Call it sage, eucalyptus, grayish green, or greenish gray, it all implies the same thing, and these steely green paint colors are trending in a major way!
(But not too trending, so don’t be scared.)
I set out to find the very best and most beautiful gray green paint colors that every brand has to offer, and now I’m here to deliver!
Before we begin, I recently added a couple of posts about sage greens specifically, that you might want to check out:
- The 22 Best Sage Green Paint Colors That Nobody is Talking About
- The Best Colors for Sage Green Kitchen Cabinets (To Get the Look You Want!)
This post may contain affiliate links. Should you choose to make a purchase through one of my links, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. I only recommend products that I use.
Best of the Best Gray Green Paint Colors
First off, here is a sample of my very favorite gray green colors from Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Behr, and Valspar:
I had to pick just 9 colors to feature, because that is what fits comfortably on my “best of” card. (Very scientific.)
I ended up shortlisting about three times that amount, and I will show you all of them in this post!
I thought it would be simplest to separate them by brand, so that’s how this is organized: Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Behr, and finally, Valspar.
Near the end I will add cards of light, medium, and dark shades so that you can also choose that way.
What is the Difference Between Gray Green and Sage?
For people who think there is a difference between gray green colors and sage, they will probably argue that sage is slightly warmer.
First of all, gray greens are not necessarily cool-toned.
Gray is more or less a matter of saturation, so you can definitely still have warm gray greens, the same way that there are warm grays.
When a lot of us picture sage, we are thinking of the variety with the pretty silver leaves. For that reason, I really think that you can use the terms “sage” and “gray green” interchangeably.
I suppose the only difference is that there are paint colors that look sage because they are a mix of tan or beige and green, and those are not gray at all.
(Benjamin Moore Vintage Vogue is a good example of that.)
Anyway, call it whatever you want, I won’t tell!
LRV of Gray Green Paint Colors
Really quickly, I just want to touch on LRV, because I will be mentioning the LRV of each paint color.
The LRV of a color indicates on a scale of 0 – 100 how much light a color reflects (or doesn’t reflect). True black has an LRV of 0 and pure white has an LRV of 100.
In the paint world, we are working in a range of about 3 – 93 because no paint color is purely black or completely white.
Basically:
- High number = Light
- Low number = Dark
The darkest color in this article has an LRV of 7, and the lightest is an 82.
Sherwin Williams Gray Green Paint Colors
I just could not stop myself with the Sherwin Williams gray greens! I kept finding more and MORE options that I thought you needed to see.
Sherwin Williams Sea Salt – SW 6204
Sea Salt is a super soft gray green color that has got to be one of Sherwin Willams best sellers.
(I have actually written an entire post about Sea Salt!)
What makes Sea Salt so amazing, is that it is light enough and subtle enough to use in your whole home. Basically, it acts like a neutral without being the usual white, gray, or beige.
The LRV of Sea Salt is 63.
Sherwin Williams Retreat – SW 6207
SW Retreat is a gorgeous smokey green color. It’s like looking at the forest through a haze of campfire smoke. Just delightful!
Retreat is an updated alternative to anything that you might have formerly wanted to paint dark blue – such as lower cabinets, island, front door, etc.
It’s just gray enough to work with almost any other color.
The LRV of Sherwin Williams Retreat is 21
Sherwin Williams Rock Bottom SW 7062
SW Rock Bottom is a great choice if you are considering black, but don’t want to go quite that dark.
I feel like it has a similar effect to black: It’s pretty neutral, and it contrasts great with white, but it offers a bit more complexity.
Rock Bottom is the darkest of all the grayish green colors, with an LRV of 7.
See more of this color in my post: Rock Bottom by Sherwin Williams (Review and Dupes!)
Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay SW 6206
I don’t know why Oyster Bay isn’t more popular! It’s not unpopular, but a lot of similar colors are extremely popular, and Oyster Bay is kind of sitting on the bench.
Maybe that’s a good thing, because you won’t have the same color as everybody else!
On the swatch and on Sherwin Williams site, Oyster Bay appears significantly darker and more gray than it does in real life. I would describe it as a misty green.
It is on the same color strip as Sea Salt and Retreat.
The LRV of Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay is 44.
Sherwin Williams Acacia Haze SW 9132
Once we really start digging into these mid-gray green colors, your mind can start to spin because they are all pretty similar!
Don’t get overwhelmed! Any of them are a good choice.
SW Acacia Haze has a similar quality to another Sherwin Williams color: Thunderous.
Acacia Haze is a chameleon-like green gray, but without the subtle warm tones of thunderous.
The LRV of Sherwin Williams Acacia Haze is 32.
Like the look of this color? Check out my post: Sherwin Williams Acacia Haze: A Delicious Gray Green
Sherwin Williams Evergreen Fog SW 9130
This post basically requires that I mention Evergreen Fog, because it is Sherwin Williams color of the year for 2022, so you will be seeing it everywhere!
