Sherwin-Williams Fawn Brindle SW 7640 on a house: LRV 35.5, siding, brick, stucco and garage doors, by orientation, with the trims and roofs that suit it

Sherwin-Williams Fawn Brindle (SW 7640) is a mid-tone greige: a gray with a light beige lean, deep enough to give a house presence and light enough to keep it from looking heavy. Sherwin-Williams publishes an LRV of 35.534 (often rounded to 36), an RGB of 167, 160, 148 (hex #A7A094), files it in its Neutral family, rates it for interior and exterior use and places it at 247-C5 on its color strips. Outside, it works as a body color on wood and fiber cement siding, stucco and painted brick, and on a garage door matched to the walls. It reads grayer on a north-facing front and more beige in southern sun, so choose the trim for the light your front wall gets. Two limits come from manufacturers' rules: under Sherwin-Williams' guidance it is off the table for vinyl siding (LRV under 56), and one family of insulated steel garage doors requires a solar reflective paint in its LRV range.

Color values come from the makers' own pages and color data. Color differences, chroma, LRV gaps and gallon counts are our calculations, and the advice on orientation, roofs and masonry pairings is our color reasoning, not a manufacturer's rule.

Fawn Brindle at a glance: the numbers Sherwin-Williams publishes

These values come from the color's page (Sherwin-Williams, SW 7640 Fawn Brindle) and from Sherwin-Williams' public color data, which gives the same figures. Hex and RGB are an approximate digital rendering, not a tinting formula.

Gray or beige? What the numbers say about Fawn Brindle

The Lab values settle it. L 66.13 is mid lightness. An a value of +0.40 is practically zero on the red-green axis: no pink, no green. A b value of +7.15 leans to yellow, which turns a gray into a greige. By our calculation the chroma is about 7.2 (0 is a perfectly neutral gray), with a hue almost exactly on the yellow axis. Against the neutrals it gets compared with:

Fawn Brindle sits between the gray side of the family (Functional Gray) and the taupe side (Mega Greige, Tony Taupe), and outdoors the light changes it more than its surroundings do.

North, south, east or west: how Fawn Brindle changes with orientation

An LRV of 35.5 means the wall reflects roughly a third of the visible light that reaches it, on a scale from 0 (black) to 100 (a perfect white); our guide to reading LRV explains the scale. With so little color of its own, Fawn Brindle follows the light. Color logic, not measurement:

Climate pushes the same way: a desert sun makes it look lighter than the chip, a Pacific Northwest overcast darker and grayer. Facing north and want more beige? Compare Mega Greige. Facing south and want it grayer? Compare Functional Gray. Our page on paint colors by orientation applies the same light logic indoors.

Siding, brick, stucco, garage door: where Fawn Brindle works

Lap siding and fiber cement

Sherwin-Williams' Duration Exterior data sheet lists wood, cement composition siding, stucco, concrete, block, aluminum and galvanized steel among its surfaces. New cement composition siding must be tested for pH and, above 9, primed with Loxon Concrete & Masonry Primer. The sheet calls for 2 coats on new, bare substrates and 1 coat for a repaint. On lap siding, a mid-tone keeps the shadow lines of the boards visible, where a white flattens them and a near-black hides them. Our Duration Exterior guide covers the product.

Vinyl siding: use a VinylSafe look-alike

The same sheet says not to paint vinyl with any color darker than the original or with an LRV under 56 unless VinylSafe colors are used, because the vinyl may warp, and warns that departing from the vinyl maker's guidelines may void its warranty. Fawn Brindle, at 35.5, is about 20 points under that line. The VinylSafe palette, coded SWVS, offers 100 colors, including a limited selection of darker colors formulated to resist warping or buckling on sound, stable vinyl. By our calculation from the screen colors on that page, the nearest is Distinct Taupe SWVS 308 (about ΔE 1.6, a shade lighter), then Humpback SWVS 333 (about ΔE 1.9, a touch grayer): close enough to give the Fawn Brindle look on vinyl. Our VinylSafe guide walks through the palette.

Brick: painted, or left bare next to Fawn Brindle siding

Many American houses mix a brick front with siding on the sides and gables. The simplest move is Fawn Brindle on the siding only: its neutral base sits calmly next to red, orange or brown brick, and the mortar color is a good guide for the trim. Painting the brick is a bigger step. The Brick Industry Association's Technical Note 6 (August 2024) warns that paint can be very difficult to remove from brick without damage, that painted exterior brick can need regular repainting, and that acrylic latex is typically vapor semi-permeable, so heavy coats lower the wall's permeability further. Because mortar is alkaline, it recommends an alkaline-resistant primer or a masonry paint, after at least 30 days of curing for new or repaired masonry. Our painted brick exterior guide covers the full decision.

Stucco

Duration lists stucco among its surfaces; anything with a pH above 9 must first take a high pH-resistant primer such as Loxon Concrete & Masonry Primer. Fawn Brindle suits a Mediterranean or Spanish-style stucco house with a clay tile roof, where the roof carries the color. See our Sherwin-Williams stucco paint colors and the Loxon stucco paint guide.

