Sherwin Williams Light French Gray is a gorgeous neutral gray color. Don’t be fooled by the name, this color is not light. But it’s one of my favorite gray paint colors and today I am telling you why.
Light French Gray is a gorgeous cool gray but it really is barely cool. There is no perfectly neutral gray but this one is very close.
It also has a depth of color that is wonderful. It is dark enough that it won’t disappear but not so dark that it will make your room feel like a cave.
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Light French Gray Stats
Here are the details that make this color what it is.
- Red: 194
- Green: 192
- Blue: 187
- Hex value: #c2c0bb
- Color Collection: Purely Refined, Minimalist, Historic Interior Color Wall, Living Well – Create, The Classics (1800s-1860s), Luxe, Teen Space, 2024 Delicate Tints, Top 50 Interior Colors, Top 50 Exterior Colors, Cool Neutrals
Light French Gray Undertones
Light French Gray has violet undertones. It’s cool in rooms with cool northern light and in warm light it can lean a little warmer (but not ever warm). It’s a little bit of a chameleon!
The violet undertones can show a touch of blue in northern light as well.
LRV of Light French Gray
LRV stands for light reflective value. It’s a scale from 0-100 measuring the amount of light a paint color reflects. Zero being the darkest black and 100 being the brightest white.
Light French Gray has an LRV of 53 making it a lighter mid-toned paint color. It’s on the higher end of mid-toned.
How Light Affects Sherwin Williams Light French Gray
Light affects paint colors in many ways. Here are the details:
- North-facing rooms have a light that tends to be a little cooler in nature and will come off slightly blue. Light colors will be a bit more muted or washed out while darker colors will be stunning.
- East-facing rooms will have brighter light in the morning and less in the evenings. The evening light will be a bit cooler. In the morning with sunrise, the bright sun will be warm. Warm color palettes are great for these spaces because they will help balance the cool feel of the evenings.
- South-facing rooms have consistent warm light throughout the day. The light really shows off the colors, dark will be very bright, and light colors will shine. Both warm and cool color palettes look good in a south-facing room.
- West-facing rooms have warm light in the evening and cooler light in the morning. Basically, it’s the opposite of east-facing.
For Light French Gray it will look cooler in northern light. In southern light it can lean a little warmer but never will it be warm. Just not as cool you could say.
How to know if a paint color is right for you?
The best way to judge if a color is good for you then you will want to put a swatch on the wall and look at it over a few days. Look at it in different lights and decide if you really like it.
You can do this by getting a sample from the paint store and using a brush to put it up on the walls, but then you are left with a can that you can’t do anything with. Those samples are used with poor quality paint and aren’t meant for use on your walls permanently.
I recommend going with Samplize. They are a company that will send you a 12X12 peel and stick swatch of a paint color that you can stick to the wall. When you are done just peel it off and throw it away.
It’s easy and much less messy!
Light French Gray Whole Home Color Palette
Is Light French Gray a good color for the exterior?
You have to remember that on the exterior of the home paint colors can be ten times lighter because of all the natural light. The fact that this is a mid-toned color makes this a great choice for the exterior. It will not wash out like lighter colors can.
The Best Place to Use It
Honestly this is a great color to use just about anywhere! Here are my favorite place to use it.
- Exterior
- Walls
- Cabinets
- Architectural features
Light French Gray in a Bathroom
Here they used Light French Gray on the walls above the wainscoting. It really looks lovely and balances out all the white in the room. It also looks amazing with the black and wood accents.
Light French Gray on Cabinets
This bathroom is very unique because they used Light French Gray on both the cabinets and the walls. What they did is they used different sheens, flat on the walls and semigloss on the cabinets. The light hits them differently and therefor they look a little different. Very cool!
Light French Gray on walls in a family room
Here is a great example of Light French Gray on walls paired with other bold colors. It’s the perfect backdrop for artwork and accessories.
Light French Gray on the Exterior
Light French Gray is gorgeous for the exterior of the home. Because it is a mid-tone color and therefore won’t look washed out with all the natural light. It looks amazing with all the green in the landscaping and the pop of red from the Japanese maple is stunning!
What colors go well with Sherwin Williams Light French Gray?
Light French Gray goes really well with other lighter grays with similar undertones. It also pairs really well with blue-grays and blue/green/grays.
It doesn’t always pair well with warm greiges and taupes. Definitely get a sample and compare before you commit to buying paint.
What is the best white to use for trim?
There are two white paint colors from Sherwin Williams that I recommend using with Light French Gray. Pure White is one of them, this color is a soft white.
High Reflective White is the other. This one is more bright white and will be a clean and crisp white to pair with Light French Gray.
What colors are similar?
I love putting colors next to each other to see their similarities and differences. Here are some colors that are a lot like Light French Gray.
Light French Gray vs. Knitting Needles
These two colors are extremely close. They both have the same LRV, 53. They also both have the same undertones, violet.
How are they different? Knitting Needles has a touch more violet to it. But not much!
Light French Gray vs. Passive
Passive is definitely lighter than Light French Gray. It sits at an LRV of 60 and LFG is at 53.
Their undertones are different too. LFG has violet with a touch of blue and Passive has blue undertones, no violet.
Light French Gray vs. Agreeable Gray
Light French Gray is a really neutral gray, leaning slightly cool. Agreeable Gray is a greige with green undertones and a touch of purple. It is considered a warm greige.
Agreeable Gray has an LRV of 60 so it’s a little lighter than Light French Gray.
Light French Gray vs. Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray
Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray is a touch lighter than Light French Gray. It has an LRV of 59.36 and LFG sits at 53.
Stonington Gray also has only blue undertones whereas Light French Gray has violet.
Light French Gray vs. Benjamin Moore Perspective
Perspective is also lighter than Light French Gray with an LRV of 60.22. It also has blue undertones where LFG has violet.
Honestly Perspective and Stonington Gray are very similar to each other.
Light French Gray vs. Benjamin Moore Smoke Embers
Smoke Embers is darker than Light French Gray with an LRV of 51.44. It also has blue undertones which is different than Light French Gray.
Light French Gray vs. Behr Light French Gray
Behr’s Light French Gray is exactly that…a light blue gray. It has blue undertones which is different from the Sherwin Williams version.
Behr’s has an LRV of 61 which sits on the bottom end of being a light color whereas the Sherwin Williams version is mid-toned.
Other Gray Paint Colors:
- Benjamin Moore Coventry Gray
- Sherwin Williams On The Rocks
- Sherwin Williams Network Gray
- Benjamin Moore Gray Owl
As a licensed Real Estate Agent and an avid home decorator, I strive to give my clients the very best I can when it comes to staging, selling, and decorating their homes. I have lots of experience with paint color choices and love to DIY my home so I can have everything just the way I want it. I share my ideas and projects with the world in the hopes that I can help others have their homes just the way they want as well.