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What Color Curtains With Gray Walls? A Complete Guide

What Color Curtains With Gray Walls? A Complete Guide

Wondering what color curtains go with gray walls? While the choice is personal, you may want to use a few color psychology principles to select the best hue for your space. Nearly any color can pair well with gray walls.

However, the best curtain color to complement your space depends on the type of mood you’re hoping to set as well as your personal preferences. Generally, you’ll need to choose between a neutral or bold-colored curtain.

What Color Curtains With Gray Walls?

Gray is simply a darker shade of white, and as such, it pairs well with a wide variety of colors and decor schemes.

However, to choose the best complementary color for your living area, you’ll need to choose between going neutral or making a bold statement.

Neutral Colors

Classic-styled living room with gray walls and gray colored curtains

Mobz/Shutterstock

Color neutrality is the primary reason why gray tends to go well with many different colors. If you were to look at a detailed color wheel, you’d find that gray has no other pairings. 

This means that no color is a true complement to gray. The same is true of all neutral colors, including black, white, beige, and ivory.

These shades can look great with almost any bright, bold color because they’re muted and essentially hueless. 

But neutral colors also go great together, whether they’re paired with primary colors or not. For example, a white-and-gray bedroom exudes a sense of calm, cleanliness, and optimism.

And a beige-and-ivory living room is bound to be bright, welcoming, and classically charming. Neutral curtains could make an excellent complement to gray walls. However, choosing the best neutral color can be challenging.

After all, there are quite a few neutral shades, including:

  • Black
  • White
  • Brown
  • Gray
  • Beige
  • Ivory
  • Tan
  • Ecru

The best neutral shade for your curtains depends on your preferred color palette, aesthetic, and temperature. For a warmer space, you may want to choose tan, ecru, or beige curtains.

Rooms with darker color schemes, minimalistic aesthetics, or metallic accents may be better suited to cooler neutral colors like white, ivory, or gray curtains.

But, of course, adding gray curtains to a room with gray walls can be tricky. In most cases, you won’t want the gray of your curtains to match your walls completely.

Choosing a textured or patterned fabric with a similar (but not identical) gray hue is an excellent way to maintain a neutral palette while adding style to your space.

Bold Colors

To help illustrate what color curtains go with gray walls, dark gray walls with orange curtains and orange accents pictured in a modern studio bedroom and living room apartment

ImageFlow/Shutterstock

Neutral colors can be bright or dark, but they’re typically not vibrant or eye-catching.

On the other hand, primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) are challenging to ignore and often draw instant attention. That’s why traffic stop signs and road warnings are bright red.

Primary colors aren’t the only members of the color wheel. There are also secondary colors like violet, orange, and green, and tertiary colors like teal, purple, yellow-green.

When decorating a room with gray walls, you may want to choose one or two bold colors to accent your otherwise neutral color scheme. Adding brightly colored curtains is a great way to get started. 

Before purchasing bright and colorful curtains for your space, be sure to consider which accent colors you’d like to incorporate. Each bold hue has a specific temperature associated with it, as well as a small psychological effect.

Let’s quickly examine a few primary and secondary colors to understand how they affect a room’s style and aesthetic. 

  • Red. This color is often used to signal danger. It’s also associated with hunger, passion, luck, and alertness. It’s commonly used in dining areas and living rooms.
  • Orange. This color exudes warmth and friendliness. Many people associate orange with the changing colors of autumn leaves, pumpkins, and other seasonal hallmarks.
  • Yellow. As with red, it’s often impossible to ignore the color yellow. However, this color has slightly more positive, optimistic feelings associated with it. Many consider this color to be one of the most energizing and inspiring hues.
  • Green. Green is often associated with growth, rebirth, and healing. It’s a common color for bathrooms, bedrooms, and living rooms. This color is the first of the cool colors.
  • Blue. The color blue is often associated with intelligence, diligence, and confidence. As such, it’s usually found in home offices, studies, and bedrooms.
  • Violet. This purple color has significant ties to royalty. It’s also often associated with wisdom, creativity, and power. Violet can be used in virtually any space. 

So, for a warmer look and feel, you may want to choose orange, red, and yellow curtains and accents. These colors are fantastic choices for shared living spaces like living rooms or dining rooms. 

Naturally, cooler colors can also add ambiance to a gray-walled room. For example, blue or green curtains could be a fantastic addition to a blue-gray color scheme. Additionally, cool colors tend to work well in studies, offices, and bedrooms. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Guy hanging curtains in a gray painted living room for a piece on what color curtains with gray walls

Mike Focus/Shutterstock

Below, you will find many of the most frequently asked questions regarding curtain colors that pair with gray walls.

What Accent Color Goes With Gray Walls?

Several accent colors complement gray walls. Generally, any color goes well with gray walls. However, most interior decorators combine neutral and bold colors when outfitting a gray-walled room.

Neutral colors pair well with gray walls, but they often result in a slightly muted aesthetic. Adding small accent pieces that are brightly colored can add an intriguing contrast to a primarily neutral color scheme.

What Is the Complementary Color of Gray?

Gray is a darker shade of white (or a brighter shade of black), making it an excellent pairing for nearly any color. However, unlike primary, secondary, or tertiary colors, gray has no complement.

How Do You Add Warmth to a Gray Room?

Adding warmth to a gray room is as simple as incorporating accents and decor that feature warm colors. You can add neutral warm hues by incorporating brown, dark gold, or brass shades.

Try outfitting your space with bright orange, metallic gold, or rich crimson accents for bolder touches of warmth.

It’s also worth noting that wood furniture and decor, notably darker stains, can help make a room cozier, especially in gray rooms.

Do Ivory and Gray Go Together?

Ivory tends to be a slightly off-white color, making it an excellent complement for most shades of gray. In addition, these closely related colors form the basis for a neutral palette, resulting in a clean and modern style. 

Do Tan and Gray Go Together in a Room?

Tan (also called beige or khaki) is a relatively neutral color. Though it has tones of red and orange, it’s a muted shade that pairs well with other neutral colors, like gray. As such, it’s possible to create a stylish room by experimenting with tan and gray accents.

Do Blue and Gray Go Together in a Room?

Blue and gray often complement one another, regardless of shade. This combination is often used for offices, studies, and bedrooms. Notably, the mixture of these colors (blue-gray) also goes well with multiple shades of gray and blue.  

So, What Color Curtains Go With Gray Walls?

Curtains of any color can pair with gray walls! The best choice typically depends on the shade of the gray walls, your preferences, and your desired ambiance.

Lighter hues tend to pair well with light gray walls, and dark colors are excellent accents to darker shades of gray.