Which grey carpet? Light, mid and dark greys compared

Grey has been the most popular carpet colour in the UK for a decade, and "grey" now covers everything from near-white silver to near-black anthracite. We stock more than twenty greys across four ranges, and the first question is almost never twist or Saxony; it is which grey. This guide sorts them into light, mid and dark, explains which rooms each suits, and flags the two mistakes people make with grey carpet.

The short answer

Light greys (silver, pearl, misty) make small or dark rooms feel bigger and suit bedrooms. Mid greys (steel, stone, pewter, battleship) are the safe all-rounder for living rooms, halls and stairs and hide the most. Dark greys (graphite, ebony, anthracite) look expensive in a big, bright room and show fluff and pet hair in a small one. Order two or three free samples a shade apart, because grey shifts more between shop lighting and your home than any colour except taupe.

Light greys

Silver, silver grey, pearl grey, misty grey, dove grey, cloud, haze. These are the greys that read as almost white in a sunny room. They bounce light around and are the natural choice for a north-facing bedroom or a box room. The cost is maintenance: a light grey in a hallway shows every muddy footprint, and on stairs it shows the wear line within a year. Keep them for rooms where people take shoes off.

Where to find them: 8mm silver grey Saxony for a budget bedroom, 16mm silver Saxony for a deeper pile, 11mm pearl grey twist if the room gets walked through.

Mid greys

Steel grey, stone grey, pewter, battleship, medium grey, dark silver, fog, flint, lead. This is the band most people end up in. Mid grey is light enough not to darken a room and dark enough to hide the day-to-day marks that light grey shows. It works with white, cream and most coloured walls, and it is the grey we recommend for a hall, stairs and landing carpeted as one run.

Where to find them: 11mm steel grey twist for stairs and halls, 8mm stone grey Saxony for a budget lounge, 15mm flint Saxony for a living room you sit on the floor in.

Dark greys

Graphite, ebony grey, anthracite, shadow, cinder. Dark grey carpet looks smart under a light sofa and pale walls, and it is forgiving of spills. Two warnings. First, it shows pale fluff, dust and light pet hair, so it wants vacuuming twice a week in a family home. Second, in a small room with one window it can make the room feel like a cupboard. Use it in bigger, brighter rooms, or on stairs where the contrast with white spindles looks deliberate.

Where to find them: 11mm graphite twist, 8mm anthracite Saxony, 16mm shadow Saxony.

Warm grey or cool grey

Every grey leans one way. Cool greys have a blue undertone and suit modern rooms with white walls and black metal. Warm greys have a hint of brown (the far end of warm grey is taupe) and suit rooms with wood, cream and natural fabrics. A cool grey carpet in a warm room looks dirty; a warm grey in a cool room looks beige. Hold the sample against the wall and the sofa, not against the shop floor.

Grey on stairs

Stairs take more wear per square metre than any other floor, and the wear shows as a lighter stripe down the middle. A mid grey twist hides that stripe longest. Choose action backing over felt, use underlay, and if the hall is carpeted in the same grey, the join at the bottom step disappears. Our stairs guide covers the whole job.

The two mistakes

1. Choosing from a photo. Screens make grey bluer and lighter than it is. Grey is the colour that most often comes back with "it looked different online". Samples are free.
2. Matching grey walls to grey carpet. Two greys that are nearly the same fight each other. Go at least two shades apart: light walls with a mid carpet, or mid walls with a light one.

Prices

• 8mm Saxony, action backed: £8.49 per m² in nine greys.
• 8mm twist, felt backed: £8.20 per m² (silver, fog, graphite, pewter, shadowstone, cinder).
• 11mm twist, action backed: £10 per m² in ten greys.
• 15mm and 16mm Saxony, action backed: £14.50 to £15 per m².

All cut from 4m or 5m rolls to your room length. Two measurements into the room calculator gives the delivered price. Free delivery over £190, with you in 2 to 4 working days.