One common knowledge among the interior design group is that pastel paint colors are beautiful and timeless. However, things get slightly confusing when you realize there are so many pastels to choose from in the paint color market. So, which one is ideal?

Sherwin Williams City Loft has always been my go-to pastel paint color. This paint color boasts a soft hue that exhibits a cozy vibe while adding impressive warmth to my space.

The soft, neutral greige boasts fun undertones that make it desirable and playful. In a room, the paint color behaves more like a chameleon, always keeping your room interesting.

If you are yet to use Sherwin Williams City Loft, you probably have numerous questions about the paint color. What are its LRV and RGB? What paint options can you pair it with to create an exciting space? Well, this detailed guide answers these questions and others—read on!

What Color is Sherwin Williams City Loft?

Manufacturer	Sherwin Williams
LRV	70
RGB	R: 223 G: 218 B: 209
Hex Value	#DFDAD1
Color Collections	Finest Whites & Neutrals (Finest Whites), Top 50 Colors, Living Well (Reflect), Color ID (Trendsetter)

At heart, Sherwin Williams City Loft is a greige paint color. However, it is more of what you would call a transitional or chameleon paint color.

The surrounding colors and lighting conditions in the room often influence its appearance. For example, changing lighting conditions as the day passes can affect how Sherwin Williams City Loft looks in your room.

RGB of Sherwin Williams City Loft

The RGB scale—from 0 to 255—helps interior designers tell the amount of red, green, and blue in a specific paint color. Sherwin Williams City Loft combines red: 223, green: 218, and blue: 209.

LRV of Sherwin Williams City Loft

LRV—Light Reflectivity Value—measures the amount of light a paint color can reflect. The scale runs from 0 to 100.

Pure Black absorbs 100% light and reflects 0% light—it has an LRV of 0. Pure White, on the other hand, reflects 100% light, meaning it has an LRV of 100.

Sherwin Williams City Loft has an LRV of 70. The paint color reflects 70% of light and absorbs the remaining 30%.

Is Sherwin Williams City Loft a Cool or Warm Paint Color?

Sherwin Williams City Loft is a warm paint color. The warmth in the paint color makes open spaces feel more inviting and cozier.

Sherwin Williams City Loft Undertones

Sherwin Williams City Loft boasts a combination of red and pink undertones. These undertones are more balanced, and you will see them depending on the lighting conditions in your space. As noted earlier, you may be able to view these undertones as the lighting conditions in your room change throughout the day.

Sherwin Williams City Loft Color Strip: Sherwin Williams City Loft Color Comparisons

Sherwin Williams City Loft vs. Drift of Mist (SW 9166)

Like City Loft, Sherwin Williams Drift of Mist is a soft paint color that boasts gentle undertone whispers. However, while Sherwin Williams City Loft has red and pink undertones, Drift of Mist brings a green undertone to your space.

While Sherwin Williams City Loft is a warm greige paint color, Drift of Mist leans more on the gray side—a soft, warm gray. However, the two colors behave similarly in different lighting conditions.

For example, the two paint colors will lose much of their warmth in a north-facing room with cool light. However, in a room welcoming warm southern light, the warmth returns—in this case, Drift of Mist will lean almost greige while City Loft’s greige base will come into full view.

These two colors are pretty close on the LRV scale. While Sherwin Williams City Loft is more reflective with an LRV of 70, Drift of Mist is just one step behind, with its LRV of 69.

Sherwin Williams City Loft vs. Agreeable Gray (SW 7029)

While City Loft is a greige paint color, Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray is a gray paint color. While both colors are neutrals, they do not have much going under their neutral bases—I am talking about undertones.

Sherwin Williams City Loft brings red and pink undertones to your space. On the other hand, Agreeable Gray will bring taupe/brown undertones and has a dab of violet. The red in Sherwin Williams City Loft creates a warm feel, while the brown undertones create a feeling of warmth in Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray.

It is worth noting that Agreeable Gray features what you would call a nice balance of cool and warm tones—this makes Agreeable Gray a more neutral paint color in the cool-warm category. City Loft carries more of the red undertone than then pink—for this reason, City Loft may be warmer than Agreeable Gray.

Sherwin Williams City Loft is much lighter than Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray. While City Loft has an LRV of 70, Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray has an LRV of 60. Agreeable Gray will hold its ground in bright light as a medium-light color. City Loft gets washed out more in bright light than Agreeable Gray.

