Benjamin Moore Coventry Gray (HC-169): Undertones, LRV, & Where it Works Best

Benjamin Moore Coventry Gray is a light-medium depth, stormy gray paint color. While some love it for their bedroom or office walls, it’s also used on exteriors, accent walls, and cabinets.

However, no two gray are the same, and this one has some darn subtle, sneaky undertones that can shift depending on a home’s/room’s lighting. This is why doing your research (thanks for visiting me) and sampling carefully are so important.

WHAT TYPE OF COLOR IS COVENTRY GRAY?

Coventry Gray isn’t an overtly warm gray, and it’s not a cold gray – I fondly refer to it as a ‘stormy gray.’ Cold grays have an icy, crisp, clean look, whereas warm grays pick up a muddiness. Coventry Gray sits between both worlds with more of a moody vibe (leaning slightly warm over cold, but barely).

If your room (or exterior) faces south or gets good afternoon western sunshine, Coventry Gray is a great way to balance that warm light. However, tread carefully if your room is north-facing or has flat eastern afternoon or western morning light, as Coventry Gray’s storminess and muted undertones can leave it a little lacking in spaces like these.

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

WHAT’S THE LRV OF COVENTRY GRAY?

Coventry Gray has an LRV of 48.18. This puts it in the middle of the light-medium range. Traditional medium-depth grays have way more depth than Coventry Gray’s softness…

Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray is a medium-depth gray with an LRV of 23.33

On the other hand, Coventry Gray is much darker than the average shade of gray used on walls.

With this depth, Coventry Gray certainly can be used for all of the walls in a room, as long as there’s enough lighting. However, it’s more often used as an accent wall, on a kitchen island/cabinets, or as an exterior paint color.

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

WHAT ARE ITS UNDERTONES?

Gray paint colors will have blue, green, or purple undertones – most often a blend of two. Coventry Gray is tricky as it can appear with a small amount of green or blue, but more often looks like a stormy gray with little to no undertone.

In color science, Coventry Gray is actually a fractionally warm gray, but you’ll never know it to look at it. 

Here’s your Peel & Stick sample of Coventry Gray…

WHAT’S THE BEST WHITE TRIM COLOR WITH COVENTRY GRAY?

Whether you’re painting trim or cabinets, Coventry Gray has its favorite shades of white…

• Benjamin Moore White Dove offers a bit of softness
• Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace has a cleaner contrast with Coventry Gray
• Sherwin Williams Pure White always looks awesome

IS IT A GOOD EXTERIOR COLOR?

It certainly could be! With its slightly lower LRV, Coventry Gray holds up well in a home with intense south-facing light, unlike an off-white or light paint color that could wash out. Make sure Coventry Grays soft, stormy vibe suits your home’s brick, stone, and/or roof.

5 Tips for Choosing an Exterior Paint Color

IS COVENTRY GRAY GOOD WITH CREAM TRIM OR CABINETS?

While its depth makes it a better contender than lighter shades of gray, Coventry comes up pretty cold against the yellow hue of cream cabinets and trims. I would tread carefully, which means it’s not a hard no, it’s just a ‘sample and see’.

DOES COVENTRY GRAY GO WITH WOOD TRIMS, CABINETS, & FLOORING?

It sure can – Coventry Gray is a beautiful partner to many wood stains. I might only exercise caution with woods with a lot of pink.

WHAT COLORS ARE SIMILAR?

A few shades of gray are worth comparing with Coventry Gray. Sometimes, the tweak in undertone, temperature, or depth makes one color perfect over another!

• Sherwin Williams Light French Gray offers a shift in undertones and softness.
• Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray is a super popular gray (more popular than Coventry Gray) if you’re open to a lighter look.
• Sherwin Williams Silverplate is an interesting option if you want a slightly muddier, lighter approach with similar intentions.
• Sherwin Williams Gray Clouds and Benjamin Moore Metropolitan are the best direct comparables to Coventry Gray.

Here’s Light French Gray on painted kitchen cabinets…

Here’s Stonington Gray with a gorgeous travertine tile floor…

And if you’re thinking of color matching between brands (i.e., getting BM to make an SW paint color), you might want to read THIS first.

WHAT COLORS GO WITH COVENTRY GRAY?

Having a bit more depth, Coventry Gray has several colors it would like to be partnered with in a room-to-room palette.

• Grays that are lighter than it with similar undertones
• A wide range of warm off-white paint colors complement Coventry Gray’s moody hue
• Subtle cream paint colors can be pretty palette partners

READ MORE

Paint Color Review of Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray

Paint Color Review of Sherwin Williams Silverplate

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ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN 2020, UPDATED IN LATE 2024

Kylie M Interiors, Online Color Consulting & Paint Color Expert, North America, U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and more