Use this SW 7016 Mindful Gray Coordinating Color Scheme for your entire home! Mindful Gray by Sherwin Williams is one of their best selling neutrals. It’s a slightly darker and deeper shade than Agreeable Gray, the most popular neutral gray.
While Agreeable Gray has a very slight reddish tone to it, Mindful Gray has more of a more yellow tint. Because the red and yellow in both are so subtle, it means they’re both neutral grays – not warm or cold.
Check out this hallway – walls are in Mindful Gray.
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Which Gray Should You Pick?
If Agreeable Gray feels too safe and not enough of a color commitment, Mindful Gray is just that bit deeper, warmer and richer. It’s the kind of gray that will make white trim pop and hold its own against dark wood flooring. 
- R:188G:183B:173
- Hex Value:#bcb7ad
- LRV:48
SW 7016 Mindful Gray Color Scheme
Gray had its moment but the trend is away from safe and towards cozy. It’s important for our living spaces to feel warm and secure these days. But a soft neutral gray is still a solid color choice to anchor your home’s color palette. Adding enough light and dark contrasting colors is the method we use to keep that gray room from feeling dark, drab or dull.
Using these colors throughout your home makes for a coordinated feel and helps your home “flow”. It’s a piece of cake to pick up the blue and gold colors I’ve picked in your accessories and fabrics to keep the color moving throughout the house. Using patterns and textures from your color palette works to repeat the colors you have on the walls. That’s how you get a model home look.
Let’s go – here’s the best accent colors to use with Mindful Gray!
SW 7004 Snowbound
Snowbound white is ideal for your trim, doors, kitchen and bathroom cabinets. This soft neutral white would also work well on the walls of a nursery, bathroom or any other room you want to keep light and airy.
Don’t be afraid to mix things up a little. A nice swap would be to paint the walls in Snowbound and the trim in Mindful Gray. Using a slightly darker trim to wall color can work well in a traditional, farmhouse, cottage or classic home.
The more you use Snowbound liberally around the house the lighter your home will feel. If you’re going for a darker dramatic vibe then by all means cut back on SW 7004 Snowbound and feature more Mindful Gray. I believe the right white is the key to making a color scheme work.
SW 6400 Lucent Yellow
Lucent Yellow is the perfect coordinating color to warm up Mindful Gray. Use it when you want a lighter softer feel in a room. For example this sunny color is ideal for a nursery, bedroom or even a dark or north facing kitchen.
SW 6400 could also be used in a laundry or utility room to keep it cheerful and warm. Don’t underestimate how small doses of a warm soft color like Lucent Yellow can lift darker colors and add brightness and warm to an otherwise neutral palette.
Try painting a piece of furniture in Lucent Yellow for a soft pop of color against Mindful Gray or Inky Blue. Using a soft yellow or pattern on fabric, bedding or accent chair seats is another way of stretching your color palette.
SW 9149 Inky Blue
For a dose of drama and vibrancy, Inky Blue coordinates well with Mindful Gray while adding much needed contrast. Most grays can seem dull without a spark of true color for distinction.
Because SW 9149 is an intense color, use it sparingly. What about on an accent wall with Snowbound as the main color or as the main wall color in a study or powder room?
For a bold treatment, try painting doors and trim in Inky Blue along with walls.
Kitchen or bath cabinets is another way to use this intense blue. If you like the maximalist look or feel happy with deep colors, don’t be afraid to experiment. Keep in mind you can always use this color in accessories and home decor instead of paint. An accent chair for example or on pillows, bedding and tiles.
Reach for these coordinating colors for Mindful Gray if you want your home to feel coastal, cottage or farmhouse style, although these timeless shades will work in most homes.
Where to Use Mindful Gray Coordinating Colors
- SW 7016 Mindful Gray – gray; walls, trim, cabinets, doors
- SW 9149 Inky Blue – soft deep blue; accent wall, room, cabinets
- SW 7004 Snowbound – white; trim, cabinets, doors
- SW 6400 Lucent Yellow – gold; walls, cabinets
What Paint Finish Should I Use?
SW 7016 Mindful Gray can be used on your walls, cabinets or trim, it’s that versatile. I’d suggest using a semi gloss or gloss finish on cabinets and trim, with satin or velvet finish on walls.
I’m not a fan of matte finishes even though they’re usually cheaper.
Flat or matte finish is a nightmare to keep clean and shows every single fingerprint and mark. Do yourself a favor and pick a finish with some sheen like Satin. It’s easier to clean and lets light reflect around the room. Win win!
Using a Color Scheme Throughout
Choosing a color palette or scheme is the first step to design any space. With a selected group of colors that work together you always have a blueprint to use. Using consistent colors throughout your home makes it feel calmer, more pulled together and intentional. You never have to stop and wonder, what color do I pick!
Does this mean you can’t use any other colors? Of course not! But these are the main colors to build your color scheme around.
Use this color scheme for your walls, and to pick other wall and flooring finishes like rugs and tile.
Not sure about the tone in a rug sample? Hold it up to the paint swatch and look at it in natural light. Use your paint swatches to pick tile backsplash and bathroom tile. It doesn’t have to match but it should be in the same hue or tint. You don’t have to worry about what that means, just do the natural light test. Take both tile and paint sample outside or in a window with filtered natural light and compare. You want both colors to work together, cool with cool or warm with warm.
Your color scheme is also a guide to choose the color of any large piece of furniture like a sofa. Ditto with curtains or window treatments. Every time you repeat these colors, whether as a solid (painted wall), a texture (flooring) or a pattern (fabric) you’re making this color thing work!
When making those sometimes tough choices about what to buy, what to keep or what to get rid of in your home, keep this color scheme handy.
Still not sure what color is right? A quick affordable solution is my Color Clarity service. Why not try it!
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