Evergreen Fog is a beautiful gray green color that is a touch warmer than most. I think it tends to read darker than it really is, but you never know if that just happens to be how it looks in the most photos.
The LRV of Evergreen Fog is 30.
Check out my dedicated post: Sherwin Williams Evergreen Fog: 2022 Color of the Year (Plus Dupes!)
Sherwin Williams Gypsum SW 9543
Sherwin Williams Gypsum is technically an off-white, because it has an LRV of 82, which is only a tiny bit below that of actual white paint colors, which are usually 84+.
Gypsum is a tragically under-used paint color!
Who knows, with off-whites being so popular recently, maybe it will start getting some love?
Gypsum is like a subtle white with a hint of gray and a slight undertone of green. It is a fairly yellow-green, so it doesn’t read super cool toned, like you might expect. It’s a complicated “white” that you should really give a second look to.
Sherwin Williams Pewter Green SW 6208
I have already done a full review of Sherwin Williams Pewter Green, if you like the look of this color.
Pewter Green is probably best described as a steely green. It has an almost metallic feel to it.
The LRV of Pewter Green is 12.
Sherwin Williams Jasper Stone SW 9133
Jasper Stone is the most blueish of the grayish greens that I chose from Sherwin Williams. It’s almost like a really muted down aqua color.
Here are a couple of pictures that show what a difference lighting can make!
Here you can really see how much more sage Jasper Stone looks in artificial/warmer light:
The LRV of Sherwin Williams Jasper Stone is 32, which is the same as Acacia Haze, so that extra blue is the primary difference.
Honorable Mention: Thunderous
I would have included Sherwin Williams Thunderous if I had even a little bit more room, but something had to be cut.
You can read my full Thunderous review here.
Thunderous is a little warmer toned than the rest of these gray-greens.
Honourable Mention: Green Glimpse SW 9676
I’m not sure what the story is with Green Glimpse. I found it when I was scrolling through off-whites, but you can’t even search for it on the Sherwin Williams site for some reason!
Green Glimpse has an LRV of 82 so it’s pretty close to white. I think it looks quite nice, but I wasn’t able to find anyone who has used it. If you are looking for a gray-green white, I would for sure get a sample of Green Glimpse!
(It will be your little secret.)
Benjamin Moore Gray Green Paint Colors
Of course I can’t let Benjamin Moore be outdone by Sherwin Williams, so I had to find 9 amazing gray greens from them too!
Benjamin Moore Healing Aloe 1562
Healing Aloe is kind of what you expect, a very soothing color! It’s a subtle greenish gray color that is reasonably close to white.
The LRV of Healing Aloe is 69.66, but it does read very light in my opinion.
I like Healing Aloe a lot because it manages to be a very soft green without going into minty territory.
Benjamin Moore Saybrook Sage HC-114
Saybrook Sage…Mmmm…Saybrook Sage though. It’s just so good.
Benjamin Moore’s Saybrook Sage is a little hard to describe. It looks smooth and expensive.
This color seems to be pretty popular for exteriors, and a little more difficult to find examples of indoors, but I managed to do it!
The LRV of Saybrook Sage is 44.86
I’ve will add more pictures of Saybrook Sage below under exteriors.
Benjamin Moore Millstone Gray 1581
Millstone Gray is one of my absolute favorites out of all of these gray green shades.
What I like about Millstone Gray is how it shifts in the light. It is also more to the gray than a lot of the darker sage colors tend to be.
The LRV of Benjamin Moore Millstone Gray is 15.3.
Benjamin Moore October Mist 1495
October Mist is a warm sage color that happens to be Benjamin Moore’s color of the year for 2022.
It’s funny that Sherwin Williams color of the year could be the older sister to October Mist. These brands must be watching the same trend calendars!
October Mist is warm because it has a fair bit more yellow to it than other greenish grays.
The LRV of October Mist is 46.33.
I have already done an October Mist deep dive, and compared it with many other popular sage colors.
Benjamin Moore Misted Green 2138-50
In a lot of ways, Benjamin Moore Misted Green is the perfect gray green color. It looks like equal parts of both, and it is still light enough that you could use it everywhere.
Misted Green does have just a hint more yellow than some of the very cool gray greens, but it isn’t as warm as October Mist.
The LRV of Misted Green is 46.83.
Benjamin Moore Carolina Gull 2138-5
If you like Misted Green, you will like Carolina Gull! It is actually on the same color strip, just one line down.
The LRV of Carolina Gull is 26.37 so it is a mid-toned green and wouldn’t be considered light at all.
This sultry shade could be used as an accent, or in a single room, but it would be just a little too dark to go everywhere. It does look great on an exterior!
