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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Lifestyle
Elle Hunt

It’s not beige, it’s not grey: it’s greige – and it’s why all our houses look the same

A decade of greige brought us ‘a slow, unadventurous death’, says the artist David Batchelor.
A decade of greige brought us ‘a slow, unadventurous death’, says the artist David Batchelor. Photograph: Westend61/Getty Images

You might say it’s charcoal, silver, concrete, slate. You might call it by the name on the paint chip: Chic Shadow, Polished Pebble, Purbeck Stone. Or you might say it’s greige. Whatever you call it, the prevailing interior design trend of the past decade has been shades of grey.

Elephant’s Breath – described as an “uplifting” mid-grey, with a hint of magenta – has been called a paint color of the decade in the UK, ranking among Farrow & Ball’s top 10 shades for the past 12 years and inspiring numerous spin-offs.

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