I bought an inexpensive gray one off eBay this Summer with plan of painting it. Never remembered to pick up paint and have gotten use to the gray now. I guess I'll watch your progress to see if I should do something else. I'm just so happy to have a functional cup holder I hardly notice the gray patch.
I couldn't see a reasonable way to move just the plastic face plate but didn't try either. Not sure why the gray ones always go cheap and the tan/brown ones go high, guess not to many gray interiors around.
Jeb