Who knows! Do you really think I can see the future? Do you think my crystal ball is better than yours?
Anyway, here's what I do know.
Gray has been on the rise for the last decade. And, it's been growing exponentially.
I started to really notice that gray hardwood floors started to become very popular and frequently requested in 2013. That year, we got lots of request to sand & refinish hardwood and make them gray.
Almost no one seemed to know how to do it...or at least how to do it correctly. That was when I wrote my first blog post on the topic. And, I started to get lots of phone calls on this. They were from people all across the country as well as from contractors seeking advice.
A year or two later, the calls shifted to, "my contractor has no idea what he's doing blah blah blah" or my gray floors turned yellow (because they obviously used the wrong type of polyurethane. (Hint: the answer is to use Bona Traffic HD).
Then we started to see more and more variations on prefinished gray hardwood floors. We saw different colors, finishes, textures and styles. They have been multiplying like rabbits.
Of course gray is even more popular in tile. Slowly carpeting started to gravitate towards gray. And then we would see grays and whitewashes in luxury vinyl, laminate and virtually every other variation of flooring.
Of course we all know that gray has been popular in paint for even longer, and I believe it was around 2017 when it became the #1 color...surpassing white. It keeps growing and evolving.
Now warmer grays seem to be more popular than cooler grays. And, now people are having fun with wild and bright accent colors. Colors like fuschia or bright yellow. It's fun to watch.
What I also know is that when it comes to kitchen, white is the most popular cabinet color and white countertops are most popular, especially ones that look like Calacatta Marble (i.e. white with gray veins or highlights.
And, when it comes to kitchen hardware, brushed nickel is most popular.
And, what about appliances? You guessed it - stainless steel.
So all road lead to gray.
Do I think gray is here to stay? You betcha.
At least it will be here for a while.
And, of course it's fun for designers to say it's on the way out or magazines to say it's so last decade. It's just like they say blogging is dead.
I would beg to differ on both of those.
Oh course it won't be here forever. But my guess is that it's here for at least another decade.
Could I be wrong? Of course!
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