Inky Blue (SW 9149)
Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.
Inky Blue (SW 9149) is a very deep, cool blue from Sherwin-Williams: LRV 15, so it reflects about 15 percent of the light that hits it.
Colors that go with Inky Blue
Four Sherwin-Williams colors picked for Inky Blue by this site's color math: a trim white, a deeper blue, 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 Inky Blue, 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 | Mozart Blue | 1665 | 16.9 | 1.3 | very close |
| Behr | Shipyard | S500-6 | 14.7 | 1.7 | very close |
| Valspar | Empire Fleet Blue | 4006-6C | 14 | 1.6 | very close |
| PPG Paints | Smoke Blue | 1156-5 | 17 | 2.4 | noticeably different |
Lighter and darker in Sherwin-Williams
The Sherwin-Williams blue colors nearest to Inky Blue (LRV 15) by LRV.
Lighter than Inky Blue
Darker than Inky Blue
Color data
| Brand | Sherwin-Williams |
|---|---|
| Color code | SW 9149 |
| Hex | #4E7287 |
| RGB | 78, 114, 135 |
| HSL | 202°, 27%, 42% |
| LRV (light reflectance value) | 15 |
| Lab L*, a*, b* | 46.2, -6.9, -15.5 |
| Undertone | Cool Blue |
| Temperature | cool |
| Color family | Blue |
Same paint, two kinds of light
Inky Blue (SW 9149), published as #4E7287
#386985
#627B87
These swatches and the rooms above are a simulation, not a measurement. How the visualizer works
Similar shades from Sherwin-Williams
More from Sherwin-Williams
Common questions
- What is the LRV of Inky Blue (SW 9149)?
- Inky Blue has an LRV of 15. LRV runs from 0 (black) to 100 (pure white) and measures the share of light a surface reflects, so Inky Blue is a very deep color.
- What is the closest match to Inky Blue in another brand?
- Mozart Blue (BM 1665) from Benjamin Moore, at a deltaE of 1.3 (very close).
- Is Inky Blue warm or cool?
- Sherwin-Williams lists Inky Blue as cool, with a Cool Blue undertone. Its Lab b* value is -15.5; 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.