Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze: a dark velvety greige
When Urbane Bronze showed up as the Color of the Year, I wasn’t surprised at all – it’s like I picked it myself! With its depth, undertones, and range of uses, it’s a GREAT color to try out – which should be the goal of any Color of the Year; it should get people excited to paint SOMETHING!
So, let’s dive into this bad boy and see if he could work for you!
IS URBANE BRONZE GREIGE, BROWN OR GRAY? WARM OR COOL?
Urbane Bronze is one of the more GLORIOUS WARM GREIGE paint colors. What sets it apart is its depth and undertones, both of which we’ll cover shortly.
If you have a north-facing space, Urbane Bronze can fall that bit more into gray while still holding a luscious passive warmth. However, if you have south-facing or afternoon western light, Urbane Bronze will lean into its warmth, picking up a subtle richness. I friggin’ love this color.
North, East, South, West – Which Paint Color is the Best?
WHAT’S THE LRV OF URBANE BRONZE?
Urbane Bronze has an LRV of 8, so while it’s not THE darkest color, it’s definitely getting down there. The LOW LRV of Urbane Bronze puts it on the slightly darker end of the DARK range – however, it’s not close to being black.
What is LRV? It could save your paint-lovin’ life – read all about it HERE.
WHAT ARE URBANE BRONZE’S UNDERTONES?
While Urbane Bronze has a GLORIOUS greige base, it does have a reasonable green undertone to consider.
Before, this entryway was a bit too standard…
After, it has depth and personality with the trim, sidelight, transom window, and front door painted a striking Urbane Bronze…
Read more: The Best Paint Colors for Your Front Door
SAMPLING URBANE BRONZE WITH PEEL & STICK (SAMPLIZE)
Like with every paint color, I highly recommend using SAMPLIZE. Samplize is a peel & stick paint sample that you can easily move around your room for over HALF THE COST of traditional sample pots – and they deliver right to your front door!
Learn all about Samplize HERE
WHICH WHITE TRIM COLOR GOES WITH URBANE BRONZE?
Urbane Bronze is pretty flexible regarding coordinating white paint colors so it would depend on the application. Generally speaking, I would look at…
- Sherwin Williams Pure White
- Benjamin Moore White Dove
SHOULD I Paint My Wood Cabinets White? A QUESTIONNAIRE
The 4 Best White Paint Colors from Sherwin Williams
IS URBANE BRONZE A GOOD COLOR FOR EXTERIOR SIDING OR TRIM?
Heck, yes, Urbane Bronze can be awesome on the exterior, but you need some warm tones in your roof and flexible stones and/or brick to support the warmth and the green undertone.
5 Tips for Choosing an Exterior Paint Color
IS URBANE BRONZE A POPULAR SHADE OF GREIGE?
Yes, in the DARK world, Urbane Bronze is reasonably popular, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. What is Urbane Bronze great for? I think the question is, what ISN’T it great for?!
…and much more!
IS URBANE BRONZE GOOD ON KITCHEN CABINETS?
Definitely, Urbane Bronze can be just what you need if a standard darker gray paint color isn’t warm enough for your countertop and backsplash.
Before, this kitchen was dated, with late 90s and early 2000s finishes…
After, with Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze as the foundation, this kitchen is 10x better!
See it ALL HERE
WHAT COLOR IS CLOSE TO URBANE BRONZE?
GOOD QUESTION! While there will never be a perfect color match, there are a few similar shades, making them great for comparison.
- Benjamin Moore’s Dragon’s Breath
- Sherwin Williams Ironclad
- Sherwin Williams Porpoise
- Sherwin Williams Thunder Gray
- Sherwin Williams Iron Ore, which is darker than Urbane Bronze but has a subtle warm green undertone
Urbane Bronze vs. 6 TOP GREIGE Paint Colors (including the colors listed above!)
REMEMBER, comparison is key to finding the best paint color.
WHAT PAINT COLORS GO WITH URBANE BRONZE?
It’s not hard to coordinate with Urbane Bronze, as he’s pretty darn easy to please.
- Urbane Bronze doesn’t love to be partnered with many cooler light gray paint colors
- This dark greige loves other greiges, including medium and light-depth versions
- many warm gray paint colors, especially those with a passive green undertone
- You can also check out some muted, neutralized cream paint colors as well as off-whites
Not sure if Urbane Bronze is right for you? Want a bit warmer or cooler? I’ve got more!
