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42 Beautiful Gray Living Room Ideas

By

Sarah Lyon

Sarah Lyon

Sarah Lyon is a freelance writer and home decor enthusiast, who enjoys sharing good finds on home items. Since 2018, she has contributed to a variety of lifestyle publications, including Apartment Therapy and Architectural Digest.

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Updated on 12/20/21

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In a sea of maximalist living rooms filled with color galore, gray spaces don't always receive the attention they deserve. You won't want to mistake gray to be a dreary, dated color, or you'll surely miss out on all of its benefits. Truthfully, gray is such a classic, versatile hue to use throughout the home, and with so many beautiful gray sofas and paint colors on the market, it's a no-brainer when decorating your primary living space. "With such a wide range of blue, green, and brown undertones, gray is a great color for those who want to try something new without overdoing it," designer Maggie Griffin says. "Whether you want to add a little drama or convey a sense of calm in your living room, it's the perfect hue."

If you paint the walls or purchase a gray sofa and feel tempted to add pops of color, note that textiles such as pillow covers are an excellent opportunity to go bold. Whether you're craving a lot of gray or just a little, it's a color that has stood the test of time for a good reason. Read on to gather tons of inspiration, and then tell us why you think gray is so special—we think the color is pretty incredible. And if incorporating gray in the living room alone just isn't enough, we think it looks fantastic in bathrooms, kitchens, and bedrooms, too.

We continue to be inspired by the many ways designers and homeowners have used the color gray in their homes and are sharing 42 of our favorite gray living rooms below.

18 Gray Dining Room Design Ideas

40 Grey Living Rooms That Help Your Lounge Look Effortlessly Stylish and Understated

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Need to revamp your living room, but not sure where to start? Pick grey to colour it. No longer associated with dungeons, dull office blocks or unpainted walls, grey is a hue perfectly understated, making your furniture look contemporary sans large risks in design. Cut Lego-style stairs into a shaft concrete wall, amidst relaxed L-chairs in the hue. Go fifty shades darker, with charcoal leather couches, LED-lit bookcases and a roaring fire all in tone. Brighten it up with light grey walls, framed monochrome prints and a cornered Corinthian column. Effortlessly achieve a cool, up-to-date edge with our forty grey living rooms as your inspiration.

Combine grey and green together for a look that’s fresh. The tropical leaves and pineapples in this grey and white interior make a splash upon an exposed brick wall, two grey ottomans and two Scandinavian nesting coffee tables built to match.

Grey living rooms take on many styles. This light grey number simulates Scandinavia with its six monochrome prints, two square leather chairs and structured, rectangular furniture. A Greek column fireplace in the corner adds a touch more character. Check out our 50 Inspirational Scandinavian-Style Living Rooms post for more interiors in this theme.

Prefer dark Scandinavian interior design? Paint a wall almost black, colour your floors in dark slate and pop a cat on its frontage, like this bold interior. A lighter grey couch, industrial light and a range of potted cacti provide items of interest.

Go simple yet functional with a lounge in grey. The slick concrete feature wall of this black-and-grey interior is peppered with an artsy staircase, grey L-seater and abstract oval coffee tables.

Grey creates space for dominant features. Mis-matching wooden floors, grey couches and muted accessories make way for a large facial abstract on an exposed brick wall. Red-lined shelving and a miniature yacht help tie the artwork in.

Grey’s a great base for a modern living room. This decor employs dangling lights to illuminate a grey couch, floor and ottoman with a matching kitchen bench and sprinkles of red and blue. A Turkish rug and floral print add pattern to form.

Grey walls need not be dark. This light and bright lounge is backgrounded by almost-white tiles, a snug suede L-seater, and pops of pastel in a pink seat and beige print. A multi-jointed lamp to the side stretches beside a paint-splashed table leg.

Use many shades of grey. This room combines fingerprint artwork, a grey-tiled floor, corrugated iron wall and marble fireplace to make grey with green creepers look effortlessly sophisticated.

Decorating a small space? Grey and white can make it look larger. This attic-roofed interior coats a wall and a half in mid-grey and a floor in splotches, amidst framed prints, photographs and square suede cushions. A potted tree in the corner speaks nature. The television rests almost fully camouflaged amongst the living room wall decor.

