In such cases, it's often better to convert to B&W instead of a desaturated color shot. Mess around with filters on the conversion to B&W and try to get some beautiful contrast out of it; that will make up for the loss of color, whereas desaturation doesn't.
I see. I did about 1/2 of what you said. I got a black and white I like, and reduced the opacity to around 50%. Maybe I should have just left it as a B&W...