Sherwin Williams Fawn Brindle: Undertones, Best Uses, & Real Homes
By Kylie
May 26, 2024
The Best Medium-Toned Greige – Fawn Brindle
If you’re tired of the light gray trend and looking for a color with a bit more body and warmth, look no further than Fawn Brindle. As the world gets warmer (trend-wise), I bet we’ll see more of this beautiful neutral, which is why we’re taking a closer look at it today.
To show you RELATEABLE & REAL homes, I ONLY use photos from my Online Color Consulting clients. This means I don’t always have the quality photos I need or the RIGHT photos, but DEFINITELY have some SUPER helpful info to help you on your way!
WHAT TYPE OF COLOR IS FAWN BRINDLE?
Fawn Brindle is a warm color straddling the line between gray and a medium-depth tan-beige—this means it’s a greige paint color! To learn the difference between greige and taupe, READ THIS.
If you have a home with north-facing light (either interior or exterior), Fawn Brindle will look as expected or lean just a wink back into gray (just a touch). However, if you have south-facing light or afternoon western sunshine, expect this bad boy to warm right up without looking beige.
North, East, South, West – Which Paint Color is the Best?
WHAT’S ITS LRV?
With an LRV of 36, Fawn Brindle is the perfect medium depth. If you have a dark room, watch that it doesn’t look too muddy and heavy—supplement it with good interior lighting. Using bulbs of approximately 2700-3000 Kelvins can play into Fawn Brindle’s beautiful earthy warmth. If you have a bright room, with its LRV of 36, Fawn Brindle won’t wash out as much as lighter colors will.
As for using Fawn Brindle on an exterior, we’ll get to that shortly!
Not sure what LRV is? It could save your paint-lovin’ life – read all about it HERE.
WHAT ARE FAWN BRINDLE’S UNDERTONES?
Fawn Brindle has a green undertone. Is it OBVIOUS? Whether you’re sensitive to green or not, Fawn Brindle’s undertone is noticeable compared to a warm neutral like Mega Greige but not quite as noticeable as Intellectual Gray.
Get your PEEL & STICK SAMPLE OF FAWN BRINDLE HERE!
WHAT’S THE BEST WHITE TRIM COLOR WITH FAWN BRINDLE?
Whether you’re painting trim or cabinets, Fawn Brindle is pretty flexible regarding whites. While it leans toward whites that aren’t OVERLY yellow, it can handle bright, soft, and slightly warm whites.
Here are a few of my favorites…
- Sherwin Williams Pure White
- Sherwin Williams Extra White
- Benjamin Moore White Dove
The 9 Best White Paint Colors: Sherwin Williams DESIGNER COLLECTION
The 4 Best White Paint Colors from Sherwin Williams
IS FAWN BRINDLE A GOOD EXTERIOR COLOR?
Fawn Brindle can be a WICKED pretty choice for your exterior. While some grays can read a bit too violet for exterior finishes, if your stone, brick, or concrete needs a color with a slight green hue, Fawn Brindle hits the spot.
Thank you to my Online Color clients and readers for sending in your AFTER PHOTOS – I couldn’t do this without you!
5 Tips for Choosing an Exterior Paint Color
WHAT COLORS ARE SIMILAR TO FAWN BRINDLE?
While no color will perfectly match Fawn Brindle – not in Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore, here are some great shades to sample and compare…
- Sherwin Williams Intellectual Gray offers a bit more green compared to Fawn Brindle.
- Benjamin Moore Rockport Gray is an awesome color to compare.
- Sherwin Williams Rushing River has a bit more gray and green.
- Or make your sampling easier by getting your CURATED COLOR BUNDLE, including Fawn Brindle!
WHAT COLORS GO WITH FAWN BRINDLE?
Fawn Brindle’s depth and undertones suit various colors, such as…
- darker greiges like Urbane Bronze and Porpoise
- medium-toned grays with blue (blue-green) undertones
- A wide range of soft, muted, off-white paint colors
- creamy whites and off-whites
READ MORE
The Best Medium-Depth Greige, Taupe, & Beige Paint Colors
The 6 Best Mushroom-Inspired Paint Colors
Sherwin Williams 6 Best Dark Greige & Taupe Paint Colors
Paint Color Review: Sherwin Williams Keystone Gray
Paint Color Review: Sherwin Williams Dovetail
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 2021, UPDATED IN 2024
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Meet Kylie
Do you need help, but aren’t quite sure what ‘help’ looks like? Are you drowning in paint samples and decision fatigue?
Does every color you like at the paint store look terrible in your lighting or pick up a funky undertone? I’d love to help.
Hi, I’m Kylie
For over 24 years I’ve helped 12,000+ homeowners and renters make more confident decisions on paint colors and affordable home updates using real home examples and practical, experience-based advice. My goal is simple: help you love the home you have.
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Homeowner’s Guide: White Kitchen Cabinets
This isn’t another ’10 Best Cabinet Colors’ list, because there is no SINGLE best white for every home and every kitchen.