Grey works fabulously as a minimalist shade. This smooth painted wall provides shelving behind a suede L-seater and simple grey rug. A swing arm lamp illuminates a scramble of white cushions and accessories.

Go dark for the ultimate in living room class. An inset modern fireplace, LED-lit shelving and charcoal leather couches frame a black velvet rug and acrylic coffee table. Lighter, textured wallpaper in the centre focuses the eye as windowed light streams in.

Make your bookcase a feature. The stencilled lines of this lounge’s black shelving hold a multitude of reads, tribal statuettes and vases, as a soft block couch and ball light enhance their enjoyment. A concrete wall and polished grey floor form a slick backing canvas.

Grey works with pops of colour. Paired with many different patterns and shades in pink, the shade covers the base wall, pendant and shelving niche to avoid cluttering.

Use grey and a shape as your design staples. With grey colouring an exposed brick wall, rug, walls and couches, rectangles come to the party in an inset fireplace, ceiling LEDs and one of the longest L-seaters known to man.

Grey allows your living room to host more patterns and textures. This lounge spices it up with a wooden slat wall (next to the floating tv stand), quilted rug, smooth book cabinet and painterly canvases. A sprig of orchids to the side adds polish.

Let texture be your focal point. Showcasing an abstract artwork at its centre, this lounge’s grainy wall tiles, suede seating and woollen rug keep more than a hint of the cosy in a room wide and spacious. Check out our living room wall textures post for more focused inspiration. The living room table lamp and the statue on the console bring in traditional elements to the composition.

Accent grey furniture with wooden features. This structured living room seats its almost-futon sofas on a wooden floor, its ornaments on wooden shelves and a zigzagging floor lamp against wall-to-ceiling wooden panelling.

Draw the eye in with pops of dark grey. This mostly-wooden clad room paints a TV frame, coats an ottoman and offers a seat in charcoal colouring. Bursts of white in a matching quilted seat and foot stool match the foreground coffee table.

Grey can work with warmer colouring. This autumnal living room creates heat with an olive green feature wall and terracotta cushioning, as grey softens the scene with an L-seater couch, woolen rug and TV panel. The retro colors and mid century modern coffee table capture the charm of a bygone era. A roaring fire, wood stack and two Chinese lanterns make it feel like home.

Create a contemporary tribal look using white, green and grey. Mid-grey walls pair with a circular charcoal art piece, grey-wooden table and stretching hover lamp. A volcanic ash vase holds sprigs of bamboo, as lush green fernery hides behind the sofa.

Bring the outside in. This concrete living room uses large wall panels and a grey-tiled floor to make noise between two rows of creepers. A simple wooden coffee table boasting a stone corner mingles with grey armchairs and pot plants in this 21st Century scene.

Use grey to accentuate your lounge’s sense of the unusual. Ceiling-height olive trees stand tall in this two-level design, as brown leather couches catch their fall afront a stencil bookshelf. Grey colours the rug, floor, walls and chairs, creating coolness with a contemporary twist.

Grey lets brighter colours shine. This lounge’s orange accent chairs strikes a pose alongside hints of dusty pink and a rug, marble plinth, walls, blinds and sofa in grey.

After living rooms with large wall art? This darker grey room is a lesson in using shades, as its walls stretch seamlessly across light and dark panelling. The painterly canvas finds friends in two bright orange cushions and a stencil coffee table. The bowl and vase adds some shine to the mix.

Monochrome prints are perfect for grey lounges. A full-length photographic decal meets our gaze beside a simple grey couch, differently-shaded cushions and a mottled rug. Black elements in a series of pipe lighting, a standing camera light and marble splashback make its contrasts seem natural.

Like your lounge clean and spacious? Keep it tidy with grey inset shelving, a woollen rug and leather L-seater beside exposed brick. A yellow and grey abstract adds creative edge.

Create contemporary drama with a living room in grey. The bold contrasts between the almost-black side wall and pendants, the light grey couch and kitchen appears almost monochrome in this design. A deep berry chair and resonating artwork avoid a clash in themes.

A yellow accent living room nicely twists grey. Homer peeps from a cushion on a couch in the hue, as grey stretches behind and below the sofa. Relaxed wooden furniture holds pieces in white, allowing room for a sunny yellow panel.

Keep it light, bright and shiny. This almost-white living room introduces grey in a comfy corner seater, greyscale photography and zebra-striped cushions. An artistically-lined rug and black square fruit bowl tie the pieces in.

