Shade-Grown (SW 6188) vs Ripe Olive (SW 6209)

Living room with walls painted Sherwin-Williams Shade-Grown SW 6188 (simulated) — Shade-Grown SW 6188#4E5147, LRV 8

Living room with walls painted Sherwin-Williams Ripe Olive SW 6209 (simulated) — Ripe Olive SW 6209#44483D, LRV 6

Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.

Quick decision

Lighter: Shade-Grown, LRV 8 vs 6.
Warmer: About the same, both green-gray (Lab b* 5.5 vs 6.1).
North rooms: Shade-Grown keeps more brightness (L* 29.7 vs 26.1 in north light); both drift gray about equally.
Trim that works: Spinach White SW 6434, #E4E8DA, LRV 79: the Sherwin-Williams white closest in hue to both.
Closeness: deltaE 3.3, noticeably different. At 3.3, test both: on a full wall the difference will show.

See each color

Shade-GrownSherwin-Williams, SW 6188LRV 8, #4E5147

More comparisons with Shade-Grown

Shade-Grown vs Pewter GreenSW 6188 vs SW 6208deltaE 6.0, clearly different

Ripe OliveSherwin-Williams, SW 6209LRV 6, #44483D

More comparisons with Ripe Olive

Pewter Green vs Ripe OliveSW 6208 vs SW 6209deltaE 9.2, clearly different

Shade-Grown (SW 6188) is slightly lighter than Ripe Olive (SW 6209) and about as warm: LRV 8 vs 6, deltaE 3.3 (noticeably different).

Side by side

Measure	Shade-Grown	Ripe Olive	Gap
Brand	Sherwin-Williams	Sherwin-Williams
Color code	SW 6188	SW 6209
Hex	#4E5147	#44483D
RGB	78, 81, 71	68, 72, 61
HSL	78°, 7%, 30%	82°, 8%, 26%
LRV (light reflectance value)	8	6	+2
Lab L*	33.9	29.9	+4.0
Lab a*	-3.3	-4.0	+0.7
Lab b*	5.5	6.1	−0.6
Undertone	Neutral	Neutral
Temperature	warm	warm
Color family	Gray	Black

Same paint, two kinds of light

Shade-Grown (SW 6188), published as #4E5147

North light (cool, indirect)
#3F4846

South light (warm, direct)
#5D5A47

Ripe Olive (SW 6209), published as #44483D

North light (cool, indirect)
#36403C

South light (warm, direct)
#52513D

These swatches and the rooms above are a simulation, not a measurement. How the visualizer works

Which should you pick

Rules of thumb computed from the LRV and Lab values in the table above; no room test was done.

Pick Shade-Grown (SW 6188) for a small room or a north-facing room, because it is 2 LRV points lighter (8 vs 6), so it bounces back more of the limited light

Closest matches to Shade-Grown in other brands

Closest matches to Ripe Olive in other brands

Common questions

Is Shade-Grown the same color as Ripe Olive?: They are noticeably different: a CIEDE2000 difference of 3.3. Most people can see the difference between Shade-Grown and Ripe Olive side by side.
Which is lighter, Shade-Grown or Ripe Olive?: Shade-Grown, with an LRV of 8 against 6.

Full pages

Related comparisons

By Paint Pairs. Color data from manufacturer specifications, via PaintDB. The most-viewed colors are checked against each manufacturer's own color page.

Published 2026-10-01. Updated 2026-10-01.

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.