THE colour grey has grown amazingly in popularity, and is a current “hot” colour for interiors.

Used as a neutral backdrop, instead of white or cream, grey gives immediate sensory texture to a room.
The beauty of this colour as a backdrop is its generosity in allowing accent colours to pop more than beige, cream or white. This lies in the depth of its colour (the deeper the grey, the more the accent colour pops).
Imagine a charcoal-grey living room with a bright red couch and striking white lamp shades, or travel to the lighter end of the grey spectrum and melt pastel greens and blues into a dove-grey background for a fresh and summery look and feel.
With the industrial décor trend attracting such high interest from designers and decorators globally — taking the stark, rugged and often harsh look of industrial architecture and design and translating it into a softer interior language — cement, which is intrinsically grey, is taking centre stage as a creative and enduring material.
Not only are we seeing cement appreciated as a smooth, glossed flooring option, but as the leading lady of ceilings and walls as well, with some astounding décor innovations that make a tremendous statement while doing justice to a greatly underestimated material.
We have accessories being created from cement: Hanging lamps, decorative bowls, artwork, all of which extract a beautiful and gentle sentiment from this element most often associated with industrial design.
The psychological values attached to the colour grey, as stated by various dictionary sources, associate grey with being neutral, calm and quiet; an intermediate colour that can be used to “initiate a process that transforms thought into action.” Loosely translated, being in a room that is grey allows one the time and space to mull, muse and become motivated.
Being a combination of black and white — both of which favour specific accent colours as highlights — puts grey at a distinct advantage in harbouring the accent colours of both.
With a darker grey, try pairings of teal, red, white, royal magenta — deeper colours with primary attributes. As the balance of black and white moves in the favour of the latter, soft pastels and fresh, light-hearted colours are the winners: Lemon zest, baby blue, spring pink, create a gentle feminine overture in the room.
Grey is truly an amazing colour, with the potential to offer so much, from décor to colour inspirations.
Given half the chance, it will change your interiors from grey to great.
(Kerry Hayes is editor of the magazine, South African Home Owner, sister publication of Sowetan)