Sherwin Williams City Loft vs. Benjamin Moore Gray Mist (OC-30)

Sherwin Williams City Loft and Benjamin Moore Gray Mist are greige paint colors. The two colors sit in the warm neutral category.

The paint colors behave similarly in different lighting conditions. For example, in a space welcoming cool north-facing light, you can expect the two colors to look more grayish, losing most of their warmth and appearing more neutral. However, in a room with warm, southern-facing light, you can expect the two paint colors to lean on their warmer side, displaying their greige base.

Benjamin Moore Gray Mist is the more reflective option—with an LRV of 74, Benjamin Moore sits in the off-white range. Sherwin Williams City Loft sits outside the off-white scope with its LRV of 70.

BM Gray Mist and SW City Loft do differ in their undertones. While Sherwin Williams City Loft has red and pink undertones, Benjamin Moore Gray Mist has green and cream undertones.

Sherwin Williams City Loft vs. Heron Plume (SW 6070)

While City Loft boasts a greige base, Sherwin Williams Heron Plume leans slightly on the taupe side. However, these two colors feature a beige-gray combination as their base, making them greige.

The two colors will look more neutral, with passive warmth in cool north-facing light. The two colors will lean into their dominant warm base in a room with warm southern light.

Sherwin Williams Heron Plume is a more reflective paint color, boasting an LRV of 75. While Heron Plume sits in the off-white range, City Loft sits outside the off-white scope with an LRV of 70.

Heron Plume and City Loft differ in their undertones. While City Loft has red and pink undertones, Heron Plume brings purple and pink undertones to your space. The undertones make Sherwin Williams Heron Plume a feminine backdrop—even though City Loft has a feminine pink undertone, it is much less than pink and purple in Heron Plume.

Sherwin Williams City Loft vs. White Heron (SW 7627)

Sherwin Williams White Heron and City Loft sit on the same color strip. However, White Heron is slightly lighter than City Loft. On the LRV scale, Sherwin Williams White Heron sits in the middle of the off-white range with an LRV of 76. On the other hand, Sherwin Williams City Loft sits outside the off-white scope with its LRV of 70.

Sherwin Williams City Loft combines gray and beige to create its base. On the other hand, White Heron is an off-white that boasts soft shading with a slight hint of gray. These two colors, however, do give the same vibe, feeling restful to the eyes.

While Sherwin Williams City Loft brings red and pink undertones, Sherwin Williams White Heron brings a cool violet that makes it a gentle attitude. These two colors have a creamy appearance in a balanced light, adding warmth to your space.

What Colors Go with Sherwin Williams City Loft?

Sherwin Williams City Loft is a flexible paint color that allows you to experiment and create an impressive look. However, in the years I have used City Loft, the paint color brings out the best look when you pair it with blues, beiges, taupe, browns, and deep grays.

Sherwin Williams City Loft, however, does allow you to choose from a contrasting or monochromatic palette. Below, I will show you paint color options that create the best match—I will start with Sherwin Williams City Loft coordinating colors, then move on to trim color for City Loft Sherwin Williams.

Sherwin Williams City Loft Coordinating Colors

Sherwin Williams Worldly Gray (SW 7043)  

Sherwin Williams Worldly Gray (SW 7043) belongs to the neutral paint colors collection, although it does fit in the gray paint color family. The paint color’s base combines gray and beige, making Worldly Gray a greige paint color.

Worldly Gray is an attractive paint color that offers an interesting neutral backdrop for your space. When you pair it with City Loft, you can create a monochromatic view that gets attention.

There is no doubt Sherwin Williams Worldly Gray is a warm gray. When pairing it with Sherwin Williams City Loft, you have to consider the default temperature in your room to avoid creating a space with too much warmth.

Sherwin Williams Worldly Gray is a medium light paint color with an LRV of 57. The paint color is, therefore, capable of maintaining its character in all types of lights, making it an excellent pairing color.

Sherwin Williams Amazing Gray (SW 7044)

Sherwin Williams Amazing Gray (SW 7044) is another impressive option for creating a monochromatic look with Sherwin Williams City Loft. City Loft and Amazing Gray are both greige paint colors.

However, you do not have to worry that the two will look similar in a room, creating a bland appearance. Sherwin Williams Amazing Gray reflects 47% of light. With this LRV, you can expect an impressive contrast with City Loft.

Moreover, these two colors differ in their undertones. While City Loft has red and pink undertones, Sherwin Williams Amazing Gray has a green undertone. The two colors create an impressive contrasting look that lets your space stand out positively.

