The colour pundits all agree; grey is Australia's new favourite neutral. We tried Murobond's Crushed Shell on for size.

Neutral territory
"Crushed Shell is a popular colour - a versatile grey/off white with warm undertonings, which works in both heritage and contemporary schemes" says Murobond's Rowena Judd.

Why it works 
T&W's Head of Styling chose Crushed Shell when styling this Christmas table. "I love dramatic grey walls as much as I love light airy spaces," she says. "The subtle grey of Crushed Shell was the perfect neutral for this scene, a modern country dining space that needed light walls with a hint of attitude."

Home truths 
Wondering how to apply it to your space? Our Head of Production and resident colour expert Cathy Leighton chose Crushed Shell for her own apartment. "I wanted a light colour to open up the relatively small space, but I didn't want a stark white. Crushed Shell is a soft colour - it's not too cold or blue and won't dominate. I paired it with Mink in my open plan living space for a tone-on-tone scheme, which I prefer to high contrast feature walls. I love how it turned out , and it's especially perfect in warm afternoon sunlight."

For a classic look, Rowena suggests using it as a wall colour with trims in Just White. If you want to try just one room, she says it's "especially popular for boys' bedrooms as with works really well with red , white and blue."