Best Light Cool Gray Paint Colors – Sherwin Williams & Benjamin Moore
Do you remember when the cool grays use to dominate home interiors with cool gray walls, cool gray furniture & cool gray flooring to match in the 1990’s. It looked horrible but fortunately we are out of that phase and on to warmer colors. But wait?? What happens if you have cool gray flooring or cool gray kitchen or bathroom fixed elements like cabinets and tiles that you don’t want to replace right now? I have some cool gray options & recommendations for you to tone down that look.
The colors I’m recommending today, can be used as a whole house paint color. I don’t mean painting your ENTIRE house this color, that would be boring and bland. But the common open concept areas, like hallways, perhaps your living room, and/or dining room and/or kitchen could be painted with one of the colors we’re talking about today. Typically homeowners paint their open concept area one color to create consistency and flow throughout your home. And then add color in areas that are not open concept like offices, bedrooms, bathrooms and that could include a dining room depending on the layout.
Read: How to Create a Whole House Color Palette
Before we do a deep dive into gray paint colors, its important to note that there are actually TWO types of gray paint, cool gray and warm gray.
Cool Gray vs. Warm Gray
Above we have two “gray” paint colors. On the left is Benjamin Moore Classic Gray, a cool gray that is in their off-white paint color collection. On the right, we have Benjamin Moore Fog Mist which is a greige, a warm gray paint color with a beige undertones. You can see the differences in these two grays. The left gray is cool, where the warm gray, or also called greige, has a warmth feel to it.
Greige is a warm gray that is simply gray and beige mixed together. Its a warm gray for those of us that prefer a warm gray compared to a cool gray. “Greige” has quickly become a go to neutral outselling gray in alot of homes. Is greige the right color for your home?
Read: Best Light Greige or Warm Gray Paint Colors – Sherwin Williams & Benjamin Moore
How can painting your room gray go wrong?
Picking a neutral paint color can be the hardest color to pick. In my humble opinion, white is the hardest color to pick for a number of reasons, but gray is right up there with white because of the undertones. Also your lighting, flooring and home decor will have a say in which color is the right choice for you.
Consider Undertones
Before committing to a gray, understanding undertones is essential. Undertones are subtle hues mixed into paint, giving it depth and character. Gray has three undertones – blue, violet, and green. They may be warmer with the addition of red or yellow, or cooler with added blue or green pigments.
Lighting
The hue of the gray paint can also change based on lighting. Light gray is sensitive to natural light and can look washed out depending on the direction of the room and the time of day.
Match Decor, Fixed Elements and Flooring
If you’re designing a space around existing furniture and flooring materials, these elements also have undertones which you will need to take into consideration and match the undertones accordingly. For example, if you have a gray tile with green undertones, you will lean towards gray paint with green undertones.
To help you choose the best gray paint color for your space, you need to take these factors into consideration. This may sound complicated, but this is why testing your paint color is soooo important!!! Purchasing sample paint chips can help you decide which color will co-ordinate with your fixed elements, work with your home decor, and be the best fit for the lighting for your room.
What is LRV and why is this important in choosing a paint color?
LRV is light reflective value. There’s probably books written on LRV, lol, which we’re not going into here, but basically LRV, or Light Reflective Value, is how light or dark a color is on a scale of 1 being the darkest, black, to 100 being the lightest, white, and every color falls somewhere in-between these two colors.
For my recommendations of light gray paint colors, I am recommending gray paints with an LRV of 60 to 80. That’s not because there aren’t any gray paint colors below an LRV that aren’t worth recommending, there are plenty. But here we’re discussing alternative whole house LIGHT gray paint colors that you could use instead of the current trending whites, creams or beiges. Some of the popular grays that have an LRV below 60 fall into the medium range on the LRV scale which some homeowners may find too dark to paint their whole house in a medium range LRV shade. And also, any color that has an LRV lower than 60 is not really considered a neutral. It becomes more of a color.
So what the heck is an LRV? The LRV of a paint color reflects the amount of light it will reflect or not. This number is on a scale of 0 – 100, with 0 being pure black and 100 being pure white. This will help give you an idea of how dark or bright a paint color is.
Read: What is LRV in paint colors and why does it matter?
Read: What are interior design styles & how to I choose one for my home?
Best Sherwin Williams Cool Gray Paint Colors
Sherwin Williams Nebulous White SW 7063
Photo: Blacksburgbell.com
This cool, bright white is a great choice to compliment gray tiles or gray countertops. Pair with a clear, cool white like Pure White to highlight the hue’s blue undertone. With an LRV of 74, its a light gray paint color.
Sherwin Williams Eider White SW7014
Photo: www.howtonestforless.com
Sherwin Williams Eider White SW 7014 is a bright, relaxing tone. Its a cool white paint with gray undertones. Its very versatile you can use it in any room. With an LRV of 71, its part of Sherwin Williams off-white paint color collection.
Sherwin Williams First Start SW 7646
First Star is a cool light gray. It creates a remarkably fresh, clean-feeling backdrop in any space. Its a very versatile color and suitable as a whole house interior paint color for an open concept home.
