Benjamin Moore Calm: Undertones, Best Uses, & Real Home Lighting
By Kylie
September 14, 2024
Have you been looking for a calm, cool, and collected off-white paint color with just the right subtle undertones? You’ve come to the right place. While this color isn’t cool, it’s super calm and collected, and today we’re diving into what makes it a great choice for your walls, cabinets, or exterior.
I rely 99% on photos from my Online Paint Color Consulting clients, friends, and readers. Nobody has used Calm (or the photos didn’t turn out well enough). However, I still have great info to share with you!
WHAT TYPE OF COLOR IS CALM?
Calm is an off-white paint color that’s a soft, warm gray, which means it’s gray with a bit of brown to warm it up. But it has more to it than that. Calm has an intriguing LRV (depth) and undertones, which we’ll get to shortly.
Being an off-white gray, Calm might look cooler in a north-facing room and softer and warmer in south-facing rooms or those with western sunshine. Could it look too cool? Yes, but that’s open to perception!
Paint Colors & Exposures: A Summary
WHAT’S THE LRV OF CALM?
LRV refers to how light or dark a paint color is on a USABLE scale of 2 (black) to 95 (white). It’s actually 0-100, but no residential paint colors are in the highest/lowest range.
Calm has an LRV of almost 78. I’ve found that the most popular off-whites are in the lower end of this range, hovering closer to 74. With an LRV of 78, Calm gets closer to the wild world of white without dipping its toes in the pool (it’s just eyeing it up from the cabana).
If you have a bright room, Calm will wash out like crazy, so be sure you’re okay with it looking lighter and brighter than expected. If you have a dark room, ensure enough interior lighting so your walls don’t look chalky.
Not sure what LRV is? It could save you paint lovin’ life – read all about it HERE.
WHAT ARE CALM’S UNDERTONES?
This section is why I don’t recommend Calm as much as other neutral paint colors.
Why?
Because Calm has a reasonably noticeable purple undertone, it’s a good choice if you like purple. However, if you’re sensitive to it, Calm definitely tips the scales in purple’s favor. Could it look a touch purple-pink, being a warm gray? Depending on the space, yes.
The Ultimate Guide to Paint Colors & Undertones
Paint sampling just got a lot smarter (& more affordable, too)
Get your Samplize Peel & Stick sample of Calm HERE!
WHICH WHITE TRIM OR CABINET COLORS GO WITH CALM?
Because Calm is on the higher end of the off-white range and has purple undertones, it’s pretty darn fussy about its white partners. A few of my favorites include…
- Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace
- Sherwin Williams White Snow
WHAT COLORS GO WITH CALM IN A PALETTE?
If you want to create a room-by-room palette with Calm, here are some considerations…
- Any number of light-depth grays with a stronger blue-green undertone.
- Darker shades of blue-gray can be stunning with Calm.
- Warm grays that are darker than Calm with similar undertone profile.
- Quite a few shades of purple with less gray and more color!
- Medium to dark green paint colors can look wicked pretty in a palette with Calm.
Want a bit more gray, more beige, less undertone? I’ve got more!
READ MORE
The Best Warm Off-White Paint Colors
Sherwin Williams Snowbound Paint Color Review
Paint Color Review of Sherwin Williams Eider White
NEED HELP?
Check out my Online Paint Color Consulting!
Originally written in 2020, updated in 2024
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Do you need help, but aren’t quite sure what ‘help’ looks like? Are you drowning in paint samples and decision fatigue?
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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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I painted my whole first floor Calm by Benjamin Moore and it’s perfect paired with darker brown hardwoods. I loved Eider White in my bedroom but was afraid to go all out, so I took your recommendation for Calm. So happy with how versatile it is! Feels crisp, clean yet warm when decorated.
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Thank you for this, Natalie! Comments like yours help others make their own choice :).
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I just discovered this color and I’m absolutely crazy about it! i’m using it in my new kitchen which has very white cabinets, white tile with silvery grout, lots of stainless and a soapstone countertop. Oh, and a greyish “cement” vinyl plank floor. My kitchen is small with large windows so it’s bright in there without dark shadows which lets the color hold it’s silvery look. Personally I love greys that lean into lavender rather than blue or green. That baby blue thing is a total no thanks for me and I don’t really like greenish greys either. The Lavendar/purple cast is crisper. It’s beautiful with all the stainless — not as cold as the stainless but also not too warm for it. Hope this inspires someone else to look at this beautiful color. I’m putting Silver Satin in the adjoining room. They’re very close but the silver satin is slightly warmer. My wish is that they were both a tiny bit lower LRV. The upside is they aren’t into the muddy “greige” territory. I have small traditional rooms and having a lot of griege up close and personal can be muddy and always goes creepy green in my place. Do not fear the lavendar undertone until you really look into it. It looks clean and fresh and sophisticated. It doesn’t look like purple or lavender at all. Hope this helps someone. Kylie you don’t just think you’re cute, you really really are cute. Love your work!
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Hi Cathleen! I just used Calm in master bedroom and am thinking of same or Silver Satin in adjacent (giant!) hallway/ stair area. All are west-facing. I like Calm in bedroom but it’s definitely lavender at times. So leaving toward Silver Satin in hall but worried they wouldn’t work together. I’d love to know how you like having both colors close together? Thank you so much. I’m also a huge fan of Kylie’s work!
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I painted our whole house this colour last year, I LOVE it. It does make each room feel a different colour due to where the light hits. Blues in some rooms, subtle pinks in others and full on grey in another. Our only problem is, it made me realize our trim/baseboards are an off white/yellow, so grateful I found your post for suggestions on which colour to pick to paint those.
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What would be a great color as an accent wall if the walls are Calm? Will light French gray work?
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would it be safe with 50% strength white dove trim and ceiling. I got a sample of the 50% and it took bunch of the yellow away…looks white next to white dove but creamy next to chantilly. so its a brighter warm white at 50%. im thinking of pairing calm
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