Sherwin Williams Colonnade Gray (7641): Undertones, LRV, & Real-Home Results
Sherwin Williams Colonnade Gray is a light-medium, warm gray paint color. It works well on interior walls, especially in open-concept spaces, as well as exteriors.
Warm grays like Colonnade Gray can change how they look throughout the day. Surrounding finishes, exposure, and light bulbs all play a part.
Now, if you’ve been with me for a while (bless your heart), you know that I love doing paint color reviews. Reviews are where all (okay, some) of the insanity that’s sloshing around in my brain comes out, and that’s precisely what’s going to happen with this review of Colonnade Gray – HOT DAMN, I love this color!
IS COLONNADE GRAY A WARM OR COOL GRAY OR GREIGE?
As it relates to paint colors, a lot comes down to perception. What I see as a warm gray, you might see as a greige. What looks a bit too cold for your room could be WAY too warm for mine!
However, some colors have a pretty obvious baseline to work off of, and Colonnade Gray is a warm gray. Is it warm enough to be a greige (a warm gray with more beige)? Nope, not quite, but it thinks about it in some exposures!
Colonnade Gray & Benjamin Moore Gibraltar Cliffs
If you have northern exposure, you should still see a passive warmth in Colonnade Gray. I wouldn’t say it’s remotely overwhelming, but it will be softer and more inviting than a cool or super stormy shade of gray. On the other hand, if you have southern sun or western afternoon light, notice how Colonnade Gray can look warmer and greige.
WHAT’S THE LRV OF COLONNADE GRAY?
Colonnade has an LRV of 53, which ‘they’ call light (‘they’ being the peeps at Sherwin Williams). However, when you picture a light gray color, it’s often fresher or brighter. Colonnade Gray is not fresh and light; it’s soft and subtle but has some decent body, so it doesn’t wash out in natural light as some light colors can.
You might go so far as to call Colonnade Gray ‘muddy.’
Are you not familiar with LRV? It’s a big deal, you should read about it.
In the above photo, look at the contrast between the white trim and the switch plate – this gives you a great idea of the general depth you can expect to see.
WHAT ARE COLONNADE GRAY’S UNDERTONES?
If you subscribe to my blog and drink the Ginger-infused Kool-Aid, you know grays are NEVER simple…
Of course, Doug had to make an appearance – he was feeling dapper with his new haircut.
Grays have cool undertones of either blue, purple, or green, and Colonnade Gray is no exception. Warm grays cater to green or purple undertones (blue is more situational). As for Colonnade Gray, it favors a very minor green undertone. That said, depending on the time of day, I’ve seen it look greige and even a smidge gray-blue, particularly when the northern light hits it. In other words, it’s a pretty typical neurotic warm gray.
By the way, many of the photos in this blog post are from my own home (our previous home; we’ve since moved).
How to Choose Paint Colors for North-Facing Rooms
COLONNADE GRAY IN SOUTH-FACING ROOMS
In this next photo, look at how that warm southern light softens Colonnade up – I love it. I partnered it with Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze on the front door, which is pretty much the most badass color ever. Can I say heaven and bad-ass in the same paragraph?
The Best Paint Colors for Your Front Door
COLONNADE GRAY IN NORTH-FACING LIGHT ROOMS
In northern light, you’ll have a more challenging time pulling warmth out of Colonnade Gray as it will lean more into its gray roots than in south-facing light.
Get your Peel & Stick sample of Colonnade Gray HERE!
COLONNADE GRAY 25% LIGHTER (in morning east-facing light)
The carpet in our last home had purple undertones. However, I wanted to use Colonnade Gray throughout our main living areas, including the staircase, and its green undertone wasn’t cuttin’ it.
So, I experimented.
I asked Sherwin Williams to lighten Colonnade Gray by 25%. When you lighten or darken colors, undertones can shift a little (or a lot). I didn’t think I could lose ALL the green, but I felt that maybe 25% could lessen its impact—and sweet hallelujah, it did!
I also love how Colonnade sits with Sherwin Williams Anonymous in the powder room and the stairwell feature wall. This was actually one of my favorite spots in our 4000 sq ft house—true story. The color combo just sat well with my soul.
