Walls always make up the vast majority of your rooms. This makes them crucial for your interior design. But painting them only opens up an intimidating, literally endless number of options. If you are already working with grey floors, to begin with, then you have a good start. Some wall colors will work better with grey floors. We’ve carefully researched which ones will work best for you.
Because grey is a neutral color, grey floors can work with a variety of different wall colors. This is especially true of walls that include grey undertones. Grey is also naturally cool. This may invite other cool colors or warmer themes to balance the mood. Like any other interior design, it is best to coordinate colors that are complementary:
- White Walls
- Lighter Grey Walls
- Blue Walls
- Rose Walls
- Green Walls
Finding the right color for your walls may seem daunting, but working with grey floors should narrow the task. It’s also important to learn about choosing the right paint itself. Read more to learn if your walls should be painted first and if they should be darker or lighter than the floor.
Wall Color Options With Grey Floors
White Walls with Grey Floors
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Your first instinct is more suitable than you might think. White walls are a traditional, workhorse color style that can complement anything. This is because white is also a neutral color, just like grey. However, white is much brighter than grey. This means that white walls will help balance out grey floors. It is also bright enough to prevent any kind of monochromatic boredom.
Both grey and white are canvas colors. This means that you can build entirely new scenes on them with accent colors throughout your furniture and other fixtures. The same goes for accent walls, which won’t feel out of place. That freedom particularly makes white walls an ideal pairing for grey floors.
Lighter Grey Walls with Grey Floors
This probably sounds counter-intuitive because too much of a neutral color can feel overwhelming. Or worse, the room might end up rather boring. But you may want to reconsider if you alter the shades of grey enough. For dark grey floors, bright grey walls can bring a natural balance that softens the floor’s coldness. Fully committing to a grey atmosphere can be especially handy for an industrial or minimalist style.
Balancing out the floor with light grey walls will also make the grey floor feel more natural than mechanical. With the proper shades of grey, your room can always feel like a nice, rainy day. This will also make the grey flooring feel more deliberate.
Blue Walls with Grey Floors
Blue walls will help similarly to the light grey strategy. Blue is another color that will make the grey flooring feel more like a natural setting. This is because blue already invites images of nature, like the sky or the ocean.
Fortunately, blue is also a naturally cool color. This means that even brighter shades of blue will always fit with the color grey. That makes blue a flexible way to brighten the mood or even match the tone of your grey floors.
Rose Walls with Grey Floors
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Contrast is another great way to work with grey floors. Reds and pinks will always warm up the room’s style, but they can be too sharp for grey floors. Rose is a soft, nuanced approach that can work with some grey floors. Rose may not always complement the darkest greys, but it’s still a bold choice that can work with typical greys.
Rose is always an uplifting, vibrant color that will allow you to incorporate red without overwhelming the room. This can open up your style to all kinds of furniture. For example, wooden furniture and fixtures would otherwise feel out of place against the steely floors.
Green Walls with Grey Floors
This likely sounds like the most outlandish option, but the right shades of green are a great fit. Minty, pale greens may seem a little too strange or even off-putting. But forest greens will soften the grey floors while maintaining the same level of coolness in the room. Green will also invoke nature imagery, just like blues and light grey. This makes green walls another great segue for browns and wood.
Should wall color be lighter or darker than flooring?
It’s generally understood that simply matching your walls and floor will make the room feel smaller and less creative. You can further read this post about whether or not the carpet and wall colors should match. Generally speaking, you should make sure that the walls are lighter than your floor. True, an argument can be made that anything in design is completely subjective. Still, some traditions are born for practical reasons.
Making your walls darker than your flooring will make the space feel much smaller. Starting with the darkest color beneath you, you can make a bright ceiling appear taller than it actually is. This is the same tactic that people use when they add tall curtains over their windows. It simply draws the eyes upwards, and people usually want to maximize their space. If you feel the same way, then it’s best to make sure the walls are lighter than your floor.
What paint finish is best for walls?
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This can be tricky, because the right paint finish will be determined by the room. For example, a kitchen will need walls that are easier to clean and less vulnerable to damage. The kitchen can be a messy, dangerous place. Kitchens probably get more light, too, which can damage some paints. The kind of paint finish you use will decide how much light is reflected off the walls.
Eggshell paint is common in living rooms. This is because the eggshell paint finish provides a middle ground between high gloss and no shine at all. That balanced look is generally best for conventional rooms. Eggshell paint finish will also give your walls some of the durability advantages that high-gloss finishes have, without actually shining like the sun.
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Then again, semi-gloss and high-gloss paint finish can be fun, bold choices for rooms like the kitchen. Glossy paint finishes are especially durable and will definitely liven up the room. Just bear in mind that using a brilliant shine can naturally reveal the slightest scar or dent in your walls.
Should you paint walls or install flooring first?
It is always best to install the flooring first. Adding a new floor to the room is a hefty task. Many procedures necessary to install flooring will affect the walls, making it pointless to paint the walls first. For example, baseboards often need to be replaced when you’re removing the floor and adding a new one.
Instinctively, most people think that painting the walls will ruin their new floor. This is totally understandable. But in reality, it’s much worse the other way around. It is also important to keep in mind that you should still prepare the walls before installing the new flooring.
Summary
Walls take up the most surface area in your home, so it’s always good to choose the right color for you. Grey flooring may be a neutral color, but now you know which styles will balance it out. Just as important is the painting process itself, including which finish to use. With all that technical business out of the way, your creativity can roam freely!