Sherwin Williams Versatile Gray & Perfect Greige: Paint Color Review -

Versatile Gray & Perfect Greige: two POPULAR taupe paint colors!

Are you looking to escape the wild world of gray but unsure what that looks like? Look no further. Today, we’ll look at Sherwin Williams Versatile Gray SW 6072 and Perfect Greige SW 6073, two awesome colors sitting smack dab in the middle of the neutral world. But that’s not all they have going for them, so let’s get started.

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ARE VERSATILE GRAY & PERFECT GREIGE GRAY, TAUPE, OR GREIGE?

Versatile Gray is very versatile. While it’s more of a taupe paint color, in north-facing light, it can look more like a warm gray without flashing too cool. On the other hand, in a south-facing room, Versatile Gray doesn’t lean so warm that it visually overheats a room, as some warm paint colors can.

Perfect Greige is a taupe paint color and is one of the more popular ones. As colors lighten and darken, their temperatures and undertones shift. So, while Perfect Greige is like a darker take on Versatile Gray, it picks up a bit more warmth along the way.

North, East, South, West – Which Paint Color is the Best?

What’s the Difference Between Greige & Taupe Paint Colors?

WHAT ARE THEIR LRVs?

Versatile Gray has an LRV of 48, making it a light-medium depth paint color. This depth of color holds up quite well in super bright rooms without looking TOO heavy in darker rooms (as long as you’re okay with a slightly moodier, muddier look).

Perfect Greige has an LRV of 42, putting it closer to the medium depths. Again, Perfect Greige is great for well-lit rooms but can start visually weighing down a dark room if you’re not careful.

Not sure what LRV is? It could save your paint-lovin’ life – read all about it HERE.

Get your Samplize Peel & Stick sample of Versatile Gray HERE!

WHAT ARE THE UNDERTONES OF PERFECT GREIGE & VERSATILE GRAY?

Both Versatile Gray and Perfect Greige are typical taupe paint colors (regardless of what their name says). This means they’re warmer than gray and cooler than beige. It also means that like all taupes, they have violet-pink undertones.

REVIEWS OF: BM LONDON FOG / BM COLLINGWOOD / SW REQUISITE GRAY

Are these undertones noticeable? Yes, but they aren’t overwhelming. If you’re super sensitive to violet and/or pink, you’ll likely find them too much; just keep in mind that they’re often the perfect choice for the finishes in many of today’s homes, as well as those from the early 2000s.

Thank you to all of my Online Color Consulting clients and followers who send their AFTER photos; you make my colorful little world go round!

WHAT’S THE BEST WHITE TRIM OR CABINET COLOR?

If your walls are Versatile Gray or Perfect Greige, there’s a nice range of whites to explore, including…

Sherwin Williams Pure White is a beautiful, moderate white color.
Benjamin Moore White Dove has a bit more warmth than Pure White, but it still works well with these two shades.
Sherwin Williams Alabaster is okay, too, just a wink warm. It’s better with Perfect Greige’s depth.
Sherwin Williams White Snow can be a gorgeous choice for a touch more contrast.

The 4 Best White Paint Colors from Sherwin Williams

ARE VERSATILE GRAY & PERFECT GREIGE GOOD EXTERIOR COLORS?

HECK YES! Versatile Gray and perfect Greige can be awesome exterior colors. They’re often well-suited to particular brick and stone facades and are tolerant of some roof colors as well. Just notice how they shift from shade to light, from north to south, as they can lean warmer than expected.

In these next two photos, notice how these colors change between no sun and full sun…

Pretty cool, eh?

Many people want their homes painted a soft, warm gray, but their finishes need gentler, often more taupe-inspired colors. These two colors straddle the gray and beige worlds and pay homage to the needs of many exterior finishes.

Look at this next exterior to see how well colors like Versatile Gray and Perfect Greige sit with some stonework…

5 Tips for Choosing an Exterior Paint Color

WHAT COLORS ARE SIMILAR TO THESE TAUPES?

When choosing a paint color, you always need to compare similar shades. Often, it’s a tweak in depth, temperature, or undertones that makes one color perfect over another!

VERSATILE GRAY vs. ANEW GRAY

If you’re talking about the most popular, Anew Gray wins by a long shot. But just because a color is popular doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for your space. These neutrals have comparable LRVs, with Versatile Gray’s 48 only a smidge higher than Anew Gray’s 47.

Paint Color Review of Sherwin Williams Anew Gray (and I would sure love to see the inside of that front door painted!)

The real difference comes down to undertones. If you want minimal undertones, Anew Gray is the best choice. However, you might be surprised to learn that many homes and interior finishes need an undertone commitment, specifically, violet-pink – one offered by Versatile Gray and not by Anew Gray.

Agreeable Gray, which sits directly above Anew Gray in the fan deck, has a more noticeable difference and fewer similarities. It has an LRV of 60, making it a light-depth color and lighter than Versatile Gray. Like Anew Gray, Agreeable Gray isn’t very committed to its undertones. That said, it’s WAY more popular than Versatile Gray and Perfect Greige combined.

PERFECT GREIGE vs. MEGA GREIGE

Perfect Greige are great comparables, especially if you’re considering them for your exterior, cabinets, or an accent wall (they aren’t AS popular on walls or front doors, but can still look good.) Starting with depth, Perfect Greige has an LRV of 42, lighter than Mega Greige’s, which is 37. This means that Mega Greige sits more in the ‘medium range’ compared to Perfect Greige.

TOP – BOTTOM: Versatile Gray / Mega Greige / Edgecomb Gray / Revere Pewter

As for undertones, they share a bit of taupe, but Mega Greige is far less inclined compared to the commitment of Perfect Greige. It also comes off a touch cooler (but still warm) than Perfect Greige.

VERSATILE GRAY vs. REQUISITE GRAY

When doing my Online Paint Color Consulting, I’m constantly bouncing these two shades off each other. Versatile Gray is warmer than Requisite Gray, as Requisite Gray is more of a warm gray with violet-pink undertones, so it has less beige in it. As for LRV, Requisite Gray is a bit darker than Versatile Gray, with an LRV of 45 to Versatile’s 48.

WHAT COLORS GO WITH THESE TWO SHADES?

Versatile Gray and Perfect Greige are reasonably flexible. To get you started, here are some of the colors I explore when creating a color palette with them…

some warm, subtle beige hues
green-grays that are similar in depth or darker
blue-green-grays that are similar in depth or darker
lighter shades of taupe/warm gray like Sherwin Williams Egret White
I’m always careful with colors that are cooler AND lighter than Versatile Gray/Perfect Greige (learn more about why HERE)