WHAT WHITE TRIM COLORS GO WITH COLONNADE GRAY?
Colonnade is pretty flexible. You can try it with almost ANY of my top white paint colors, but my personal faves are…
- Sherwin Williams Pure White
- Benjamin Moore White Dove
- Sherwin Williams Alabaster
These next photos are from another one of my E-design clients. I wanted to quickly show you how Colonnade Gray looks with slightly warmer features and furnishings.
I apologize for the slightly smaller photo size/quality. My blog relies 100% on my clients, friends, and readers sending me their after photos. Interiors are DARN tough to shoot, but she did pretty good!
The above photo shows a bit more of the warm gray I love seeing in Colonnade Gray—what a gorgeous complement to the slate tile fireplace.
Below, see how well Colonnade partners up with subdued greige and grayed-out beige tones in this room!
DOES COLONNADE GRAY GO WITH CREAM TRIM?
It can. This isn’t to say it’s my favorite combo, but if your cream trim is light enough, you can pull it off in a pinch.
However, if your cream trim is similar in depth/richness to Sherwin Williams Antique White, I’d tread carefully—the more muted and subtle (and lighter), the better.
The Best Paint Colors with Cream Cabinets & Trims
DOES COLONNADE GRAY GO WITH WOOD TRIM?
Colonnade Gray is gorgeous with many wood trims. Just watch that your room has enough natural light. Without enough light and no white trim, a color like Colonnade Gray could look a bit drab and dingy.
In this next room, Colonnade Gray looks amazeballs with the golden oak trims. My Online Paint Color Consulting client didn’t want to blend in that beautiful wood, and Colonnade Gray did a job complementing it!
Paint Colors That Go With Golden Oak
Colonnade Gray is also highly tolerant to a wide range of species and stains, including white oak, maple, and red or cherry stains.
The Best Paint Colors to Update Wood Finishes
One wood finish that could make me a bit twitchy would be a stain with a lighter pink undertone, often found in light maple cabinets or red oak flooring.
WHAT COLORS ARE SIMILAR TO COLONNADE GRAY?
In your search for the perfect paint color, you must sample and compare similar shades. Here’s what I recommend…
- Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter is a bit warmer and muddier.
- Sherwin Williams Mindful Gray
- Even better, check out my CURATED COLOR BUNDLE, which includes Colonnade Gray and the above two shades!
WHAT COLORS GO WITH COLONNADE GRAY?
Thanks to its depth and muted undertones, Colonnade Gray is reasonably easy to build a room-by-room palette around…
- Tons of warm off-whites like Sherwin Williams Aesthetic White, Shoji White, and White Duck
- Darker shades of moody green
- Medium to dark greige paint colors like Porpoise and Urbane Bronze
- As shown earlier, I LOVE Colonnade Gray with moody blue-gray paint colors
Are you not sure if Colonnade Gray is the color for you? I’VE GOT MORE!
READ MORE
Sherwin Williams 10 Best Gray & Greige Paint Colors
Paint Color Review of Sherwin Williams Modern Gray
Paint Color Review of Sherwin Williams Repose Gray
Paint Color Review of Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray
Color Review: SW Collonade Gray vs BM Revere Pewter
NEED HELP?
Check out my affordable E-design packages!
WRITTEN ORIGINALLY IN 2020 OR SO, UPDATED IN 2024
Your new home is beautiful, Kylie. And the Collonade Gray is a great pick. Enjoy! I am still loving my Accessible Beige. 🙂
Hi Again, Kylie, I just found your very detailed information on how to lighten or darken a paint color when I did a search. I should have know you already covered that subject! Best wishes…
Thank you Lisa!
Love the Collonade Gray in your home! It looks like the perfect gray! Your home is beautiful! Do you inow the color of your white kitchen cabinets? I’ve read and re-read your White blog….still indecisive. ????♀️
Hi Diane, thank you! I ‘believe’ they are SW Alabaster, or pretty darned close!
You have a great site and wonderful information! BTW – Where did you get your counter stools? I love them!
Hi Jaime, those beauties were from Overstock!
