What is the Color Category?
Ladies and gentlemen here we have a Light Near Neutral – because of its Value of 9.00 and Chroma of 0.64.. In some circles it would be called greige. A rose by any other name, right? Bottom line, Pearly White is a pretty color. Middle of the yellow hue family and low-ish Chroma indicates it’s going to behave as a lovely neutral backdrop in most contexts and under a wide range of lighting.
We know that low Chroma colors from the yellow hue family *can* shift and actually show up a bit greenish. It all depends on the lighting and what else is going on around it or next to it.
The only way to know how it will actually show up is to test it. I recommend Samplize Peel & Stick samples because they’re made with real paint.
How do we know what color category? Because we have hue, value, chroma and LRV color notations that describe what colors look like. So, we can easily sort and categorize paint colors:
Hue Family Pearly White SW 7009
Here’s Pearly White SW 7009 by Sherwin-Williams in context of its Hue Family neighborhood, 5 Y (Yellow), on The Color Strategist Color. The pink arrows point to where Pearly White SW 7009 fits in among the other colors according to its Value of 9.00 and Chroma of 0.64 rounded to 0.50.
Thank you for this site, I find it very interesting.
I have a challenging living room that has ever changing natural light. It gets a little east light in the morning, mid-day south, and the most intense light from the west later in the day. The south and west windows also have an overhang from a verandah. It seems many paint colors I’ve sampled want to go green in the afternoon sun. It’s currently painted a reduced version of SW Natural Choice which is not working – gold/green undertone coming up.
For years it was painted BM Gentle Cream without this issue. I was hoping to move away from yellow and into more of a white, off-white, Greige or light cream. Would SW Pearly White ‘behave’ in this type of natural lighting or maybe a white like BM White Dove, or SW Greek Villa? This room has me stumped.
Thanks so much!
It could work. The best thing to do since you are clear about what you’re looking for is to grab a few chips/samples and see how they compare in the space.
Thank you for your reply.
I did decide to sample it. It’s a good overall color – very neutral, doesn’t pull green, but is slightly too grey for my home. I may try SW White Heron for a little more warmth. I don’t think it will pull green, but hopefully not red either! Undertones really show up with all the different lighting in this room.
What did you end up deciding? I’m debating and both Peary white and white heron are on my list!
What color trim would you recommend with Pearly White walls throughout the main living area with 18′ ceilings that gets plenty of natural light throughout the day? I am debating between pure white and extra white in semi gloss. I want to make sure that either of those won’t make the room look dingy.