Paint Color Guides

The colors designers actually specify — organized by room and by shade, with real Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore names, codes, hex values, and LRV. No 300-chip fan deck required.

Best Living Room Paint Colors

Designer-loved wall colors for the hardest-working room in the house — with real paint names, codes, and on-screen hex previews.

Best Bedroom Paint Colors

Colors chosen for one job: making the room you sleep in feel calmer the moment you walk in.

Best Kitchen Paint Colors

Wall colors that keep kitchens bright, plus the cabinet colors designers keep coming back to.

Best Bathroom Paint Colors

Spa-calm colors that survive humidity, harsh vanity lighting, and tiny square footage.

Best White Paint Colors

All whites are not the same white. Here’s how the famous ones actually differ — by undertone and light reflectance.

Best Gray Paint Colors

From barely-there greige to full charcoal — the grays that survived the trend cycle, and when to use each.

Best Blue Paint Colors

Blue is the most reliable "real color" in interiors. These are the eight blues worth sampling, from ink-dark to fog-light.

Paint Colors That Make a Room Look Bigger

The physics is simple: high light reflectance plus cool undertones push walls back. These colors do it best.

Best Home Office Paint Colors

Colors picked for two audiences: your concentration, and the camera you’re on all day.

Best Exterior Paint Colors

Curb-appeal colors that hold up in full sun — from modern-farmhouse white to the moody darks dominating new builds.

How to use these guides

Each guide shortlists the eight colors that keep proving themselves in real homes — not fifty near-identical chips. Start with the room you’re painting, or with a shade family if you already know the direction (white, gray, blue). Every color includes its official manufacturer code to hand to the paint counter, an approximate hex value for on-screen mock-ups, and its LRV so you know how it will handle your room’s light.

Then close the loop: run your room photo through the free AI room designer to see finished looks, use the paint calculator to buy the right number of gallons, and generate a coordinating scheme with the color palette generator.

See these colors on your walls — free

Stop squinting at 2-inch chips. Upload a photo of your room and RoomGPT’s AI shows the finished room in seconds — colors, furniture, the whole look.

Try the free AI room designer

Frequently asked questions

What do the paint codes on these pages mean?

Each color lists its manufacturer (Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin Moore) and official code — for example SW 7029 or HC-172. Give that code to any paint store and they’ll mix the exact color. The hex values are on-screen approximations for mock-ups.

What is LRV and why does it matter?

Light Reflectance Value measures how much light a color bounces back, from 0 (black) to 100 (pure white). Higher LRV colors make rooms feel brighter and larger; lower LRV colors add depth and coziness. It’s the single most useful number on a paint chip.

How many sample pots should I buy?

Narrow to two or three finalists first — that’s exactly what these guides are for — then paint poster-sized swatches on two walls and watch them for a full day of changing light before deciding.

Can I preview these paint colors on a photo of my room?

Yes. RoomGPT’s free AI room designer re-renders a photo of your actual room in new styles and color palettes in about 30 seconds, so you can shortlist colors before buying a single sample.