Sparrow

A quiet color: the true neutral is there, but it is not announcing itself. Vista Paint's designation for it is 0554.

Chroma 1.5 is the whole difference: below four a color reads as grey, above ten the true neutral takes over. This is a color worth testing in the specific room it is going in - cool colors shift more than warm ones do between north and south walls.

At this LRV (32.0), a room reads as neither bright-white nor dim - a genuinely middle-of-the-road amount of light comes back off the wall. It is the sort of color that goes on every wall of a house without feeling overwhelming.

Vista Paint Loyalist 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 points apart on the reflectance scale).

Switching brands, Behr Dolphin Gray (HDC-NT-10A) is the closest equivalent at delta-E 1.62, near enough for most rooms. Only 2 other-brand colors land within delta-E 2 of this one, which makes it comparatively unusual. Matte or low-sheen suits it on walls; higher gloss will exaggerate the undertone.

It is lighter than 29 percent of the Vista Paint range. The name is not unique: Behr 780F-4 and Benjamin Moore AF-720 also sell a color called Sparrow, and it is not the same shade. Vista Paint lists it in the C codes, alongside 1,421 other colors.