The deed is done. Our foyer has been freshly painted and it already feels brighter and more open.
The new color makes the space feel taller and wider—truly the power of paint.
This photo captures the shade most accurately: a soft neutral that shifts with the light. It reads as a balanced mix of sand and greige—neither too cool nor too warm—and it pairs beautifully with crisp white trim.
When we were choosing a color, we tried several swatches and narrowed things down to a few favorites. After testing samples and seeing how they reacted to the foyer’s light, one shade stood out.
We landed on Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray. Despite its name, Edgecomb reads warmer than a true gray—more of a greige. It’s funny because it didn’t look great in our previous house, yet it’s perfect here. Lighting, room orientation, and surrounding finishes really change how a color reads, so testing in the actual space made the decision easy. That was a relief because the foyer connects to many rooms and carries through the stairway and upper hallway, so it needed to harmonize with the colors we’ll choose for those ten connected spaces.
Preparation included filling a few nail holes with spackle and priming those spots plus any exposed drywall from our wallpaper-removal adventures. After priming, we painted. The walls only needed two coats, though the trim required four. We used an eggshell finish in Benjamin Moore’s no-VOC Natura formula. John handled the rolling while I cut in around chair rail, crown molding, baseboards, and seven doorways.
It’s typical that rolling is much faster than cutting in, but every minute was worth it. I love this color so much I could do a musical number about it—though I’ll spare you the dancing.
The color changes beautifully throughout the day, feeling light and airy at some moments—like a pale cloud—and warmer and richer at others, like coffee with lots of milk. It has an effortless coastal brightness without being too cool.
After painting, we replaced the old yellowed outlets and switches with clean white ones. It’s a cheap, small update that, much like fresh paint, instantly modernizes the space.
We’re excited to add art and continue updating the house—though painting the other rooms will be a slow, steady process. For now, we’re celebrating this completed project.
A pop of color on the front door helps balance the white trim and neutral walls while the dark floors and hardware ground the space. The light fixture is still on my list to replace with an oil-rubbed bronze option that complements the hardware.
I like how the stair spindles read in this shot: the blue looks almost black in some light. We’re leaning toward painting the spindles white eventually, though that will take several coats. Down the line we’d love to ebonize the railing’s top section to match the dark door hardware and achieve a cohesive look.
For now, we’re savoring the small victories: fresh walls, trimmed-out doors, chair rail and crown molding painted, and a foyer that feels renewed.
Change is good.
More Of Favorite Paint Colors
If you’re struggling to pick the right paint color, here are some detailed posts about our favorite options that can help guide your decision:
- The 12 Best White Paint Colors
- Benjamin Moore Simply White
- Sherwin-Williams Pure White
- Sherwin-Williams Extra White
Each of these colors behaves differently depending on your light and surrounding finishes, so sampling them in your space is always recommended.