Downy (SW 7002) vs Creamy (SW 7012)

Living room with walls painted Sherwin-Williams Downy SW 7002 (simulated) — Downy SW 7002#EFE8DD, LRV 81

Living room with walls painted Sherwin-Williams Creamy SW 7012 (simulated) — Creamy SW 7012#EFE8DB, LRV 81

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

Quick decision

Lighter: About the same: LRV 81 vs 81.
Warmer: About the same, both warm white (Lab b* 6.2 vs 7.2).
North rooms: About the same: both keep their brightness and color about equally (L* 88.3 vs 88.3 in north light).
Trim that works: Futon SW 7101, #EDE6DB, LRV 80: the Sherwin-Williams white closest in hue to both.
Closeness: deltaE 0.9, indistinguishable. At 0.9, pick on price, finish or availability.

See each color

DownySherwin-Williams, SW 7002LRV 81, #EFE8DD

CreamySherwin-Williams, SW 7012LRV 81, #EFE8DB

More comparisons with Creamy

Downy (SW 7002) is about as light as Creamy (SW 7012) and about as warm: LRV 81 vs 81, deltaE 0.9 (indistinguishable).

Side by side

Measure	Downy	Creamy	Gap
Brand	Sherwin-Williams	Sherwin-Williams
Color code	SW 7002	SW 7012
Hex	#EFE8DD	#EFE8DB
RGB	239, 232, 221	239, 232, 219
HSL	37°, 36%, 90%	39°, 38%, 90%
LRV (light reflectance value)	81	81	0
Lab L*	92.3	92.2	+0.1
Lab a*	0.5	0.2	+0.3
Lab b*	6.2	7.2	−1.0
Undertone	Warm	Warm Yellow
Temperature	warm	warm
Color family	White	Off-white

Same paint, two kinds of light

Downy (SW 7002), published as #EFE8DD

North light (cool, indirect)
#DDDEDB

South light (warm, direct)
#FFF2DD

Creamy (SW 7012), published as #EFE8DB

North light (cool, indirect)
#DDDED9

South light (warm, direct)
#FFF2DB

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 Downy (SW 7002) for a small room or a north-facing room, because it is 0 LRV points lighter (81 vs 81), so it bounces back more of the limited light

Closest matches to Downy in other brands

Closest matches to Creamy in other brands

Common questions

Is Downy the same color as Creamy?: They are indistinguishable: a CIEDE2000 difference of 0.9. Most people cannot tell Downy and Creamy apart.
Which is lighter, Downy or Creamy?: Neither: both have an LRV of 81.

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.