Shades of grey: naturals, neutrals and greige colour palettes

The glamour of grey has seen it become a favourite paint colour of choice for many homeowners. From the cool greys which are playful and crisp to the deeper greys which are ideal for moody backdrops, this colour palette sets the scene in any interior space.

Choosing the perfect grey paint colours can make all the difference to your home. But how do you decide which grey to use for interior or exterior colour schemes?

Here’s our take on the best grey interior and exterior house colours.

Spoilt for choice: the grey colour palette

Before selecting a shade or colour palette for grey paint, it’s important to consider a few things like whether you’re painting an entire room or just one wall, how much natural light the space receives and what style you’re trying to bring to your home.

While grey is a great neutral colour, it's also important to consider what you’re trying to achieve by introducing grey. Do you want your grey to be moody, to create a sense of warmth or simply add a little more depth to your walls to avoid your home looking too stark?

You’ll also need to consider what colours your grey paint will be paired with to ensure it complements and doesn't clash with other shades in the room.

Achieving a timeless grey colour scheme

Grey is such a versatile colour, and with so many different shades of grey on offer, there really is no limit as to where you can include it in your home.

The style of your home will determine the shade of grey you decide and where it can be introduced from full internal wall paint, statement walls, flooring through carpet and tiles as well as accessories including artwork, cushions, rugs and vases.

When planning an overall colour scheme for your new home, don't forget the details. For interiors, consider doors, trims, cornices, dado rails skirting boards and other architectural details.

For exterior colour schemes, you'll want to consider the colour of the different substrates your home design features (like brick, render etc). plus the front door, garage door, fascias, soffits, railings, downpipes, window colours etc.

There's a lot to bring together when choosing colours for your own home. That's where our Design Studio can help. Get inspiration, help to choose your colour scheme and information about colour choice for walls, ceilings, interiors, exteriors and more. View paint samples and discover where to use different types of paint such as low sheen, semi-gloss and matt.

How to use cool grey colours in your home colour scheme

Cool grey paint tends to have blue or green undertones, reminiscent of snowy mountains in shadow which give it a cooler and more refreshing feel compared to warmer greys with brown or red undertones.

Cool greys are lovely and crisp and work beautifully in airy, open, well-lit spaces streaming with natural light. Introducing cool grey wall colour into smaller rooms can help the space to appear larger and brighter.

These colours can create a calming and soothing atmosphere in a room, making them a great choice for bedrooms, bathrooms, or other areas where relaxation is a priority.

Pair cool grey paint can pair with cool whites, purple, bright and bold hues or softer pastels.

Our favourite cool grey paint colours include:

• Taubmans Ionic (pair with Crisp White trims)
• Centurian, Frost Fangs and Dapple Grey
• COLORBOND® Windspray and Basalt

How to use warm grey colours in your home

Warm grey paint has red, yellow or brown undertones and adds a warm and welcoming feeling to a space. Light warm greys brighten a room while a darker warm grey can add depth and richness.

Pair warm tones with other warm accent colours like taupe, blush and burnt orange when furnishing your home.

Our favourite warm grey paint colours include:

• Taubmans Victorian Pewter, Armory and Gotham City
• COLORBOND®Shale Grey and Wallaby

Using soft and dark grey colours

Soft greys are at the lighter end of the colour scheme and ideal for when you desire a hint of colour but still want the appeal of a neutral. Soft greys create cozy warm living spaces ideal for layering and relaxing.

Our favourite soft grey paint colours include:

• Taubmans Windswept Beach and Silver Blaze

Deep Greys bring a dark colour and attitude to a space. Think of them as statement greys that are great for moody backdrops, feature walls or accents.

Our favourite deep grey paint colours include:

• Taubmans Black Fox and Deep Cavern
• Taubmans Gotham and Shockwave
• COLORBOND® Monument

Achieving a greige colour look

Because both grey and beige are neutrals, it’s best to stick with one when choosing an interior colour scheme. But, if you want the best of both worlds, why not try greige?

What is greige?

Greige combines beige and grey, creating an entirely new range of versatile neutral colour tones.