Grey is perfect for the minimalist living room. This space designs with angles only, bathing a block L-couch and exposed brick wall in grey. Stark monochrome finds in a TV, artwork and chair add drama to form.

Grey and metallics are the best of friends. Lit up with firework living room chandeliers and a designer table lamp, here the luxurious Atollo lamp, this room screams luxury with mid-century modern pieces. Grey and gold wallpaper, a partly-living wall and a pea green armchair bring the antique to modern day.

Grey can make double-height living rooms majestic. A dangling cluster of pendant lights make the most of high ceilings, amongst charcoal curtains and a many-tiled wall. A stacked stone fireplace and fluffy mushroom rug make the space warmer.

Pair grey with yellow for a personal touch. This lounge screams through a trio of buttercup pendants, a Greco-Roman bust, printed canvas of a rapper and modern wooden platform. Grey ensures it’s not busy with muted Roman blinds and a sofa half in colour.

Create a French boudoir feel with a contemporary twist. Accessorized with a small standing bust, white-bulb chandelier and swing arm wall lamp, French panelling gets moody aside simple grey furniture and white-bordered walls.

Grey can lend room to more dominant features. The glass bauble chandelier, zigzagging floors and turquoise couch of this aesthetic living room are afforded coolness with light grey paint and wallpaper.

Going industrial? Grey is the perfect colour scheme. The rough wooden rafters and cabinetry of this lounge-come-kitchen are made modern with a soft grey L-seater, fluffy rug and floors. Walls and ceilings come to the party in full-scale concrete.

Prefer the look of the artist’s retreat? With a ceiling and feature wall in shiny stone, grey wooden floors and slumped couches join to chill. An electric guitar and potted twisted cane hint at greater creativity.

Create a rustic living room in black and grey. Centred around a trio of tree trunk coffee tables, this grey winding sofa and ceiling-height bookcase are beautifully lit up by a train station window.

Let yellow and wood add interior pizzazz. Set upon textured grey, wood forms into ceiling rafters, Scandinavian shelving and a rustic coffee table. Yellow bandages grey seats with striking lines of colours, as a metal TV cabinet and iron chandelier cement this industrial-style living room design.

Grey acts inspirational in this industrial loft. As wood streamlines the space in rafters, couch frames and a winding staircase, grey adds polish in slick concrete, distressed walls and a darkened, piping-feature glass panel. A bouquet of lightbulbs completes the look.


Continuing with grey throughout the home? Do check out:

42 Gorgeous Grey Bedrooms
40 Gorgeous Grey Kitchens

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65 living room design ideas in gray tones - photos of real interiors and tips

Gloomy and cold - these are the epithets that come to mind when it comes to monochrome interiors. However, if you choose the right textures and place accents, the living room in gray tones will look very cozy, stylish and not at all “gray”. How to do it? We tell.

All about decorating the living room in gray tones

Color highlights
Monochrome interior
Best color combinations
Design hacks to liven up the interior

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The first and main rule of any monochrome interior is a combination of shades. Due to this, he does not look boring. In this case, the choice is large: the palette contains more than 250 shades of gray! Plus black and white - the base.

Pay attention to the play of warm and cold tones, light and dark. Such an interior looks especially impressive in high-tech or minimalist style.

But, I must say, it is quite difficult to choose the tones on your own. It is better to turn to professionals, especially if there is little or no experience in coloring. A combination of prints is also referred to as a monochrome reception. And it's not just about textiles, but also about furniture upholstery. Today, there are no strict rules for choosing colors, and one set is even considered bad manners. The best solution is to choose several colors that blend seamlessly with each other.

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This is, frankly, not so easy to do. If you are not confident in your abilities, take note of the following rule: one active print and neutral around. Active prints include contrasting (in the case of monochrome - black and white) checks and stripes, animalistics, for example, a leopard or zebra, and other abstract patterns. Neutral - those in which there are no clear contrasting solutions.

By the way, metal looks equally good in monochrome interiors: yellow gold, red copper or white silver - to your taste. These can be metal parts: a table, a lamp or accessories, including paintings, figurines, various candlesticks, and so on.

