Portsmouth Blue

A color that sits comfortably in the middle: not so light it washes out, not so dark it needs justifying, with a teal undertone that carries it. Vista Paint lists it as Portsmouth Blue (H0049).

LRV 16.0 - comfortably in the range that suits a whole room rather than one wall. At chroma 7.6 the teal undertone is clear in daylight and softer under lamps.

Works as a whole-room color in spaces that are lived in rather than passed through, where its depth has time to register. Warm bulbs will soften it; daylight bulbs push it further cool. If a second wall color is wanted in the same room, Behr Grape Creme keeps the jump obvious rather than muddy (roughly 34 LRV points from this one).

Rooms already built around reds and brick tones are the hardest fit for this color - the two are opposites, and opposites next to each other rarely feel calm.

Wood tones next to this read darker and richer than they do against a paler wall; it is one of the more dependable effects of putting a light-absorbing color next to anything reflective. For layering, pair this with a clearly lighter mid-tone on a secondary wall or cabinetry, and keep the ceiling close to white. The gap between each step should be big enough to see without thinking about it (roughly 16.0 / 51 / 85 on the reflectance scale).

For anyone tied to a different brand, Sherwin-Williams Riverway (SW 6222) is the nearest stand-in, at a delta-E of 1.48. This is a relatively uncrowded spot in the spectrum - just 2 colors from other brands come this close. Matte or low-sheen suits it on walls; higher gloss will exaggerate the undertone.

It is lighter than 14 percent of the Vista Paint range. It is one of the quietest teals in the catalog, which is why it reads as a neutral on a large wall. Vista Paint lists it in the C codes, alongside 1,421 other colors.