50 (Thousand) Shades of Gray!

So I've FINALLY picked the main living area paint color. In the true spirit of DIY, I couldn't find what I wanted... So I made it myself!

I know I said back in this post that I had chosen Behr's Aqua Breeze, but the more and more I looked at it, the more I decided it wasn't what I wanted. Thinking about the accent colors I wanted in the room, and the fact that I really wanted the bold kitchen color to stand out, I decided I wanted something more neutral.

Right - Behr's "Aqua Breeze"

So I started pouring over dozens and dozens of paint swatches and bought nearly 2 dozen sample pots!!!

I wasn't kidding!

To be honest, I think at this point I'd lost track of which colors are which. I just knew none of the would work. The closest one that I like was Behr's "Pensive Sky" (2nd to the last on the bottom row), but it was a bit darker than what I wanted. So I tried the next one up, "Snow Leopard", which is the top left, but it came out weirdly blueish purple, and way too light.

Bottom Left "Snow Leopard", Right "Pensive Sky"

So I threw up my hands, and said "I give up!" and just decided to go with Pensive Sky, even though it was too dark. But I didn't love it. I can't bring myself to spend $150 on a 5 gallon bucket of paint that I don't love. And I wasn't spending another penny on samples! So what's a girl to do?

Get Mixin'!

I decided to try and mix up a custom color. I picked the two darker grays I liked the best.

Left, Glidden "Smooth Stone", middle Behr's  "Pensive Sky"

Smooth Stone was just a bit too brown, and Pensive Sky was a true gray, but in certain lighting looked a little blue. I mixed equal parts of those two. Then, I mixed two more samples, one with 1 part Behr's "Full Moon" (a very very light, almost white, gray) to 2 parts Smooth Stone and Pensive Sky, and one with equal parts of all three paints.

Here's what I got:

I didn't paint them in order(because that would have made too much sense!), but the middle one is the equal parts of the darker colors, the right is the one with 1 part of the light color, and the left is with equal parts of all three colors. I ended up liking the left color, the lightest one, the best! It's exactly what I had in my mind, but couldn't find in store.

Top color

Perfect light gray!

It's a touch lighter than what is coming across in the photos. I call it "Smooth Pensive Moon". I don't think Behr will be hiring me as a paint namer any time soon.

Next step, I am going to take in my custom mix, and have them paint match it, first to a sample to make sure it comes out how I want, then next stop 5 gallons and no more polka dot paint sample walls!