Another trick is to play with textures. Everything is taken into account here: decoration of the ceiling, walls and floor, furniture and even textiles. If the walls are painted, matte, then the floor can be glossy. The options with wood also look impressive, and it doesn’t matter if it is light or dark. In general, this mix is ​​one of the most common among design solutions.

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The brightness of the color depends on the overall tone of the range. But, since some of them are quite “dirty”, the main question is obviously: how not to turn the house into a solid dark spot? Start small. You can purchase one accessory. For example, a blanket on a sofa, an emerald or dark pink pillow. By the way, pink and gray is one of the classic combinations. And it is better to choose not light textiles, but with texture: velvet, velor or tapestry. In such shades, the fabrics look royal.

When decorating a small living room, you should carefully choose the colors of the finishes. As you know, light colors visually expand the space. This is also true for rooms with insufficient natural light. The rule is simple: the walls are lighter than the floor, and the ceiling is lighter than the walls.

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  • In a more strict style, such as minimalism, glass accessories look chic: an intricate multi-level chandelier or a neat transparent table. If you do not like glass, use its substitute - plastic. This solution is suitable for living rooms combined with a kitchen, transparent chairs are another trend.
  • Accessories in the form of various frames, baguettes and paintings can support the color spots of textiles. Aerobatics: choose a complex shade so that it gradually meets throughout the room.
  • In small living rooms, do not get carried away with small details. It is better to choose one accent zone. It can be a group for relaxation: a corner sofa, a table and chairs. And add color spots right here.
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    Grey colour

    34013 interior photos, tips on design, decoration, selection of furniture, style of a gray living room in combination with white, brown, pink

    In fact, this is not so at all: the whole secret lies in the correct selection of the right shades. Only then the living room in gray tones will turn into a fashionable and stylish room, comfortable for relaxing and meeting guests.

    Pros and cons of gray

    The popularity of this shade among designers is primarily due to its versatility and practicality. Also, gray color combines different details and other tones into a single whole. Other highlights include:

    Design: Olga Chernenko

    Basic rules for the use of gray

    In order for the gray color to show its maximum advantages, certain rules must be observed when using it. This will help you create a truly cozy interior.

    1. When using this shade as a base color, choose only light shades for small spaces.
    2. In a monochromatic interior, dilute the background with pastel colors: beige, peach or cream.
    3. In a small living room, make the ceiling as light as possible, and the protruding walls and niches dark. This will visually increase the volume of the room.
    4. Feel free to use the monochrome design option for large rooms. The union of gray with pearl, graphite or anthracite tones looks good.
    5. If the room is narrow and small, use warm shades: gray-green or natural ebony. Cold tones are suitable for spacious living rooms: ice, silver, steel.
    6. When buying furniture, keep in mind that it should not have exactly the same shade as the walls: otherwise, the products will simply be lost in the overall environment. Cabinets and sofas, armchairs, shelves will be clearly visible against the main background if their tone is lighter than the walls. But there is an exception that applies to excessively small rooms: it is allowed to put furniture in the same shades as the walls. Thus, the bulkiness of products will be reduced.
    7. The use of bright decorative details for the living room in gray tones is a must. These can be classic figurines, paintings in original frames, posters, green houseplants, landscape photos or posters (for the loft style).

    Design: Zhenya Zhdanova

    Bright accent elements in the interior

    The hall is a place where the family gathers, guests come here; so this room should attract attention and please everyone. Bright colors can help with this, enlivening the living room in gray tones. The role of accents can be played by accessories or furniture that have brown, yellow, red or green colors.

    Blue is also suitable - it adds some severity and coldness to the interior, which suits business people who are used to getting relaxation in public places: clubs, restaurants. Feel free to use sofa cushions, vases, lamps, rugs as "revitalizing" elements. Sometimes they even glue wallpaper with bright inserts of small sizes. The main thing here is not to overdo it.

    Wall decoration in gray tone

    First you need to decide on the choice of shade, for which you need to assess the level of illumination of the room. In a fairly bright room, use darker shades and vice versa. When choosing a color for floor and ceiling finishing materials, apply the following rules:

    Lightened ceiling gives more volume to the living room in gray tones. The same can be said about the walls. If their finishing material is light enough, then the room visually increases. There is a small nuance: in an overly elongated hall, decorate the end walls using dark shades - this will visually make the living room wide and short.