Adding grey to beige delivers a richer colour, maintaining the beige undertones but offering a cooler light and fresh appearance.

Adding beige to grey brings a sense of warmth for the perfect neutral.

One of the reasons greige has become so popular is that it can act as a chameleon, adapting to its surroundings and complementing a variety of other colours. In fact, most shades of greige can work alongside a cool or warm colour scheme.

Greige works beautifully with other neutrals, a white palette or bold, saturated colours, such as navy blue or emerald green. Greige can also be effective as a backdrop for more muted, natural hues like sage green or pale pink, which bring out the colour's greyish undertone.

Greige paint colours

Our favourite greige paint colours include:

• Taubmans Varely Beige, Luna Rock, Rock Quarry & Mink Scorpio
• COLORBOND® Dune and Wallaby

How to use greige paint colours in your home

The soft, muted tones of greige pairs well with natural materials such as wood surfaces or stone, bringing a touch of the outdoors inside. For the ultimate indoor-outdoor space styles, combine greige with green or brown paint colours to create a calming nature-inspired space you'll never want to leave.

Greige is a versatile shade that can be used anywhere in the home including full interiors, living areas, feature walls or fireplace surrounds. Greige also creates a relaxing environment so it can be a beautiful base colour for nurseries and children's rooms. Pair with white trims and soft furnishings for a clean, gentle colour scheme.

Grey exterior paint colour schemes

Grey tones can be a head-turner for your home's façade, setting the scene for what's inside the home. Choose lighter greys for a classic feel and darker greys for a more daring and indulgent look.

Popular exterior grey wall colour schemes include:

• Grey with white trim
• Contrasting shades of grey
• All grey with coloured features

Shale grey colour schemes

Shale grey colour schemes are a popular choice for exteriors, based on the soft neutral COLORBOND® Shale Grey.

Designed to harmonise with nature, shale grey is often the preferred choice for roofing or exterior walls and offers a superb balance against the ever-popular darker shade of COLORBOND® Monument.

For both exteriors and interiors, this unpretentious hue works beautifully paired with whites.

Plantation Homes grey exteriors

Our Eastport facade is a stunner when featuring a sea of grey tones while the Lisette façade offers the opportunity for an eye-catching set of deeper greys that ooze sophistication and opulence.

The Broadway façade, with its clever mix of materials, offers the chance to show off a trifecta of colours led by a strong bold charcoal grey which acts as a beautiful complement to a leafy green front garden.

When choosing your exterior paint colour scheme, our Design Studio can help you find the best one for your style.

Grey paint trends to look out for

Cool greys + bold grey wall colours

Demand for cool greys continues as a backdrop for bold, brave and empowering wall colour. This style is all about showcasing striking optimistic statements in your home to express the real creative and playful you on a minimalistic canvas. It is all about being perfectly imperfect with a fabulous flaunt of colourful quirks and collected pieces. The room becomes filled with high energy levels bursting from the youthful colour palette surrounding the space.

Cool Greys to use in this style include Taubmans Grey Wolf, Oyster Bar and Silver Spy

Greige and green

Greige teamed with greens and natural earthy tones as a part of the revive trend that showcases new life to timeless pieces, the relationship we have with nature as well as embracing a more comfortable, carefree approach to life.

Greys to use with this style include Taubmans Silver Anniversayr, Going Grey and So Hip.

Tranquil palettes

Soft greys complement beautiful palettes of tranquillity. Pastels in greeny greys, lilacs, soft oranges and nudes come together to create a sense of wellness, relaxation and calm within a space.

Greys that work perfectly with this trend include Taubmans Quill, Malamute and Movie Star

Charm meets chic

Deep greys find their way into eclectic elegance, where rich and regal bold hues are softened by paler shades to create a space. We see a marriage of traditional craftmanship of old-world charm, and modern declaration with new world chic, where statement greys and bright whites highlight the detail elements in furniture, lighting and joinery to add an overall element of sophistication to a room.

Try using Taubmans Black Pearl or Mojo with this style.

Grey really does go with everything and with its broad spectrum, as long as you are following one of the shades and not mixing and matching, it really is fail proof.

What shade of grey do you love?