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Redditors have strong opinions when it comes to decorating. They’re pro–rug pads and anti–AI tools. They don’t want to see string lights in a kitchen, but do like small, moody bathrooms. Gray interiors, in particular, really get them riled up. In one thread asking what trends won’t age well, the comment with the most upvotes was “gray everything.” In another, a user begged house flippers to stop using gray walls and laminate flooring. Level Frames looked into it, analyzing 3,958 comments from 45 threads focused on interior design, home decor, and unpopular design trends, and found the sentiment to be near universal. Gray interiors received more complaints than any other feature.
Most of us suffer from such Millennial gray fatigue that now we’ve written off the color entirely. But the experts see it differently. Designer Arvin Olano painted his office a moody slate—despite his followers telling him not to—and the result is surprisingly fresh and modern. More recently, we saw Lauren Caron, founder of Studio Laloc, swath nearly every room in a Mercer Island, Washington, home in shades of the hue. To our surprise, the place feels warm, traditional, and tailor-made. Perhaps Redditors can’t stand this hue because they haven’t seen the tricks used in the six spaces ahead.
Shop Antique
How can you call light gray walls “Millennial” when the room is filled with neoclassical furniture? In her Mercer Island project, Caron reminded us that antiques are a no-fail antidote to trendiness, like this room’s Bardiglio marble tiles, regal Savonarola chair, and French Provincial–style dresser.
Trade Paint for Wallpaper
Around the corner in the stairwell, Caron stuck to the same gray palette, but this time using an Antoinette Poisson wallpaper called Grenades. The floral stripe is all character, no builder-grade blahs.
Make It Part of a Bigger Palette
Follow design influencer Robert Gigs’s lead and tone down gray by introducing a gamut of other colors—not just one pop. Caron did the same in another of one of her projects, layering Farrow & Ball’s French Gray with deep reds, chestnut browns, sandy beige, and a hint of lavender.
Spotlight Architecture
Leave it to Pierce & Ward to design an eternally cool gray bedroom. Gray doesn’t read flat in this A-Frame nook the same way it might in a perfectly square room.
Color Drench
Sometimes it’s not gray that’s the problem, it’s gray with white. Consider coating the baseboards, window trim, and ceiling in the same hue as the walls for a cocooning experience, a la this bedroom by Kitty Lee Architecture.
Give It Some Movement
Post Company called attention to this New York bedroom’s dramatic angles by swathing everything in Portola’s Dry Ground limewash, a balanced mid-tone greige with some a textural oomph.