Gedney Green

This sits near the floor of the scale, and the green undertone is the difference between a genuine black and a color that only reads as one. In the Vista Paint lineup this is H0096.

8.0 on the light-reflectance scale is near the floor - this color adds shadow to a room rather than taking it away. Direct light is where the green undertone actually shows - raking light across the wall, a lamp placed close, morning sun through a nearby window.

This color and pinks and warm blush tones 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.

Anything pale placed against this wall will look paler than it is; anything warm-metal will look warmer. Neither is an illusion the color plays deliberately - it is simple contrast, but worth planning rather than discovering. 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 8.0 to 47 to 85 in LRV terms).

Whole rooms in it work when the room is used mainly after dark and lit warmly rather than relying on daylight. If a second wall color is wanted in the same room, PPG Equilibrium keeps the jump obvious rather than muddy (roughly 28 LRV points from this one).

A color this deep already reads as dramatic; a low-sheen finish lets the color carry that without competing highlights.

Switching brands, Benjamin Moore Hidden Falls (714) is the closest equivalent at delta-E 1.36, near enough for most rooms. 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.

It is lighter than 4 percent of the Vista Paint range. Vista Paint lists it in the C codes, alongside 1,421 other colors.