Carolina Gull should be on your shortlist because it strikes a nice balance between gray and green, and then also light and dark.
See more of this color here: Benjamin Moore Carolina Gull (The Latest in Sage Greens!)
Benjamin Moore Pearl Gray 863
Pearl Gray is pretty similar to Healing Aloe, but it is a little warmer. It reads like a really soft off-white, but definitely has green gray undertones.
The LRV of Pearl Gray is 74.85.
Benjamin Moore Rainy Afternoon 1585
Rainy Afternoon looks pretty green in the little swatch, but I can tell you that on the wall it looks a lot more gray.
It is kind of like a cool and grayed-out olive tone.
Rainy Afternoon is the darkest Benjamin Moore gray green that I chose, with an LRV of 13.49.
Benjamin Moore Rushing River 1574
Rushing River is kind of like Benjamin Moore’s version of Jasper Stone. It has a touch more of a cool blueish hue than the rest of the sage colors, but it isn’t as cool as SW Jasper Stone.
That being said, it can look quite blue in some lights, and more green in others.
The LRV of Rushing River is 29.74.
Green Gray Colors from Behr
I tried to dial it back a bit with my choices from Behr and Valspar, because let’s face it, we don’t need 36 gray green colors to choose from, unless you want to induce analysis paralysis.
From Behr I chose just four perfect greenish gray paint colors that are all quite different from one another.
Behr In the Moment T18-15
In the Moment is another cool toned sage color that can look a little blue in comparison with the warmer gray greens. It’s super pretty and not super popular!
The LRV of Behr In the Moment is 30.
Behr Muted Sage N350-5
I cheated a little bit when I chose Behr Muted Sage, but it was by accident, so it doesn’t count.
How?
Wellll….the teeny tiny problem with muted sage is that it isn’t actually green. It’s much more yellow than it is green.
The reason I chose to include it, is because I chose based on how it looked and not the official composition, and that’s what matters isn’t it?
Muted Sage definitely looks sagey and muted on the wall, and since I thought it was a warm gray green, I’m keeping it on the list!
The LRV of Behr Muted Sage is 28.
Behr Heritage Park PPU12-18
Heritage Park is such a cozy gray green color!
Ready to be convinced that you should go with all Heritage Park everything?
Xin painted her walls, trim, and doors with Heritage Park. She even hand stencilled the floral with it!
The LRV of Heritage Park is 17.
Behr Black Locust PPU25-02
Black Locust is another chameleon-like color that can look very different depending on the light. In some photos it looks charcoal, but it is definitely green!
Here is a picture of Black Locust in natural light, where it looks fairly green:
Here is Behr Black Locust in artificial lighting, where it looks quite charcoal:
And here is something in between:
Thank you so much to Angela from @riverbirchhouse for sharing her photos. I would not have been able to show you what it really looks like otherwise, because it seems like a relatively unknown color still.
If you stop by Angela’s Instagram, she recently re-painted her fireplace wall in Iron Ore, so don’t panic! That charcoal she is sporting now is not Black Locust.
The LRV of Behr Black Locust is 13.
Grayish Green Colors from Valspar
I chose four different Valspar gray greens, and they just happened to all fall into the light to medium range.
Valspar Sweet Serenity
Sweet Serenity is a soft green with a muted gray quality. This is another color that would be an unexpected neutral for your whole home, and it is plenty light enough to pull it off.
The LRV of Valspar Sweet Serenity is 67.186.
Valspar Secret Moss
In real life, Secret Moss looks nothing like you would expect. It’s a very soft gray green that still has lots of green in it, despite the swatch looking very gray.
Secret Moss has an LRV of 32, but I think it comes off much lighter than that.
Beautiful color!
Valspar Sea Sage
Sea Sage is one of Valspar’s more popular sage colors, and the only one that I had heard of before I started collecting for this post.
Sea Sage is a little more cool toned, and has a bit of a muted aqua feel to it.
The LRV of Sea Sage is 31.
Valspar Granite Dust
If you go looking to try or buy Granite Dust, make sure you get the brand name right, because apparently this is a popular color name, but not for gray greens!
Even if it wasn’t green (which it is!) Granite Dust is a lovely warm gray color that would work well with an infinite number of other colors!
I don’t think the color is super accurate there, so here’s another picture for reference:
The LRV of Valspar Granite Dust is 48.11.
Gray Green Complementary Colors
Of course there is a pretty big range of green. Gray greens can run from yellow greens all the way over to blue greens, so that will change the complementary colors.
If you choose a warm gray green that has more yellow in it, consider using it with a blue, like Benjamin Moore Evening Dove or Hale Navy.
(For similar choices, check out my post: Warm Blue Gray Paint Colors)
For a completely green shade, the complementary color would be a shade of mauve or pink.
I love Farrow & Ball’s Sulking Room Pink, and it looks phenomenal with almost any shade of gray-green!
