those deeper undertones this colour still comes off as warm and soft as opposed to too deep.
4/ Loggia – Sherwin Williams
This is a light stone gray so if you lean towards the greige side of beige you’ll likely gravitate towards Loggia. This one pairs well with blues and greens so if you are embracing the move towards more colour I think this is a good neutral to pair with some colour.
5/ Natural Tan – Sherwin Williams
If you tend to think of beige as a neutral colour that has a yellowish undertone then this one will be confusing for you. While you’re technically correct we aren’t seeing as much yellow undertone in our modern beige paint as we did when beige was hot in the early 2000’s. Colours like this one are more neutral and have a creamy brown undertone. There’s even a hint of gray in this colour. This beige is a chameleon and works well with other colours as well as with all direction lighting. It even looks good in spaces where you don’t get much or any natural light.
6/ Muslin – Benjamin Moore
Muslin has had a long life as a go-to neutral. It was immensely popular in the early 2000’s and it’s just as popular now that we’re falling back in love with beige. In fact, Benjamin Moore named it an emerging colour in 2021. The colour has a slight peach undertone but it only shines through when it’s in a dark space. If you have any amount of natural light in your room the undertone will be washed away.
7/ Edgecomb Gray – Benjamin Moore
If there’s only 1 beige that I could recommend it would probably be this one because it’s the most versatile of all the beige colours here. And I’m not alone in feeling this way because Edgecomb Gray is one of Benjamin Moore’s most popular paint colours. This is a colour that looks great in a single room or even used as the paint colour to run through your entire home. It’s just a really versatile, neutral, easy to live with colour.
8/ Pashmina – Benjamin Moore
This final colour selection is the darkest of all the beiges I’m sharing today. It isn’t dark but it’s a good mid-toned neutral if you prefer something with a bit more drama to it. In some spaces this colour will be too dark but it always works as a secondary colour, even with other neutrals. Just in case you’re thinking it looks too dark for you, maybe consider it in a palette of neutral colours and let it do the heavy lifting of being the dark and moody choice. Having said that, if you do get a lot of natural light you might find that this is the best choice. It won’t become too washed out with a lot of light shining into your space.
I hope that helps you to find the perfect beige for you. As always, I’d recommend buying a small quart of the paint you’re considering and testing it out. It’s hard to recommend any paint colour without having seen the space. That’s because lighting plays a big role along with all the colours in the fixed elements of the space. So do your own research and test it out first.
If you’d like some help with colour, contact me to set up a paint consultation.
If you know your design style but you struggle with which paint to use, take a look at my Made-For-You paint palettes. They take the guesswork out and give you the confidence to get started.
