Gray -- the fashionable neutral

Tired of beige walls? Want a new alternative to your stand-by black pants? It's time to check out gray -- the freshest neutral in both fashion and home design.

We've built a Pinterest board showcasing some of the best gray:

Here's a closer look at a few of our favorites:

via Pinterest, via Satsuki Shibuya

via Pinterest, via Jaime Derringer

via Pinterest, via Afro Chic, from design*sponge

This week's email from West Elm also features gray (or "graphite", a more glamorous name):

We just used two soft grays in a living room, and we love the results!

photo by Lisa Ratner

The darker gray on the left is Coventry Gray, and the lighter on the other two walls is Horizon (both Benjamin Moore):

A word of warning about grays: they can look really different from the color cards when painted on your walls, depending on the light. We've found that many can end up looking purple or lavender. And these I've shown here look almost green on my screen -- not so in person. So always test your color selections before you buy that big gallon!