Useful Gray (SW 7050)
Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.
Useful Gray (SW 7050) is a medium, warm greige from Sherwin-Williams: LRV 59, so it reflects about 59 percent of the light that hits it.
Colors that go with Useful Gray
Four Sherwin-Williams colors picked for Useful Gray by this site's color math: a trim white, a deeper greige, a quiet contrast from another family, a dark accent. Sherwin-Williams did not choose these pairings.
Closest match in every other brand
Each brand's closest color to Useful Gray, ranked by CIEDE2000 (deltaE): under 1.0 is indistinguishable, 1.0 to 2.3 very close, 2.3 to 5 noticeably different, over 5 clearly different.
| Brand | Closest color | Code | LRV | deltaE | How close |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Moore | Ice Formations | 973 | 55.1 | 1.1 | very close |
| Behr | Toasty Gray | N320-2 | 60.5 | 0.7 | indistinguishable |
| Valspar | Villa Grey | 6005-1B | 61 | 0.5 | indistinguishable |
| PPG Paints | Storm's Coming | 1008-2 | 59 | 0.5 | indistinguishable |
Lighter and darker in Sherwin-Williams
The Sherwin-Williams greige colors nearest to Useful Gray (LRV 59) by LRV.
Lighter than Useful Gray
Darker than Useful Gray
Color data
| Brand | Sherwin-Williams |
|---|---|
| Color code | SW 7050 |
| Hex | #CFCABD |
| RGB | 207, 202, 189 |
| HSL | 43°, 16%, 78% |
| LRV (light reflectance value) | 59 |
| Lab L*, a*, b* | 81.4, -0.5, 7.1 |
| Undertone | Neutral |
| Temperature | warm |
| Color family | Greige |
Same paint, two kinds of light
Useful Gray (SW 7050), published as #CFCABD
#BEC0BB
#E1D4BD
These swatches and the rooms above are a simulation, not a measurement. How the visualizer works
Similar shades from Sherwin-Williams
Comparisons that include Useful Gray (SW 7050)
More from Sherwin-Williams
Common questions
- What is the LRV of Useful Gray (SW 7050)?
- Useful Gray has an LRV of 59. LRV runs from 0 (black) to 100 (pure white) and measures the share of light a surface reflects, so Useful Gray is a medium color.
- What is the closest match to Useful Gray in another brand?
- Villa Grey (Valspar 6005-1B) from Valspar, at a deltaE of 0.5 (indistinguishable).
- Is Useful Gray warm or cool?
- Sherwin-Williams lists Useful Gray as warm, with a Neutral undertone. Its Lab b* value is 7.1; a higher b* is warmer and yellower, a lower one cooler and bluer.
Sources: LRV and hex as published by the manufacturer, via PaintDB (CC BY 4.0). Color differences are CIEDE2000 values computed by this site from the hex values (data snapshot 2026-10-01). Color names and codes belong to their manufacturers.