It’s a day nearly four years in the making- we are now the proud owners of a freshly-painted gray house! Gray Huskie by Benjamin Moore (1473), specifically.
All of my years of agonizing, Pinterest searches, paint sample comparisons, creepily taking photos of houses I drove by and checking my paint finder app… it’s all over! It’s very gratifying when a big and permanent (i.e. too expensive to ever change again) decor choice turns out to be the right one. There were points in the process when I had my doubts, but my fears were soothed when I saw the final result. Gray Huskie has the blue undertones that I love, without any lavender. It’s not too dark, nor is it too light. It’s the perfect continuation of the neutral colors of our interior.
Here’s a reminder of what we started with.
BEFORE:
A lot of people really loved the yellow. I think it’s an exterior color that elicits strong reactions… and mine happens to be the opposite of love. So when it began peeling off in huge sheets, I jumped on the opportunity to choose our own color.
(For the record, I don’t hate the color yellow itself, it’s just not a color I’d personally choose to paint an entire house. Or an entire room. Or nearly every room in a house. Okay, honestly, after living in a yellow house inside and out, I’m pretty sick of yellow.)
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk more about gray- a color that I obviously do love. One important thing that I discovered while choosing an exterior gray paint color is to go with a darker shade than you would choose for an interior. For example- Gray Owl is a color that I love for my interior and have used often. It has that soft blue undertone that I’m drawn to. I thought it may be a perfect exterior color as well. However, when I created my samples, I found that Gray Owl- along with every other light gray I tested- was very nearly white on an exterior. Gray Huskie is a color that I would never think to paint my interior, as it’s a dark and somewhat bold color indoors. I never in a million years thought it would be the color we chose, it was a shot in the dark based on a dubiously-labeled search result. However, on our exterior, it’s a soft and medium/light color. It completely went against everything I knew about paint colors up until that point, so I held my breath… but it turned out perfectly.
I was originally planning to call this post our “exterior reveal”, but then I paused and realized the scope of this project. The new door was one step, the accessories (which we are still slowly adding) are another, and the paint was another. That was a ton of progress. However, we will eventually be adding a farmer’s porch and expanding our back deck into an outdoor entertaining space and patio- along with gardening, landscaping, and just continuing our overall quest of making this property ours.
It’s such a journey creating the home you want, and ours is far from over. We certainly aren’t in any rush, as we plan to stay here in this house until Mack retires… which is at least thirty years from now. With this project, I’m reminding myself to stop and enjoy that journey. The paint is such a big and positive step in the right direction. However, we are a long way off from marking the exterior as complete. I can’t wait to share more of our projects with you along the way!
Sources:
- Exterior Paint Color: Benjamin Moore Gray Huskie
- Shutters: Benjamin Moore Onyx in Satin
- Trim Color: Benjamin Moore Simply White
- Front Door: custom Pella planked fiberglass door with sidelight grids and faux mahogany finish (Designed at Lowes)
- Planters: Lowes
- Wreath: Pier One (sold out, similar spotted at Homegoods)
- Lanterns: Large & Medium (affiliate links)
Hello! I’m leaning towards Gray Huskie for our exterior as well. Can you tell me the time of day of the pic and exposure of the front of your house? We have late day light in front so I am trying to gauge how much darker it may be… thx!
Hi Joanna, this was a few years ago now, but I believe it was midday. Our house faces East. There were definitely some cooler undertones to the color in the darker times of the day, but it was still much lighter than the swatch would lead you to think.
Love how gray huskie looks on your house! We are getting ours painted this week but it looks so much darker in other people’s exterior photos than yours. Did you lighten the Paint? What type of siding do you have? I’m so nervous it’ll be too dark!!
We didn’t lighten it! The paint sample board looked much darker inside than out. Our house faces East and we don’t have many trees out front, so that plays a part in how the color appears in the light. We have cedar siding.
Your house is beautiful in this color.. Would you share information on the roof? Is this gray or black? We are putting on a new roof and repainting and would like to consider the brand/model/color of the roof that looks so wonderful with grey huskie. thank you!
Hi Nancy,
Unfortunately, I’m not really sure of the brand or specific color because they came with the house- but they are black asphalt shingles.
Hi Nina! I love the new house color. Such a big and beautiful difference it made. You have such a lovely home. Merry Christmas to your family!
The result is lovely Nina, well done.
This is such a beautiful before and after! We are in the middle of painting the exterior of our house! I can’t wait! Your blog is beautiful.
Thank you so much, Kellie! It’s such a scary color commitment, but so worthwhile! I’m sure it will be beautiful! :)
Also, I love your blog! You have great style!
What a beautiful makeover.Looks so crisp and clean.
Enjoy.!
Thank you so much, Dianne! :)
That color looks like it was made for your house! Your home looks beautiful!
Shelley
Thank you so much Shelley! :)
Really lovely. I too am agonizing over exterior paint. I love your grey but my roof and decks are brown. I have lots of exterior doors that are all different colours. Sounds weird but I really love them- sunny yellow (only 1 ;)) dusty red and smoky. The home is beige now and we are thinking of a soft blue. We’ll see. Thanks for sharing!
That all sounds so lovely, Kate! I love red doors, especially at Christmas :)
Doing a ‘happy dance for you’ … ☺ … as it turned out beautiful. -Brenda-
Thank you, Brenda!
Your house looks lovely! I’m so happy that you found the right paint colour. I’ve tried to live with painting mistakes in the past. I’d hate to have to do it for a whole house. I appreciate your helpful tip regarding colours looking lighter outside. That’s good to know!
Thank you so much, Cathy! I was definitely trusting my instincts- glad they didn’t lead me astray (this time)! :) :)
Oh my goodness, Nina! I could have written this post myself. I have a very similar style house, also yellow exterior, except our interior was all blue. If there ever were two colors that would NEVER be in my house color palette, it would be yellow and blue.
I absolutely love how your exterior came out! Do you have vinyl or wood siding? We have vinyl, and as much as I highly dislike the yellow, I’m almost petrified to even consider painting it. And yes, the yellow definitely makes a statement, but I personally think that the gray gives it a grand sense of elegance. Looks gorgeous!
Hi Lani, thank you so much for stopping by! We have cedar wood siding.I have seen that Benjamin Moore makes a vinyl paint now, but I don’t blame you, I would be nervous too! Thank you so much for the sweet words :)