Elephant Ear (SW 9168)
Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.
Elephant Ear (SW 9168) is a deep, warm greige from Sherwin-Williams: LRV 28, so it reflects about 28 percent of the light that hits it.
Colors that go with Elephant Ear
Four Sherwin-Williams colors picked for Elephant Ear 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 Elephant Ear, 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 | Castle Gate | CSP-75 | 25.8 | 2.4 | noticeably different |
| Behr | Water Tower | QE-59 | 27.8 | 1.8 | very close |
| Valspar | Artichoke | 6003-2A | 27 | 2.6 | noticeably different |
| PPG Paints | Eiffel Tower | 1022-5 | 28 | 1.0 | indistinguishable |
Lighter and darker in Sherwin-Williams
The Sherwin-Williams greige colors nearest to Elephant Ear (LRV 28) by LRV.
Lighter than Elephant Ear
Darker than Elephant Ear
Color data
| Brand | Sherwin-Williams |
|---|---|
| Color code | SW 9168 |
| Hex | #988F85 |
| RGB | 152, 143, 133 |
| HSL | 32°, 8%, 56% |
| LRV (light reflectance value) | 28 |
| Lab L*, a*, b* | 59.9, 1.5, 6.5 |
| Undertone | Warm |
| Temperature | warm |
| Color family | Greige |
Same paint, two kinds of light
Elephant Ear (SW 9168), published as #988F85
#888683
#A89985
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 Elephant Ear (SW 9168)?
- Elephant Ear has an LRV of 28. LRV runs from 0 (black) to 100 (pure white) and measures the share of light a surface reflects, so Elephant Ear is a deep color.
- What is the closest match to Elephant Ear in another brand?
- Eiffel Tower (PPG 1022-5) from PPG Paints, at a deltaE of 1.0 (indistinguishable).
- Is Elephant Ear warm or cool?
- Sherwin-Williams lists Elephant Ear as warm, with a Warm undertone. Its Lab b* value is 6.5; 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.