Beautiful color! We recently purchased an old character home with a lot of dark orange toned oak and I am struggling to find the right paint color. Would Collonade Gray work in this situation?
Thanks you!
Thank you, Kylie, for teaching me about warm and cool grays and how they change and surprise in various lights. I had been struggling with paint choices before coming upon your web site. Based on your recommendation, I just painted my kitchen SW Colonnade Gray and I couldn’t be happier with it. It’s warm, but not too warm, a gray without visible brown undertones. Soft, but not pale. Just beautiful!
Hi Kylie, I love the collonade gray! I also love the light fixtures over your island. Could you share where they are from? I just stumbled across your website, but, I am bookmarking you now! Thank you
Hi Lesley, thank you! Now those fixtures were there when we moved in, but I believe they were the Odie collection from Wayfair. Click here and go down to the SECOND graphic – #5 🙂 https://www.kylieminteriors.ca/best-small-medium-pendant-lights/
~Kylie
Very informative! I’m using Colannade gray for wall color. What would you suggest for a contrast interior frint door color. House is south facing. Looking for more gray than black. Thanks!
Love your house Kylie! Very interested to know what your floors are. Also, you said you thought your cabinets were SW alabaster but your doors and trim are BM dove white. They look awesome but I thought you said you should match doors/trim to cabinet when choosing a shade of white. I was looking at both colors for my kitchen renovation as well.
Hi Nicole – you are RIGHT! But…we actually bought the house with those colours already in place – I just changed the wall colours to be more my style. If I had to choose one of those, I probably would’ve chosen BM White Dove 🙂
~Kylie
Hi Kylie, I have been looking at your consultation packages and I am not sure which ones to choose. I am looking to paint my living room and foyer.
Hi Debora! If the living room and foyer are separate and need to be 2 different colours, you would choose the 2 room option. However, if they are quite tied together and would be painted the same colour, I would choose the Open Layout package 🙂
I have decided on colonnade gray for my rebuilt home If I lighten it 25%, will the undertones change? I bought a sample of both and the 25% lighter looks warmer to me,more of a beige tone. Am I crazy? ( I chose all the furniture based on the 100% colonnade and now I’m panicking )
Thanks!
Hi Jan! Well, funny enough, in our last home I did the 25% lighter as well as the regular strength and found that a) it almost COMPLETELY eliminated the green undertone and b) made it seem a bit grayer, but keep in mind it can all be relative to the room/exposure/furnishings!
What does that mean, lighten it by 25%?
Hi Teresa! You basically go to the paint store and ask them to make it for you, but lighten it by 25%, which just makes it a bit lighter/brighter! You don’t have to do anything, they adjust the recipe for you :).
I must say a big triple YES to Collonade Gray-as this is the third house I have painted this color in the last eight years! It has blended well with, get ready—dark brown wood floors, nasty white floor tile, cream floor tile, ultra modern woodgrain gray floor tile, gold/ brown toned carpet, cream carpet and has totally downplayed the orange oak we just moved in to! We have had huge windows off the back of each house and have gone from dark green trees to a turquoise pool to bright green trees and it looks SO good with ALL. This house I am using it lightened 25% and it looses the green but not the warmth or the gray color for darker/smaller spaces like you did on your stairs. Also lightened it does not change AS MUCH during the day or from wall to wall. I am currently painting OVER Revere Pewter walls- with gray tile and orange oak visible from every angle of the bottom floor-AKA a hot mess of warm/cool flooring. However–Collonade Gray is making my floors blend a bit better with each other and my new home is go from swamp to posh just as fast as I (my hubs) can paint. Sweet relief! (LOVE the blog!)
Hi Julie, thanks for the note! It’s stuff like this that really helps other readers figure out what will work for them – thank you!
Thank you!
I just painted my two story, north facing entry in Colonnade gray. My husband prefers more golden beige colors and I wanted to pull in more of the modern gray tones. Colonnade seemed like a good compromise, however I am a little disappointed with how it all came together. I used SW Alabaster for the trim and the Colonnade is pulling out the cream in the alabaster. And is it possible that I could be seeing violet undertones is the Colonnade gray??? It’s lacking the crisp modern look I was wanting, to me it feels more romantic – maybe better for a bedroom?? In the adjacent formal living room and family room I painted with SW Silvermist and carried the alabaster trim through. The trim against the Silvermist is more white and crisp. Loved that combination!! Thank you for all your posts, I’ve learned so much about selecting paint colors!!