Learn how to choose a white cabinet paint color that works with your countertops, backsplash, flooring, trim, lighting, and home—so you can rule out the wrong whites, sample fewer colors, and choose with confidence.
158-page PDF – Instant Download
$34.95Accent Colors – And How to Use Them
This isn’t about plastering your home in the ‘Color of the Year’ or following the latest trends (unless you really want to).
It’s about finding accent colors that work with YOUR home, YOUR style, and YOUR comfort level.
Because the best accent color isn’t one you love on a paint chip, it’s one that makes everything around it look better.
118-Page PDF – Instant Download
$34.95
Homeowner’s Guide: Exterior Paint Colors
Painting your home’s exterior is a BIG investment and choosing a color based on a tiny paint chip, a trend or the house down the street can be an expensive mistake.
Learn how to look at YOUR roof, YOUR windows, YOUR brick (or stone) and YOUR home as a whole so you can understand what colors make sense.
The goal? Less guessing, fewer samples and a lot more confidence before gallons of paint go on your home.
206-page PDF – Digital Download
$44.95Exterior Trim Paint Colors
This isn’t a list of ‘the best trim colors’, although you’ll get a ton of links to great shades!
You’ll learn how to look at your home and understand whether it needs contrast, repetition, connection, or a little visual peacekeeping to pull it all together.
Because trim might seem like a small detail…but spread it around all four sides of your home on multiple surfaces and it suddenly has a pretty big job.
118-page PDF – Instant Download
$24.95
Comments
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Hi Kylie, I’m painting a large ocean front house Edgecomb gray ( thanks to you). I’m thinking of using either SW Fawn Brindle or BM Rockport gray for shutters & garages doors. What do you think?
Thanks,
Deborah-
Hi Deborah! I would lean into Fawn Brindle over Rockport, personally 🙂
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Kyle,
Love your paint reviews! I hate all the adds. Every time a new add appears the page jumps around causing the reader to scroll back to where they were from the top of the page. After a time of doing such scrolling it’s easy to give up on reading your color reviews and move on to other reviewers pages.-
Oh, I know, they can be a pain! However, for the free content you get, this is how I get paid to support my family :).
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Great content, I have a question that seems to be hard to find. Looking for best color in cabinet pulls. I painted the laundry cabinets fawn brindle, walls are alabaster with pure white trim. All door hardware is black. Do I match or would something like champagne look good. Thanks again and lovely review.
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Oooo, good question! I mean, my first thought was a burnished bronze of sorts, but black could look DARN sharp!
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I’ve painted the exterior of our house Fawn Brindle with Pure White trim. Is there a black color the garage and front door that you think would go well with those?
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Oooo, Sherwin Williams Iron Ore has a green undertone that could be interesting. Or keep it simple with Tricorn Black. I’ve love to see how it turns out!
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Hi! I’m looking for a darker greige that would
go with Navel built-ins. Do you think Fawn Brindle would work? -
Hey, I’m enjoying following you while building a new home. It’s a low country style with lots of porches. I’ve chosen fawn brindle for my exterior color. I wondering if I could use a navel or dark blue accent color for front door and upper shaker shingles?
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Oooo yes, navy blue could be great with Fawn Brindle, although I would only use it on the front door, not the upper shingles (of course, this is without seeing your home, but off the bat, it makes me twitch). I also might lean into a slightly more subdued navy like SW Cyberspace or BM Hale Navy 🙂
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Our exterior is SW White Duck. What are your thoughts on using SW Fawn Brindle as an accent or door color?
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Love it!
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Hi Kylie! We are picking out our interior colors. We’ve chosen Fawn Brindle for kitchen cabinets and oil rubbed bronze for hardware. Our interior wall color is Egret White and trim is Pure White. Do you think these are good choices? Our home is SW facing and has a blast of sunlight.
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OH, Alisa, TALK to me, this all sounds lovely! You can expect an interesting play of the green in Fawn Brindle off the subtle taupe in Egret White. This all sounds lovely!
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Hi Kylie, love following you! I live in a ranch style home built in the 60 s in Seattle (lots of gray skies but also really long bright days in summer), has a daylight basement and is has quite a bit of trees/greenery. Our entry faces South west and I am really struggling with choosing an exterior color (its got this interesting one story detached garage at the entrance with a breezeway in between).
I have narrowed it down to Fawn Brindle, Elephant ear and Dovetail. would love your recommendation here. Thank you!-
Well, we live on the West Coast too, just up on Vancouver Island! Soooo, thinking 60s and gray days, etc. I lean into Fawn Brindle. HOWEVER, it can depend on the roof and any brick/stone 🙂
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Does SW Fawn Brindle look “pink” when facing south?
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I mean, southern light can be pretty strong and will change how any color looks, ESPECIALLY in the later afternoon hours, but it does have that soft green backdrop to help stop that from happening.
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