How We Chose the Perfect Gray Paint: Testing Collingwood, Grey Owl, and Moonshine

Picking a paint color usually feels straightforward, but choosing a single gray for several major living areas had me unusually anxious. We wanted the same color for the future dining room, main hallway, and living room to create a continuous flow, so the choice felt heavier than normal. I found myself second-guessing every swatch: “Sure, I like it… no I don’t, I hate it.”

Part of my worry probably comes from a middle-school paint mistake: I once painted my bedroom a very dark, cold gray simply because I liked the dramatic name (something like “Cannonball” or “Cannon Smoke”). In hindsight it felt too prison-like, and I only survived the room by adding a bright red Looney Tunes rug and Tasmanian Devil pillows. That quick fix won’t work this time, so we decided to take a more measured approach.

Sherry, who’s much less nervous about color decisions, suggested we try paint testers before committing. She recommends this to readers all the time, and it made sense—testing samples lets you observe how each color performs in your actual light and next to your furnishings. We picked three Benjamin Moore shades and bought Olympic Premium No-VOC samplers from Lowe’s: Collingwood, Grey Owl, and Moonshine. The samplers were inexpensive, and painting big swatches felt like the safest way to decide.

We tested the colors in the future dining room first, painting them side by side so we could compare directly. We did only one coat with a brush, feathering the edges so the test areas would blend into the wall and not leave obvious patches when we eventually painted the whole room. We avoided tape because taped squares can leave visible outlines after a full coat is applied.

Next, we painted larger swatches in the family room—one set near the TV and another next to a large window—to see how daylight and room lighting affected the hues. That’s one of the biggest advantages of this method: you can watch how each color shifts from morning to afternoon and under artificial light at night, and you can also judge the distance view to see how a color reads across the room.

After living with the test swatches for a few days and seeing them at different times of day, we agreed that Moonshine was our favorite. It reads as a clean, true gray with a subtle silvery quality that helps it sit neutral without feeling flat. Moonshine is dark enough to make white moldings pop, but not so saturated that it competes with bolder curtains, artwork, and accessories we plan to introduce.

Collingwood almost won us over, but it skewed warm and tan, reminding us of a Sand White tone we used in our first house. We liked it, but it felt less gray and more beige than we wanted for this project. Grey Owl read a bit too green-blue in our home’s light, which made us worry it would look like a muddy blue-gray instead of a true neutral gray. We’d had a similar blue-gray in our previous house and wanted to avoid repeating that look.

Using testers confirmed our instincts and helped us choose a color with confidence. Moonshine felt like the right balance—neutral, slightly cool with a hint of silver, and flexible enough to work with future décor decisions. Now the next step is the effort of painting the two largest rooms and the connecting hallway. We’ve started, but with a baby and blog work on our plates, the job will likely take a few days. We’ll share photos once the rooms are fully painted.

Have you used paint testers to choose a color? Did they confirm your first choice or send you in a new direction? Our test swatches stayed up for nearly a week, long enough to see the colors change through different lighting conditions—though we can imagine this kind of decision stretching into a month or more if you’re still unsure. For anyone on the fence, painting large test swatches in multiple spots is a practical way to find a gray that really works in your space.