The fact that these two paint colors are greige means they are warm. So, to avoid adding extreme warmth to your space, I recommend using them in a cool, north-facing room.

Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige (SW 7036)

As its name suggests, Accessible Beige is a beige paint color, making it the opposite of Sherwin Williams City Loft, which has a greige base. For this reason, Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige is a good option when you need to implement a more subtle contrasting look in your space.

Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige brings a unique undertones blend and an interesting LRV, making it even more compatible with Sherwin Williams City Loft. Accessible Beige has an LRV of 58, making it a medium-light paint color—the paint color will hold its ground in both dim and bright rooms, making it an ideal option that does not lose its hue to extreme or minimal light.

Accessible Beige is a more neutral beige paint color that does not have shouting undertones. The paint color only leans a bit gray, which is rare in most lighting conditions.

Accessible Beige will be a perfect pairing color if you use City Loft in a cool room. Accessible Beige is warmer than City Loft. Bringing the two colors together in an already warm room could create an uncomfortable feeling.

Sherwin Williams Peppercorn (SW 7674)

Sherwin Williams Peppercorn (SW 7674) is another unique paint color you can use when working with City Loft to create a contrasting look. Peppercorn is a dark gray tone that shares various similarities with Classic Charcoal.

While it is easy to dismiss Peppercorn because of its dark appearance, when you implement it in the right amounts, the dark gray paint color creates the best accents for interior rooms and pairs nicely with City Loft. It is not uncommon for City Loft to be used in custom-designed and high-end residential homes to add a luxurious factor.

The minimalist characteristics of Peppercorn make it an ideal option for contrasting lighter and brighter hues like Sherwin Williams City Loft. The paint color has an LRV of 10, making it significantly different from Sherwin Williams City Loft’s LRV of 70.

Sherwin Williams Peppercorn leans on the cooler end of the cool-warm scale. This makes SW 7674 an ideal pairing color when working with City Loft in a warm room—the paint color will keep the warmth from overwhelming your space.

Sherwin Williams City Loft Complementary Colors

If you plan to go beyond the contrasting look created by paint colors like Peppercorn and Accessible Beige, you may want to take advantage of the complementary color for City Loft. The two paint colors will display the most significant contrast if you paint City Loft and its complementary color side by side. On the color wheel, Sherwin Williams City Loft and its complementary color sit on opposite sides.

The complementary color for Sherwin Williams City Loft has a hex value #20252E. This color does not have an official name in the paint market. However, the closest name for a color with the hex value #20252E is Squid Ink.

Trim Color for City Loft Sherwin Williams

Sherwin Williams Snowbound (SW 7004)   

Sherwin Williams Snowbound is an attractive soft white paint color that leans on the warmer side. Compared to Sherwin Williams City Loft, Sherwin Williams Snowbound has a high LRV value, reflecting 83% of light. The high LRV means that Snowbound will make your trims more visible.

Some of the undertones in Snowbound do match those in Sherwin Williams City Loft. Both colors share a pink undertone. However, they also differ as City Loft has an additional red undertone while Snowbound has a violet undertone. The trims created with Snowbound blend well with City Loft, maintaining their character while not taking attention away from City Loft.

Sherwin Williams Requisite Gray (SW 7023)

Sherwin Williams Requisite Gray is a popular gray paint color that looks taupe. The paint color boasts flexibility, allowing it to work with numerous interior finishes and exposures.

Sherwin Williams Requisite Gray features an LRV of 45. This LRV allows Requisite Gray to stand out on your trims in a room with City Loft on the walls. The LRV also allows Requisite Gray to work exceptionally well in a room with extreme light. However, the paint color in a room with low light can make your trims look super flat. For this reason, when using Requisite Gray on your trims, ensure your space has enough light.

Sherwin Williams Evening Shadow (SW 7662)

Sherwin Williams Evening Shadow looks like its name suggests—it’s a perfect replica of a shadow and adds an intriguing, cool feel to your trims. Sherwin Williams Evening Shadow boasts some blue undertones that make it super cool, allowing it to balance the warmth in a space with warm City Loft paint.

Sherwin Williams Evening Shadow gives your trims a crisp texture. You will be surprised to realize that Evening Shadow is a medium-light paint color with an LRV of 60. In bright light, the paint color is deep enough not to wash out, while in dim rooms, it is light enough not to look bland.

Sherwin Williams Dorian Gray (SW 7017)

Sherwin Williams Dorian Gray is a versatile neutral gray paint color. Dorian Gray is a mid-tone gray with an LRV of 39.