READ MORE
The 6 Best DARK Greige & Taupe Paint Colors from Sherwin Williams
Paint Color Review of Benjamin Moore Amherst Gray
Urbane Bronze vs. 6 TOP GREIGE Paint Colors
The 8 Best DARK Greige & Taupe Paint Colors: Benjamin Moore
The Best Paint Colors for Kitchen Islands & Bathroom Vanities
Not sure which paint color is best for YOUR home?
Check out my Online Paint Color Consulting – I’d love to help!
ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN 2020, UPDATED IN 2023
Chat soon,
I am painting my kitchen cabinets SW Accessible Beige (it is a very large kitchen). I was thinking of doing the island area Urban Bronze or a darker greige/beige on the Accessible Beige paint strip. What do you think?
We will be limewashing our brick house white. They have a warmer and a cooler white to choose from. What would you suggest as I’d love to paint our front door Urban Bronze. Thanks!
Does Urbane Bronze go at all with the Moderate White? Of course I have the pink orange tile. So noticed video on Moderate white and even 50% Moderate white. However, I wondered what island color. I do love Urbane Bronze but am repeating to myself its not what I love necessarily but what goes with my home.
Really like all of the information you give! Thanks.
Author
I LOVE Urbane Bronze with Moderate White – ABSOLUTELY!!
Does urban bronze go with on the rocks
Author
It depends on the space. My first instinct was YES, but it would be on the surrounding finishes/decor to really link them.
Urbane Bronze has worked some magic for me in the past. I’m hoping it will do it again.
I have a 1950s mid-mod house with a low-pitched roof, and no matter how well I choose roofing shingles, they tend to reflect a lot of light when lying so perpendicularly to the sky and they can take on a cooler appearance that clashes with the warm orange stonework in my facade. The siding is a dark muted blue-green similar to SW Pewter Green and it complements the stonework beautifully.
My last roof was Owens-Corning Aged Copper which had orange and blue-green in it and I thought it would harmonize with the siding and stone. It certainly looked like it did when a panel was held up vertically in front of both. But the roof took on a pinkish/reddish cast when installed. To remedy this, I used Urbane Bronze as a trim color and it managed to pull the orange out of the roof as well as the stonework and the house looked fantastic.
This year I had to replace the roof due to structural work that needed to be done, so I went with Owens-Corning Sand Dune, the sample of which looked warm and looked fabulous against the stonework. However it takes on a very cool cast when perpendicular to the sky, a mix of purple-ish looking tones that clashes badly with the orange stonework and doesn’t look all that good with blue-green siding either. I’m considering going full Urbane Bronze on the siding in the hopes that it will warm up the roof. I had been considering coloring the stonework but I’d hate to lose one of the best-preserved architectural features of this house.
Any other suggestions how I might solve this predicament? I don’t really want to go with the farmhouse fad this late in the game, but it had also occurred to me to do Shoji White siding with Urbane Bronze trim to see if that might play better against the stonework.
I’m thinking about painting my stair railing Urbane Bronze. My walls are anew grey and my steps wood with a light/medium gray on the uppers and white on the front of the step. Can’t decide if painting all of the railing would be too much? Should I paint the 🔝 railing only and leave the rest white?
Author
Oooo ya, that will be too many colors in one close area – I wouldn’t add Urbane Bronze to the scene.
I have a mid mod ranch house with red/brown tile roof. I am painting the exterior urban bronze. There is also some stone on the front. What color would you suggest for the front door. Thanks
Hi there! We are painting the exterior of our 1970s shed style house (a bit of mcm styling thrown in there) in urbane bronze. we are also installing new modern front doors, which are quite recessed under a portico and dont get much light. Due to the recessed front doors and the dark exterior paint, we want a bright pop of color for the doors. Torn between something like SW Mandarin and SW Maxi Teal. We also have some red brick on the bottom part-foundation of the house, though most of it is the painted vertical siding. Any suggestions for either teal or orange ish colors?
Hi there! Love your blog! What Sherwin Williams wall color would make the green undertones in Urbane Bronze stand out? We are doing our cabinets in Urbane Bronze and want a more midcentury modern look-hardware will be brass-we really want to make the greens pop. Thank you!
Author
Hmmmm, take a look at shades with a bit of a violet hue – i love BM Balboa Mist!