    Don't make the mistake of making the floor too light. In this case, there is a feeling of lack of support. In turn, the dark ceiling, as it were, brings the walls closer, causing a feeling of tightness. The use of gray material for wall decoration is most appropriate in styles:

    When decorating a living room in gray tones, wallpaper is most often preferred. Manufacturers offer a fairly wide range of them: you can choose material with different textures and shades.

    Gray and white combination

    These are two similar monochrome colors, so together they look very harmonious. Gray and white shades are actively used to create modern, art deco interiors, less often classics. Many people replace pure white with its shades: creamy, dark milky, etc. Interesting combinations are also created if different textures are used - for example, wallpaper or plaster. All this helps to create a cozy and comfortable interior.

    Design: Jean-Louis Deniot

    Gray and brown

    Most designers associate this living room design with the rustic style common in the UK. Brown in alliance with gray soothes: the neighborhood of these tones seems elegant, soft. At the same time, this combination does not distract from the decor elements. Decorating a room with gray and brown can be done in several ways:

    Design: Yana Molodykh

    Combination with pink

    This combination looks fresh and gentle, it never irritates and promotes good relaxation. After all, it is because of him that the family spends time in the living room. If you use a bright shade of pink, you get an original accent, typical for styles such as hi-tech or loft.

    Design: Elena Lazareva

    Let's add green

    In this case, the interior is natural. This is due to the fact that green is a natural color. Here you can use indoor plants with wide leaves or curtains, a rug of the same tones. It is important to remember that you do not need too much green. From shades choose olive, malachite, lime, etc.

    Design: Marina Zhukova

    Gray and red

    A very interesting combination. But you need to remember that the red color is quite provocative and therefore there cannot be too much of it. In a gray living room, it is enough for curtains or chairs to have a red tint, plus a few decorating elements.

    Design: Olga Kulikovskaya-Ashby, Interior Box

    Dilute with blue

    The combination of these tones gives the hall peace and tranquility. Blue color is characterized by saturation, depth. When choosing its shades, try to make the furniture lighter than the walls. Also, golden and silver tones can be considered a good addition, in which accessories are painted: for example, curtains or sofa cushions.

    Design: Nikolai Nikitin

    Gray with blue

    This combination is used when the blue color seems oversaturated. The presence of blue gives airiness to the room, making it fresh and airy. Based on this combination, you can decorate the hall in a Mediterranean style. When using a combination, make the walls gray and the furniture blue (or vice versa).

    Design: Marina Pilipenko and Ekaterina Fedorova

    Diversity of shades in the living room: from dark to silver

    Tones range from almost white to almost black. Such variability allows you to choose the most suitable design option in accordance with your taste. It is worth noting that the described tone is achromatic, that is, it does not contain other color pigments. Warm and rich color gives the hall nobility and some luxury. But cool tones, reminiscent of steel, are associated with a “factory” interior. It is necessary to work with such shades carefully, even in such pseudo-industrial styles as hi-tech or loft. Manufacturers of finishing materials know the above features and most often offer the following shades:

    Of the cool tones, white lead and tin are the most popular.

    Design: Alexander Akimenkov Studio

    Furniture in a gray living room

    If you visit a furniture store, you can see that this color is used quite often. Usually it is upholstery that looks very elegant. The most popular are metallic shades, as well as concrete or wet asphalt. The latter gives upholstered furniture an expensive and luxurious look: natural leather can play the role of upholstery, in some cases - tapestry.

    Keep not only sofas and armchairs in the colors described: a dark milky coffee table will look elegant in combination with milky chairs. That is, it is not at all necessary to buy exclusively all pieces of furniture in gray.

    For example, the natural brown tone of wood looks interesting in combination with a concrete-colored leather sofa. Outside the recreation area, the described shade is appropriate for hanging shelves, cabinets. Gray color gives elegance and at the same time unloads the interior without cluttering it.

    Design: Marion Studio

    Gray textiles and additional elements

    Many people forget that one of the main components of the interior is elements that are invisible at first sight. But it is they who often form the character of the design. If your furniture and surfaces are light, then buy decor details in darker colors. Curtains in the color of wet asphalt look exceptionally stylish. The silvery shades of the lamps will bring elegance to the interior, and the sofa cushions that draw attention to themselves and pull to lie down to rest.

    Style directions

    According to most designers, the described color is appropriate in modern interior design.

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