Dorian Gray absorbs more light than it reflects. To keep your trims interesting, you must use Dorian Gray in a room with enough light. Sherwin Williams Dorian Gray adds some purple undertones to your space, making it an exciting option that adds interest to your trims.

What Is Sherwin Williams City Loft in Benjamin Moore?

Benjamin Moore Athena is a perfect option if you are switching Sherwin Williams for Benjamin Moore while maintaining the look provided by City Loft. Sherwin Williams City Loft and Benjamin Moore Athena are incredibly close in appearance.

While Sherwin Williams City Loft combines red: 223, green: 218, and blue: 209 on the RGB scale, Benjamin Moore Athena combines red: 221, green: 217, and blue: 206. Sherwin Williams City Loft has an LRV of 70, close to Benjamin Moore Athena, which has an LRV of 68.64.

How Does Light Affect Sherwin Williams City Loft?

In a room with warm southern light, Sherwin Williams City Loft leans more on its greige base, looking warmer. In a room welcoming cool northern light, Sherwin Williams City Loft leans more on the gray side, losing much of its warmth and looking more neutral.

Sherwin Williams City Loft behaves more like a chameleon. For example, you may view red or pink undertones depending on the lighting conditions. Moreover, Sherwin Williams City Loft does pick the paint colors around it.

Best Rooms to Paint Sherwin Williams City Loft

Sherwin Williams City Loft Kitchen

Sherwin Williams City Loft has been used on the bottom shelves in the above kitchen. Looking at these shelves, you can detect some pink and red undertones that are more balanced. The kitchen pairs the whites and off-whites nicely to create an exciting look.

In the above kitchen, Sherwin Williams City Loft sits on both the kitchen island and the walls. It blends in well with the wooden cabinets and white ceiling, creating a relaxing and cozy feel.

In the above kitchen, Sherwin Williams City Loft sits pretty on the walls while kitchen cabinets boast white paint. The wooden tops in the kitchen add a much-needed contrast that makes the entire kitchen look much more appealing. The room seems to be welcoming warm light, allowing Sherwin Williams City Loft to lean more into its greige base and display its warmth.

Sherwin Williams City Loft Living Room

In the above living room, Sherwin Williams City Loft is paired nicely with more reflective white paint color to create a stellar look. City Loft seems to match the white color on the trims and surroundings, making it look more white than in real life. However, you can still view the pink undertones in City Loft when you check the living more closely.

The owner of the above living room seems to have planned a monochromatic look. The City Loft on the walls matches the color of the couches and the trims. However, the pictures on the wall do create some interesting contrast. The living room seems to be welcoming a cool light, forcing City Loft to lose its warmth and lean more on its neutral gray shade.

The above living room is another interesting case of using Sherwin Williams City Loft in a room welcoming cool northern light. City Loft is leaning more on its gray shade instead of Beige. The paint color gives off a feeling of neutrality, providing more passive warmth. City Loft, however, contrasts nicely with the other paint colors in the space creating a more exciting look.

Sherwin Williams City Loft Bedroom

As noted earlier, Sherwin Williams City Loft is notorious for picking the colors surrounding it. In the above bedroom, Sherwin Williams City Loft looks creamier and more yellow because it is picking the yellow color from the artificial light in the bedroom. Notice how the City Loft shifts from yellow next to the yellow artificial lights to warm gray above the bed.

In the above bedroom, Sherwin Williams City Loft changes again. Surrounded by black and gray décor and white lighting conditions, City Loft looks soft, more neutral gray with a slight nudge of Beige. The paint color looks bright, comfortable, and light, just the type of paint you need in your bedroom.

In the above bedroom, Sherwin Williams City Loft is surrounded by wood-tone colors, pinks, and yellows. Because of its surrounding colors, City Loft is reading more Beige than gray. It is, however, worth noting that the cool natural light in the room makes the paint color read grayer and more neutral in most areas.

Overview

Sherwin Williams City Loft is an exciting paint color that behaves more like a chameleon. In its most basic form, City Loft is a light greige paint color that boasts red and pink undertones. However, in a room, the paint color picks the tones from surrounding colors and lights, making it look different depending on the room’s conditions.

What makes City Loft interesting is that it is incredibly flexible. The paint color will work with different paints, allowing you to create a unique-looking space. Moreover, since City Loft is warm greige color, it works well in cool rooms, with its warmth bringing a sense of balance.

I hope this detailed guide has answered your Sherwin Williams City Loft questions. If you have additional questions, please let me know in the comments—I will respond as soon as possible.