The Nature of Misty Gray

Published: April 13th, 2015

Over my morning coffee, I exercise my design brain in a kind of mental calisthenics. A misty gray greets me as I look out my living room windows. Against the wet sand beach, barely greening grass, and brown/black branches of impatient trees, I fall for the barely blue gray sky.  Oddly, this month’s House Beautiful color crush is mist. I look out the window and see why.  The view inspires me to think about an earthy palette of layered hues as subtle as the view before me, grounded by the trees.

Using my latest Benjamin Moore color tools, I select a color that is zen, relaxing and sophisticated to represent the blue gray mist. Pelican Gray is perfect, part of the Classic Colors collection. Now for the scheme. Let’s start with this rug called Umbria from Atelier Lapchi that captures that promise of spring in the grass.

Wallcovering?  I think I’ll go with Eldorado from Elitis. The variance in its shades and texture mimic the appearance of the sand. For fabric (an accent pillow perhaps), I find Carrara Java from Cassaro. The coffee brown and veining of the fabric seem an abstract representation of those impatient trees, grounding the lighter hues of the design.

Art imitates nature.  Time to get to work.