For gray greens that are cool toned and blue leaning, try pairing them with a color like Benjamin Moore Baked Terracotta, or an orange based white like Sherwin Williams Snowbound.
Don’t Forget Your Supplies!
This little brush might look funny, but it’s my absolute ride or die!
Rollers like these hold the most paint and make the job faster. Get a metal roller cage for easy on and off.
DryDex is the fastest (and funnest!) way to make chips and dents disappear. (Make sure you get a small spackling tool that actually fits in the container, and a sanding sponge.)
This tool will save your back and limit time on a ladder.
Gray Green Coordinating Color Palette
Navy is a pretty safe choice with sage colors, because blue is beside green on the color wheel, and for warm yellowy greens, it is a complementary color.
Here I chose Benjamin Moore Hale Navy, because it’s a classic navy blue that will never go out of style.
(I have actually written a whole post about Hale Navy!)
Terracotta is another color that is commonly paired with gray greens. It makes sense, because we all know that green plants look great in terracotta pots!
In this palette I chose Sherwin Williams Cavern Clay, which is a more natural and subdued terracotta color.
(Check out my post of all the Best Terracotta Paint Colors.)
You can use almost any white with greenish gray colors. A creamy white will keep the palette soothing and mellow. A bright cool white will make the green pop more.
Sherwin Williams Snowbound is a pretty true white, but it technically has a warm orangey base, so it will work well with all shades of green.
Sherwin Williams Greek Villa is a warm creamy white that is still light and bright.
You can also keep your color scheme warm and earthy by choosing other neutrals like beige or even some shades of taupe.
In this palette I chose Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray, because it’s a nice neutral greige with widespread appeal.
Gray Green Exterior Paint Colors
I have amassed so many amazing examples of gray green sagey colors on exteriors that I will probably make it a whole other post, but here are a couple of my faves:
I never would have thought to do a soft sage color on stucco, but it works so well! The navy blue door complements the color well, and the bright white really pops.
Yum!
Here is a soft gray green exterior with brick and white trim:
I love how Oyster Bay looks on the shakes!
Gray Green Kitchen Cabinets
A lot of my example photos have been kitchen cabinets, because green is the new navy when it comes to kitchens!
Here are a few more gorgeous gray green kitchen cabinets:
Carolina Gull is a top choice for cabinets! I found a lot of people using it, and of course it always looks great!
This next kitchen might be my personal favorite:
Sherwin Williams Rock Bottom in this kitchen is so sophisticated that I can’t even! For me personally, I would have gone with a warmer wall color, but I love the look all the same.
Finally a light gray green for cabinets, using Sherwin Williams Sea Salt:
I love this trend!
It also isn’t too trendy, dark blue cabinets have been in style for several years, so we can assume green will stick around until you want to refinish them anyway.
Gray Green Front Door
Of course funky colors are always welcome on the front door, and sage is a top pick!
Sherwin Williams Acacia Haze works so well on this front door with the creamy siding and black accents.
Here is another creamy white house (Benjamin Moore Simply White) with Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay on the front door:
#farmhousegoals!
This next door is Sherwin Williams Sea Salt:
While this is a house with wooden shake siding, from a distance you can get a good idea of how a light gray green door will look on a brick house.
Light Gray Green Paint Colors
Just in case you zoned out in the middle of all this gray green TMI, here is a quick summary from light to dark!
- Sherwin Williams Sea Salt
- Benjamin Moore Healing Aloe
- Valspar Granite Dust
- Sherwin Williams Gypsum
- Benjamin Moore Pearl Gray
- Valspar Sweet Serenity
Mid-Toned Gray Green Paint Colors
- Benjamin Moore October Mist
- Benjamin Moore Misted Green
- Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay
- Sherwin Williams Acacia Haze
- Sherwin Williams Evergreen Fog
- Sherwin Williams Jasper Stone
- Benjamin Moore Saybrook Sage
- Valspar Secret Moss
- Valspar Sea Sage
(Not pictured: Behr Muted Sage – So sorry, but there just wasn’t room!)
Dark Gray Green Paint Colors
- Sherwin Williams Rock Bottom
- Sherwin Williams Pewter Green
- Sherwin Williams Retreat
- Benjamin Moore Millstone Gray
- Benjamin Moore Carolina Gull
- Benjamin Moore Rainy Afternoon
- Behr Heritage Park
- Behr in the Moment
- Behr Black Locust
Gray Green Final Moody Musings
Wowzas! That was lot!
I feel pretty confident in saying that there should be at least one or two gray green colors in here that float your boat.
Grab your brush and rollers and get to painting! Start with your front door, then an accent wall, maybe your lower cabinets, and before you know it you’ll be converted.
If these were a little too neutral or gray for you, don’t you worry! I have a metric bajillion of other greens for you to check out:
