Sea Salt (SW 6204) vs Tidewater (SW 6477)

Living room with walls painted Sherwin-Williams Sea Salt SW 6204 (simulated) — Sea Salt SW 6204#CDD2CA, LRV 63

Living room with walls painted Sherwin-Williams Tidewater SW 6477 (simulated) — Tidewater SW 6477#C3D7D3, LRV 65

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

Quick decision

Lighter: Tidewater, LRV 65 vs 63.
Warmer: Sea Salt (Lab b* 3.4 vs -0.3). Sea Salt reads green-gray; Tidewater reads blue-gray.
North rooms: About the same: both keep their brightness and color about equally (L* 80.5 vs 79.6 in north light).
Trim that works: Glimmer SW 6476, #E0E7E2, LRV 78: the Sherwin-Williams white closest in hue to both.
Closeness: deltaE 5.9, clearly different. At 5.9, treat them as different colors.

See each color

Sea SaltSherwin-Williams, SW 6204LRV 63, #CDD2CA

More comparisons with Sea Salt

TidewaterSherwin-Williams, SW 6477LRV 65, #C3D7D3

More comparisons with Tidewater

Sea Salt (SW 6204) is slightly darker than Tidewater (SW 6477) and warmer: LRV 63 vs 65, deltaE 5.9 (clearly different).

Side by side

Measure	Sea Salt	Tidewater	Gap
Brand	Sherwin-Williams	Sherwin-Williams
Color code	SW 6204	SW 6477
Hex	#CDD2CA	#C3D7D3
RGB	205, 210, 202	195, 215, 211
HSL	97°, 8%, 81%	168°, 20%, 80%
LRV (light reflectance value)	63	65	−2
Lab L*	83.6	84.4	−0.8
Lab a*	-3.1	-7.4	+4.3
Lab b*	3.4	-0.3	+3.7
Undertone	Cool Blue-Green	Cool Green
Temperature	cool	neutral
Color family	Gray	Green

Same paint, two kinds of light

Sea Salt (SW 6204), published as #CDD2CA

North light (cool, indirect)
#BBC8C8

South light (warm, direct)
#DFDCCA

Tidewater (SW 6477), published as #C3D7D3

North light (cool, indirect)
#B1CDD1

South light (warm, direct)
#D6E1D3

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 Tidewater (SW 6477) for a small room or a north-facing room, because it is 2 LRV points lighter (65 vs 63), so it bounces back more of the limited light
Pick Tidewater (SW 6477) for a south-facing room, because its Lab b* is -0.3 against 3.4, so it is the cooler of the two and offsets warm direct sun
Pick Sea Salt (SW 6204) to warm a north-facing room, because it is the warmer of the two (Lab b* 3.4), which counters cool indirect light

Closest matches to Sea Salt in other brands

Closest matches to Tidewater in other brands

Common questions

Is Sea Salt the same color as Tidewater?: They are clearly different: a CIEDE2000 difference of 5.9. Sea Salt and Tidewater are different colors.
Which is lighter, Sea Salt or Tidewater?: Tidewater, with an LRV of 65 against 63.

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.