Chicago Skyline

A dependable middle ground, carried by a blue undertone that reads clearly without needing bright light to prove it. 0631 in the Vista Paint range.

42.0 on the light-reflectance scale puts it in the middle third, which is the part of the scale with the fewest surprises. Chroma 10.4 keeps the blue undertone present without letting it run the room.

Bedrooms and living rooms, where it is seen in lamplight as much as daylight. A warm bulb is the easiest fix if this reads colder than expected once it is on the wall. Dunn-Edwards Lighthouse pairs well as a second surface - close enough in feel to belong in the same room, far enough in lightness to read as two distinct walls (about 48.3 points apart on the reflectance scale).

This color and oranges and warm terracotta don't get along in the same room - they sit on opposite sides of the spectrum, so pairing them tends to feel like tension rather than contrast.

Warm metals - brass, aged gold, unlacquered fixtures - gain a contrast against this that they do not have against a lighter wall; it is a common reason people choose a color this deep in the first place. If the room needs more than one wall color, keep the steps far apart: this color, then something clearly lighter for a second surface, then a bright white above. Two similar tones just look like a mismatch; three distinct ones read as a plan (about 42.0 to 64 to 85 in LRV terms).

By the numbers, Behr Rainy Sidewalk (HDC-CT-24) and this color are indistinguishable - delta-E 0.85, well under what the eye can separate. 3 other-brand colors land within delta-E 2 of this one - a well-populated part of the spectrum with several near-equivalents to choose from. A satin finish is worth it in a room that needs to be wiped down often, at the cost of showing a bit more of the wall's surface than a flat finish would.

It is lighter than 44 percent of the Vista Paint range. This is a crowded part of the scale - 679 colors measure within a point of 42.0 - so most brands will have something close. Vista Paint lists it in the C codes, alongside 1,421 other colors.