Garage doors: check the door maker's LRV rules

A garage door painted the same Fawn Brindle as the siding makes a street-facing garage recede. Steel doors come with their own rules. Clopay's painting instructions (effective May 11, 2020) call for a 100% acrylic latex exterior paint, strongly recommend a bonding primer, exclude oil-based and alkyd modified paints, which void the warranty, and ask for a test patch first. On its Coachman doors, a tested and approved solar reflective paint is required for an LRV between 13 and 38, and colors at 12 or below are not permitted; on its other doors, solar reflective paint is recommended, not required. Fawn Brindle, at 35.5, falls inside the 13 to 38 band. Other makers set their own limits, so read your door's manual, and see our garage door paint color ideas.

Trim, door and accent colors with a Fawn Brindle body

Coordinating colors first; the gap is the LRV difference from the body (Sherwin-Williams' color data).

As we read these gaps, a body at LRV 35 is a true mid-tone: whites 39 to 50 points above it and darks about 30 points below it both stand out. Shoji White and Aged White give a soft, tonal house; Pure White and Extra White a crisper one. For the door, our Sherwin-Williams front door colors page compares more options, and the Sherwin-Williams exterior color combinations show full schemes.

Roof colors with a Fawn Brindle house

The roof is usually the largest surface you cannot change, so start from it. These notes are our color reasoning:

For a brown roof in particular, our page on paint colors for brown roof houses lists more body colors to compare.

Strip 247: from Grecian Ivory down to Mountain Road

Fawn Brindle is the fifth of seven steps on Sherwin-Williams strip 247. The colors share a greige base, so two or three of them can sit on one house without an undertone clash. Values from Sherwin-Williams' color data, all rated for exterior use:

Two one-strip schemes: a tonal house with Fawn Brindle siding, Grecian Ivory trim (a soft 28-point gap) and Mountain Road shutters; or a two-tone house with Gateway Gray above and Fawn Brindle below, tied by one white trim.

Fawn Brindle vs Intellectual Gray, Mega Greige and other look-alikes

Sherwin-Williams' own data lists these as similar. The color difference (ΔE2000) is our calculation from its Lab values: under about 2 is hard to tell apart on a wall, above 5 is clearly another color.

One trap: Western Reserve SW 9597 is also listed as similar, but the color data rates it interior only. For the same family a step lighter, the Anew Gray SW 7030 exterior guide covers a greige at LRV 47; for the warmer neighbor, see our Mega Greige SW 7031 exterior guide.

Benjamin Moore colors near Fawn Brindle

No official equivalent exists. These are the closest by our calculation from each page's screen color, with Benjamin Moore's LRVs.

Chateau is listed only to save you a trip: it looks close but is not an exterior option. Treat the other two as starting points for a painted sample.

Product, painting conditions and how much Fawn Brindle you need

The Duration data sheet sets the conditions: air, surface and material above 35°F and at least 5° above the dew point, no application if temperatures may drop below 35°F within 48 hours, no rain or snow expected within 2 to 3 hours, and no painting in direct sun. Recoat takes 4 hours above 45°F, 24 to 48 hours between 35 and 45°F. Coverage is 250 to 300 sq ft per gallon. Late in the year the binding limit is often the primer: the sheet says standard latex primers cannot be used below 50°F.

Our arithmetic: for 2,000 sq ft of siding after windows and doors, a one-coat repaint over a similar mid-tone takes 6.7 to 8 gallons; a change from white or from a dark color calls for two coats, 13.3 to 16 gallons, about three 5-gallon buckets plus a spare gallon. A 16 by 7 ft garage door is about 112 sq ft per face before the panel relief, so two coats fit in one gallon.

If the house was built before 1978, assume the old paint may contain lead. Under the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Program, anyone paid to disturb painted surfaces in that housing must be certified. The rule generally does not apply to homeowners working on their own home, with exceptions such as rentals and home childcare, but the EPA still recommends lead-safe practices. Under a homeowners association, check the HOA color rules guide before you order.

How to test Fawn Brindle before you commit

1. Paint two coats on a 2 by 2 ft board, with a strip of your trim white along one edge.
2. View it on the front wall and the opposite side, at noon and late in the day, from the street, against the roof or brick you are keeping.
3. Put Mega Greige beside it if it looks too gray, Functional Gray if it looks too beige.
4. Try the whole scheme on a photo of your own house before buying the first gallon.

For the wider Sherwin-Williams exterior range, start with our Sherwin-Williams exterior paint guide. For a lighter, cooler gray from the same maker, see the Repose Gray SW 7015 exterior guide.

Sources and references

• Sherwin-Williams, SW 7640 Fawn Brindle: LRV, RGB, hex, family, use, strip, coordinating colors.
• Sherwin-Williams, color pages for Intellectual Gray SW 7045 and Mega Greige SW 7031: comparison values.
• Sherwin-Williams, VinylSafe colors for vinyl siding: palette and swatches.
• Sherwin-Williams, Duration Exterior product data sheet: substrates, vinyl rule, primers, application conditions, coverage.
• Benjamin Moore, color pages for River Reflections 1552, Rockport Gray HC-105 and Chateau CSP-140: LRV, collection, screen color, exterior availability.
• Brick Industry Association, Technical Note 6, Changing the Appearance of Brick Masonry (August 2024): permanence, vapor permeance, primer, curing.
• Clopay, Painting your garage door (effective May 11, 2020): paint type, primer, LRV bands, solar reflective paint.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program: pre-1978 homes, certification and homeowner exceptions.