Tropical Sea

A dependable middle ground, carried by a teal undertone that reads clearly without needing bright light to prove it. Vista Paint lists it as Tropical Sea (7416).

At this LRV (46.0), a room reads as neither bright-white nor dim - a genuinely middle-of-the-road amount of light comes back off the wall. At chroma 12.3 the teal undertone is clear in daylight and softer under lamps.

A dining room or study suits this kind of mid-depth color, where the room is used at different times of day under different light. Warm bulbs will soften it; daylight bulbs push it further cool. If a second wall color is wanted in the same room, Dunn-Edwards Lighthouse keeps the jump obvious rather than muddy (roughly 44.3 LRV points from this one).

If the room already has reds and brick tones in the floor, a rug, or the furniture, this color will fight it rather than sit well beside it - the two sit at opposite ends of the color spectrum, which is exactly why they clash instead of blend.

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. A natural scheme here moves in three clear steps: this color on the main wall, a noticeably lighter mid-tone for a second wall or built-in, and a near-white on the ceiling. Each jump should be obvious at a glance, not something you have to squint to tell apart (roughly 46.0, 66 and 85 on the light-reflectance scale, for reference).

For anyone tied to a different brand, Behr Tahoe Blue (PPU13-09) is the nearest stand-in, at a delta-E of 1.97. This is a relatively uncrowded spot in the spectrum - just 2 colors from other brands come this close. Matte holds the color truest; a subtle sheen will lift it half a shade under lamps.

It is lighter than 48 percent of the Vista Paint range. The name is not unique: Behr HDC-MD-22 also sells a color called Tropical Sea, and it is not the same shade. Vista Paint lists it in the K codes, alongside 1,318 other colors.