How to Decorate and Furnish with Grey

Grey has made a big design impact in recent years, far from being considered boring and drab, the colour grey now draws gasps of appreciation when used in interior design. Where before the colour Grey would have been decidedly frowned upon, it is now celebrated and is catching on rapidly which is why, inspired as always by the latest interiors trends, Danetti have developed the Grey Gloss Furniture range

As we like to be on trend at Danetti, we have introduced a collection of grey products to compliment your home. So whilst you may not want to completely grey wash your home, you may wish to accessorise it and add subtle grey elements or perhaps you are already living with grey and want to enhance and add to the scheme. Check out our Eames chairs and bar stools available in Taupe Grey and Cool Grey, or our simply styled Fern grey gloss tables might be what you are looking for.

So what has happened in the interiors world and why is grey so popular now? Almost 10 years ago the interiors scene exploded, decorating and design became big news and soon we were a nation obsessed with home styling. Everyone became a budding interior designer, painting their homes in bright lurid colours and patterns, encouraged by TV programmes like Changing Rooms, turning our homes into Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen style theatrical stage sets. Whilst at the time it might have been, at best, experimental and exciting – looking back to those gaudy schemes and colourways you can see how Grey rose up from the depths of the technicoloured 90’s to become a favoured welcome break for the noughties!

Grey has been around for a few years now, originally used by trend setting interior designers, it is now finding its way into our homes and high street. As our fascination with Interior Design has matured, so have our tastes. Whereas before you might go and grab a pot of own brand paint from the nearest DIY store, we are now insisting on Fired Earth, Little Greene or Farrow & Ball paints – all of them called intriguing names like Elephants Breath, Downpipe and Purbeck Stone. Discovering how a paint colour can work on your walls has become a national pastime….the colour Grey in its varying shades is everywhere!

How did Grey become so popular and why do we like it? In many other situations Grey would be considered depressing or dull but we are literally grey washing our homes and revelling in the results! Interior designer Abigail Ahern describes how she thinks Grey works. “Anything set against grey looks more beautiful, more grand. It cocoons you and turns the room into a space you really want to hunker down into. It feels intriguing and sophisticated and glamorous”.

What do we know about the psychology of the colour grey? Well, its a detached, neutral, unemotional colour; its a compromise – neither black or white. Looking at grey tones you notice that the closer it gets to black the more dramatic it seems and the closer it gets to silver or white, the more illuminating and lively it becomes! It is a solid, stable colour and creates a sense of calm – it has relieving qualities – levelling and balancing rather than stimulating or exciting.

Grey is a wonderful back drop colour and will enhance other colours it is used with…it will also change depending on the colours it is working with. Grey has the ability to create exciting contrasts in a room, woodwork, ceilings and coving suddenly seem to ‘frame’ and complete the room. The muted tones provide a canvas allowing furniture, accessories and soft furnishings to take centre stage and really flourish in their own space.