Hi Stephanie! Nope, that’s not strange at all, Alabaster is a considerably warmer white for sure, especially up against Collonade. And while Colonnade can often favour green, having lived with it, I did see it go slightly purple at times – depending on the exposure of the room/time of day. So, just confirming that you aren’t going crazy – you are seeing all of the above :).
I have a ranch house facing the east with 3 large picture windows from floor to ceiling . I painted my living room and dining room the collonade gray after looking at it for mths on a white poster board and moving it around the room , and I hate it all long the walls that the eastern light hits . It looks green blue but the rest of the walls I like the color . Can I darken or lighten it to get it to all match? In a panic I went out and bought Dorian gray and that comes up green , requisite comes up purple pussywillow shows blue And anew gray I like the tone but is washed out and way to light almost white . Can I darken anew to get a color like somewhere between anew and mega Greige? I’m living room is torn apart and I am on a panic and almost in tears and don’t know what to do ! Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thank
Hi Rachael! Yes, you should be able to darken Anew Gray OR lighten Mega Greige to get the range that you like – they are gorgeous colours!
Love the SW Collonade grey painted in your home. I also have this color painted in most of my home. Is there a coordinating SW yellow or another paint that I could paint in my home that would coordinate with the collonade grey. Thanks.
Oooo, yellow could be a BIT off with Colonnade. I think the most I would do would be a soft, creamy type of colour like SW Creamy. Any brighter/deeper and it could feel like they are in different colour families ;).
Thank so much:) I will take a look at the SW creamy!
Thanks Kylie, you are so right about the yellow not coordinating with collonade so I will stay with a neutral grey for the foyer, hall, and living but I need something lighter than collonade due to lighting. Do you think SW Ageeable grey work as a coordinating color with collonade or something else?
I have mahogany doors and baseboard in my house, have you used these colors with colonnade gray before ? Did it look ok?
I am considering colonnade grey for our kitchen remodel and it is open to our living room. Our perimeter kitchen cabinets will be white and the island will be stained. Th countertops will be off white, with grey/taupe veining (cambria Ella). We do have some brown living room furniture. Will colonnade play nice with the browns or should I do something more greige? What trim color would you recommend? Thank you!
Hi Janelle, thank you for commenting! I do try to offer as much complimentary advice on my blog as possible, but otherwise, I try to refer to my Online Consulting, so that I can take a look at the room and its lighting and other features! If that interests you, I will be opening it up again after Christmas! https://www.kylieminteriors.ca/online-decorating-design-services/ Off the top of my head, it SOUNDS like you’re on the right track and you may want to match your trim up to the white of your cabinets so that you don’t have conflicting undertones!
~Kylie
I love the pics you posted! I didn’t see any using Collonade on cabinets though. Have you seen or done that before? Would you just do white walls if that was the cabinets color? Loved the Collonade grey vs Revere Pewter article too! Spot on!!
Hi Kelly, love your style and your down to earth posts and videos. I am planning to paint by myself, is it ok to paint this color on the wall and ceiling ? Right now I have builder beige wall and ceiling, and yellowish off white, and i would really hate to paint the ceiling.
Oooo, it could be a bit heavy for a ceiling, unless you have tall, vaulted ceilings, but even then…I would stick with the white you have or a new one 🙂
I can’t tell you how helpful you’ve been in my hunt for colors. Your time is very appreciated. Do you think this color would work well with furniture that is dark gray? I just ordered these in the color “Graphite”. Thank you!
https://www.slumberland.com/p/wake-sofa/WakeSofa.html?dwvar_WakeSofa_WakeColors=Snow&cgid=#q=wake&lang=default&start=1
Sorry, I forgot to attach the link
Hi Melissa, online images can be tricky, but my FIRST thought was that your new piece has a subtle purple undertone (as all grays have undertones of blue, green or purple) whereas Colonnade does slightly favour a mild green, so based on that, I don’t LOVE it :).