Standish Blue

A mid-weight teal undertone. Vista Paint catalogs it as Standish Blue, H0048.

Light reflectance measures 28.0, which is enough to keep a room bright without bouncing light around. A chroma of 7.1 is enough to register as a real color choice, without the intensity that would force the rest of a room to match it.

It has enough weight for a main wall and enough restraint for a hallway. A warm bulb is the easiest fix if this reads colder than expected once it is on the wall. Dunn-Edwards Silver Lake makes a good second wall color here - different enough to read as a real choice, close enough to still feel related (about 44.5 points apart in light reflectance).

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 28.0 / 57 / 85 on the reflectance scale).

Switching brands, Behr Raindance (QE-53) is the closest equivalent at delta-E 2.07, near enough for most rooms. Across the other brands, nothing lands within delta-E 2 of this one - there is no easy substitute. Matte holds the color truest; a subtle sheen will lift it half a shade under lamps.

It is lighter than 27 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.