It has an LRV of 69 which is considered a light gray color.
Photo: Pottery Barn
Sherwin Williams Olympus White SW6253
Photo: Housekeepingbay.com
Olympus White can make any room feel bigger with this crisp, lofty white. A blue-gray undertone gives this hue a pleasant coolness. With an LRV of 68, its a light paint color. Olympus White is one of Sherwin William’s expert paint color choices.
SW 7671 On the Rocks – expert pick
Photo: HousekeepingBay.com
This bright gray is versatile enough to work well with a broad range of colors. It a cool gray under strong lights. With an LRV of 62, its still considered a light color but its the darkest of the light grays here.
Best Benjamin Moore Cool Gray Paint Colors
Benjamin Moore Cloud Cover OC-25 or Cloud Cover 855
Photo: Color Congencerie.com
Benjamin Moore Cloud Cover is a popular white with a gray undertone. With an LRV of 80.25, its in the off white collection.
Benjamin Moore Pure White OC-64 also known as Mountainscape 870
Photo: Benjamin Moore
Benjamin Moore Pure White OC-64 is a cool, crisp white with gray tones. With an LRV of 78.94, Pure White is considered an off white. This color is a good fit if you have fixed elements like a countertop or tile, that has a touch of gray like in our photo above, and you want a light gray color as opposed to a white or a mid-tone gray.
Benjamin Moore Paper White OC-55 also known as Paper White 1590
Photo: Benjamin Moore
With an LRV of 74.41, Benjamin Moore Paper White is like a fresh sheet of paper, a touch of blue-gray that has a clean, crisp feel to this off-white. Again, this would be a perfect color if you are trying to tone down some of the gray in a room, but you have gray fixed elements that you want to tie into your color scheme for cohesiveness.
Benjamin Moore Gray Owl OC-52 also know as 2137-60
Photo: Benjamin Moore
Benjamin Moore’s Gray Owl is one of their most popular selling colors and its easy to see why. You can use this gray with a cool, crisp cast almost anywhere. With an LRV of 64.51 it is considered part of Benjamin Moore’s off white paint and is considered a light color. You can see that this color gray, and is an actual color as opposed to the other colors above can be described as a light gray or an off white with gray undertones.
In the photo above, you can see that the homeowners use the fireplace as their inspiration piece and pulled the colors and furniture from the room which is a beautiful mix of cool and warm colors.
Benjamin Moore’s Gray Owl is a very versatile color and is used on both interiors and exteriors.
Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray HC-170
Photo: ar.inspiredpencil.com
Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray HC-170 is part of their historical collection, and is also one of their best selling paint colors for interiors and exteriors.
Its an all-purpose silvery gray with relatively neutral undertones. With an LRV 59.3 it just barely squeaks into our light gray paint color category.
Is Gray coming back?
Yes and no! Gray is coming back in different shades and various intensity, but long gone is the dominate gray of the 1990s and early 2000s where we saw gray dominate the interior of a house including paint color, furniture, flooring and other fixed elements in the room.
As you can see in the pictures above when they use gray as an interior paint color, the furniture & accessories are a combination of cool and warm colors, grays, beiges, off-whites and other accent colors.
As we’re entering a warmer, darker moodier period in paint colors, you will see gray and greige, being used in rooms to create a moody and inviting atmosphere like we see with Benjamin Moore’s Color of the Year 2026, Silhouette, where dark brown meets dark gray.
Read: Silhouette | Benjamin Moore Paint Color of the Year 2026 Paint Color Review + How to Use it!
The Best Way to Try Out Paint Colors
The old method of buying samples pots of paint and painting various walls is an inefficient way of testing the best paint color for your home. A better option is to buy large cardboard paint samples that you can actually test on your walls at different times of the day to access what is the best color for your home.
These large paint boards can be placed with their sticky backing on various walls at different times of the day and in different rooms. It will give you a great way to see if the color works in your room or not. You can buy them through your major paint color companies where you purchase your paint from.
Need help? Feeling Overwhelmed?
I help busy homeowners, just like you, to style their house to make it a stunning retreat, where they can live and enjoy their home. I can help you choose colors for your home or exterior that will co-ordinate with your existing features and give you a color that you will love.
Picking out a neutral is probably the hardest color to pick out because of the undertones of the paint, the undertones of your fixed elements like flooring, furniture & accessories etc.
I can help you with the overwhelm with one of my color or design packages.
Check on my online paint color + design consult packages here
Hi! I’m Debi Collinson. Designer. Color Consultant & Real Estate Investor.
I conducted my first color consult at the age of 7, for my father for one of his design | build projects. I’m an Interior Designer, a Double-Certified Paint Color Expert, with advanced training in kitchens + bathrooms!
Since 2006, I have helped hundreds of clients, just like you, to style their house to make it a stunning retreat, that is functional for the family AND that they love and enjoy their home. In 2020, I moved my design business online.
I have successfully flipped 9 houses and in my spare time, lol, I’m currently working on our dated 1950’s river house!
