Why does grey always look blue

[Angel13]

Does anyone know of any 'greys' that actually look grey instead of blue.

We're painting our exterior rendered walls for the house we are building and I've tried half a dozen sample pots of greys and they all come out looking blue. We settled on British paints Winter Haze (light grey) and Portal grey (dark grey) and have done the first coat for the whole house and a second coat on some sections but we are going to have to change it

In certain light the Winter Haze looks violet and thePortal grey is looking, well very blue. So not impressed!! especially because my body hurts from head to toe from days of painting.

If you know if any greys that will stay grey I would very much appreciate it if you would share this secret with me.

Angel
www.hammerandheels.net

 

[Kristine..]

Hi Angel

When you are buying the paint, ask what tints are in it

Obviously, any red or blue being mixed in will shadow towards the blue or violet

I only buy paint from the local trade paint outlet, and they are happy to discuss the actual tints used, keeping in mind that paint will also pick up tints of what is around it eg a wall colour will pick up the colour from carpet, your exterior walls will shadow back on themselves, walls facing north will have the impression of a different colour than walls facing south

I once painted a very long corridor in 'ecru' and I swear it looked green, but the only tints in a white base were umber and ochre.

Explain what you are trying to achieve and the tinter will be able to help

Cheers
Kristine

 

[Dazz]

Does anyone know of any 'greys' that actually look grey instead of blue.

In certain light the Winter Haze looks violet and thePortal grey is looking, well very blue. So not impressed!! especially because my body hurts from head to toe from days of painting.

If you know if any greys that will stay grey I would very much appreciate it if you would share this secret with me.

Is this you ??


http://www.nyspender.com/2011/09/whats-with-old-ladies-and-blue-hair.html

 

[Kristine..]

Hey Dazz

Magic Silver White was very popular amongst teenage girls when I was at school.

Also, Magic Silver Rose, but the Silver White - which turned at least as blue as the lady in your link - was all the rage.

That, and ironing your hair in the mornings. Yes, with the iron. Yes, on the ironing board.

Ah, those were the days!

 

[skater]

Well, when I was at high school, my mother used to go for her blue rinse at the hairdressers every week. It was all the rage! All the oldies had permed blue hair!

 

[.toe]

As a photographer I might be able to help on this.

The quality of colours are only as stable as the quality of light, and outdoor light changes constantly. One of the ways it changes is colour. Morning sunlight obviously is very warm, midday sunlight is more neutral, cloud is cooler, and shade lit spaces can be cold or blue in colour.

Mostly the visual area of our brains compensates for the colour changes, telling us everything is ok & no-one has come along and painted our house a different colour while we were at work. But sometimes changes in colour of light are more obvious. One of those occassions is when we use very neutral colours which obviously reflect the colour of light especially tones that are in the middle of the tonal range.

Other times when we notice light more are early sunlight when there is strong warm sun contrasted with long cool shadows, or even midday sun on a house where the eaves cast a shadow over much of the house.

 

[RumpledElf]

Our house is grey. The trim is gretna and the walls are ... er ... yeah, some other standard colourbond colour lol ... bushland?

In the catalogue the colours look really green, but out in the real world they look grey, which was the idea. I'm happily planting out the yard with silver foliage plants and if you ignore the fact that they're all barely 6 inches high it looks really good.

 

[Angel13]

Is this you ??


http://www.nyspender.com/2011/09/whats-with-old-ladies-and-blue-hair.html

Ha ha, no that's def not me .

Angel

 

[Angel13]

As a photographer I might be able to help on this.

The quality of colours are only as stable as the quality of light, and outdoor light changes constantly. One of the ways it changes is colour. Morning sunlight obviously is very warm, midday sunlight is more neutral, cloud is cooler, and shade lit spaces can be cold or blue in colour.

Hi toe, so does that mean I can never get it right?

Angel

 

[Angel13]

Hi Angel

When you are buying the paint, ask what tints are in it

Explain what you are trying to achieve and the tinter will be able to help

Cheers
Kristine

We did explain what we were trying to achieve but they looked totally grey while we were in the store. I now think it's the sunlight effect. So what to do .

Angel

 

[Angel13]

Our house is grey. The trim is gretna and the walls are ... er ... yeah, some other standard colourbond colour lol ... bushland?

In the catalogue the colours look really green, but out in the real world they look grey, which was the idea. I'm happily planting out the yard with silver foliage plants and if you ignore the fact that they're all barely 6 inches high it looks really good.

We've used Shale grey colorbond sheets on the top story mixed in with fibre cement matrix boards and Shale grey facias and gutters. They look great and they never change colour.

We're now thinking we might try double or triple strength Shale grey for the light parts and the Woodland grey for the darker features. My original worry was that the Woodland grey looked like a dirty green but if you're saying they don't look green once it's on the wall maybe I will try it.

I guess it's just going to be trial and error until we get it just right.

Angel

 

[.toe]

Hi toe, so does that mean I can never get it right?

Angel

Well Angel I'm not exactly sure, I mean I can explain why you have that problem but i'm not an expert at fixing it.

I don't think it's a matter of never getting it right, shade is blue all over the world & has been for all time, but our eyes generally correct for that. Perhaps what you need is to add just enough adjustment to this so that your eyes will adjust before they see blue.

A couple of things to try though. Try tinting it slightly warmer than neutral grey so that in shade it appears neutral & in full sun it's slightly warm. Or run a colour or two against it to distract from the blue shade effect. You only need enough distraction so that your eyes can automatically colour correct before you notice the colur.

 

[bronwynt]

Hi Angel,

I agree it is very hard to find a charcoal grey that is not blue. I went through all the colours and I found Lead Colour by Dulux to be quite good. I also use Woodland Grey by colorbond a lot but it is not dark enough and does tend to have a dark army green colour to it so I make it 1 1/2 strength and it comes up a lot better.

Cheers, Bronwyn.

 

[Jamie M]

Hi Angel

I'm currently painting a rendered house.

We're using Dulux paint(elastomeric) but got them to colour match Taubman's "smoky haze" - it's grey (no blue).

You're from Canberra right? If so, I've had a good experience with the paint shop in the Tuggeranong medical square. Inspiration painting or something to that effect. They deal with a lot of tradies - they won't stuff up the tint like a certain large hardware outlet down the road done a few times

A trip to these guys might be worth while.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[sammmeee]

double strength pebble...dulux

 

[Angel13]

Hi guys, thanks for your advice. We changed it to colorbond colours. Went with double strength Shayle grey for the light part and Woodland grey for the dark.

We should have all the painting finished by C.O.B. tomorrow. Thank god. Its come up looking so good. Really happy with it. Very tired but satisfied

Will post some photos at the end of the week.

 

[Angel13]

Here's the photo of the painted house. Please tell me this lools GREY

http://www.hammerandheels.net/forde-week-15/

 

[lizzie]

luuuurvy ... I too like to use "colourbond" colours because they have not only spent a lot of time and money investigating the appeal of the colours to the public - but it also then matches any trim you may need to buy in the future (fences, gutters, fascias, letterboxes etc)

 

[Ms Jade]

Here's the photo of the painted house. Please tell me this lools GREY

Looks great! The Woodland always throws a green/grey so definitely not blue.

 

[knightm]

looks great and grey. The 2 sections in the middle look a little blue tho

Ours is bagged and 2 tone also, the dark is charcoal essence and the light called forged iron. they are actually both a little blue but with surfmist roof and gutters and merbau stained timber features it goes alright i rekon. Its always a battled trying to get away from blue without going too green or brown.