A Comparison of Grays
We have so many gorgeous colors to choose from here at Miss Mustard Seed’s® Milk Paint, and it can be a bit overwhelming to pick just one for your project. To begin, we suggest starting with a color family like white, gray or blue. Once you know what general color you’d like to use for your project, you can narrow down which particular shade you’d like.
Today, let’s take a tour through our grays along with some extra colors that have a gray cast to them.
Trophy
Trophy is the darkest straight-out-of-the-pouch shade of gray that we have in our line.
It’s a warm gray that was inspired by the tarnished patina that antique silver trophies develop over time.
Trophy has yellow and green undertones. When you mix it up, you can see a bit of those pigments swirling in your cup.
If you want a true gray, Trophy is the one for you. You can make it lighter by mixing it with Grain Sack or add Typewriter to make it dark like charcoal.
Shutter Gray
Back in 2012, this was the very first color Miss Mustard Seed introduced in her new Milk Paint line! Shutter Gray got its name and color inspiration from the assortment of faded gray shutters that Miss Mustard Seed® would find during her antiquing trips in Pennsylvania. She painted this particular set in Shutter Gray. Gorgeous, eh?
Shutter Gray is a soft and dusty blue/gray that has a French vibe to it. It’s a color that looks like it has faded over time.
When it’s nestled next to Trophy, its blue side comes to life instantly!
Left - Shutter Gray | Right - Trophy
Shutter Gray changes its appearance depending on the light, the decor around it and what it’s painted on. Sometimes it leans blue while other times it looks a bit lavender. Other times, it looks like a proper gray. Its range in appearance is one of the reasons why we like it so much!
Schloss
Schloss is one of the colors in our European Collection. You can see it on the bottom sample stick here:
It’s a mix of gray and beige, which is called a “greige”. Schloss is the German word for “castle”, and it was inspired by the castles Miss Mustard Seed used to see when she lived in Germany as a child.
Marienburg Castle in Hanover Germany
When you compare it to our other grays, Schloss is more beige than Trophy and less blue than Shutter Gray.
Schloss is like a cozy hug on a cold winter’s day. It looks right at home amongst warm wood tones and off white accents.
Colors With a Gray Cast
While these three grays (Shutter Gray, Schloss and Trophy) are our proper grays, there are a few other colors in our collection that have a gray cast or leaning to them.
Grain Sack
Grain Sack is one of the whites in our collection. It has a faded gray quality about it, much like antique grain sacks that Miss Mustard Seed loves to use on her upholstery projects.
Here’s how Grain Sack looks up against Farmhouse White and Ironstone.
Ironstone is our brightest shade of white. Farmhouse White is warmer than Ironstone. Grain Sack is grayer than Ironstone but isn’t as warm as Farmhouse White.
Grain Sack will give you the best of both worlds - the brightness of a white with a subtle cast of gray!
Aviary
Aviary is one of our beloved blues, and it leans towards the gray side much more so than our other blues.
Aviary is less blue than Bergere, French Enamel and Flow Blue. It’s not as dark as our midnight blue, Artissimo either. It’s a smokey blue/gray all of its own!
The background of this collage is painted in Aviary. You can see how it’s much more gray than Flow Blue and French Enamel. It’s lighter than Bergere and Shutter Gray too. (By the way, look how Bergere and Shutter Gray compare!)
Here is a serpentine fronted dresser that Miss Mustard Seed refinished when she first introduced Aviary into the collection.
Are you inspired by its smokey blue/gray goodness? We sure are!
Now that you have a better idea of how our grays compare, and can appreciate the subtle gray cast we’ve formulated into other gorgeous colors, which one is speaking to you?
If you’re ready to embark on a gray makeover, you can shop in store or online from any of our talented retailers!
