Sherwin-Williams Mount Etna SW 7625 on a house: a slate blue near-black at LRV 6, on siding, front doors, shutters and garage doors, with the heat rules for dark paint and the trims that go with it

Sherwin-Williams Mount Etna (SW 7625) is a very dark slate blue: a near-black with a blue cast and a slight green lean, which reads as soft black in shade and as deep blue-gray in sun. Sherwin-Williams publishes an LRV of 6.172 and an RGB of 61, 72, 76 (hex #3D484C), rates it for interior and exterior use, places it at 279-C2 on its color strips and lists Extra White, Natural Choice and Edgy Gold as coordinating colors. It was the brand's October 2024 Color of the Month. Outside, it works as a body color on wood, fiber cement and stucco, and as an accent on front doors and shutters. Its depth is also its limit: at LRV 6 it falls under the dark-color thresholds set for vinyl siding, PVC trim and some doors and garage doors.

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

Mount Etna at a glance: the numbers Sherwin-Williams publishes

These values come from the color's page (Sherwin-Williams, SW 7625 Mount Etna) and from Sherwin-Williams' public color data, which gives the same figures. Hex and RGB are an approximate digital rendering.

Sherwin-Williams' October 2024 Color of the Month page presents Mount Etna as a deep, inky blue with a rustic, darker-farmhouse character. That page is written about rooms and says nothing about siding, doors or shutters.

What color is Mount Etna: blue, gray, green or black?

It is a blue by description and a near-black by depth. Sherwin-Williams calls it a deep blue, yet files it in the Timeless Color family, not in Blue. The Lab values explain why: an a value of -3.41 leans slightly to green, a b value of -3.88 slightly to blue, and both are small. By our calculation the chroma is about 5.2, very low, and the hue angle about 229 degrees, roughly halfway between the green axis (180) and the blue axis (270). So Mount Etna is a slate: a weak, deep blue with a little green in it, which passes for black until the sun reaches it.

All five sit within two LRV points of each other, so color separates them, not depth. Mount Etna has more color than Iron Ore or Cyberspace and less than half the chroma of Naval: it suits people who find black too flat and navy too blue.

What an LRV of 6 means outside: heat, and the makers' limits

An LRV of 6.172 means the wall reflects about 6 percent 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. The rest is absorbed, and a surface that absorbs more sunlight runs hotter. Some building products under the paint do not tolerate that, and their makers say so in writing:

Clopay gives the reason: dark colors absorb the most solar energy and heat to higher temperatures in direct sun, and doors painted dark may be prone to thermal bowing. These are four companies' rules, not a building code: before Mount Etna goes on anything but wood, fiber cement or masonry, look for an LRV figure in the maker's painting instructions.

North, south, east or west: how Mount Etna changes with the light

With so little chroma, the amount of daylight decides whether you see the blue at all. Color logic, not measurement:

Neighbors shift it too: beside true black window frames, or beside cedar, red brick or copper, Mount Etna looks bluer.

Siding, doors, shutters, garage: where Mount Etna works

Lap siding, board and batten, fiber cement

The Duration Exterior data sheet (K32 series, dated March 2026) lists wood, plywood, cement composition siding, stucco, concrete, block and aluminum 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; from a light body to a near-black, plan on two anyway. On bare cedar or redwood, it warns that tannin can stain the first coat. Our board and batten paint guide covers the layout, and the Duration Exterior guide the product.

Vinyl siding: no close VinylSafe match

Mount Etna is not among the colors on Sherwin-Williams' VinylSafe page, whose palette is coded SWVS. By our calculation from the screen colors on that page, the closest cool dark is Gray Jacket SWVS 434 (#5A6468), about ΔE 10 away and roughly twice as light: a mid-dark blue-gray, not a near-black. If your siding is vinyl, ask a Sherwin-Williams store what it can offer at this depth; our VinylSafe guide walks through the palette.

Front door and shutters

On a white, cream or greige house Mount Etna gives a door that reads black from the street and slate blue from the porch, softer than Tricorn Black and quieter than a navy. Check the door maker's rule on dark colors first. Molded vinyl and PVC shutters fall under the LRV 56 rule unless their maker says otherwise; wood and composite ones do not. Our SnapDry door and trim paint guide compares Sherwin-Williams' door enamels, the Sherwin-Williams front door colors page lists other dark options, and the exterior shutter colors guide covers shutters.

Garage door

Clopay requires a 100% acrylic latex exterior paint, strongly recommends a bonding primer and states that failing to follow its instructions voids the door's warranty; on its Coachman doors Mount Etna's 6.172 is under the permitted minimum of 13. For another brand, look up its own sheet. If the answer is no, paint the garage door in the trim color; our garage door color ideas page covers the options.

Trim and accent colors with a Mount Etna body

The colors Sherwin-Williams publishes with Mount Etna come first; the gap is the LRV difference from Mount Etna (Sherwin-Williams' color data).

Every light trim stands out by 63 to 80 points, so the choice is about temperature: Extra White and Pure White keep the house crisp, Natural Choice and Drift of Mist warm it. The Color of the Month page also pairs Mount Etna with Mushroom SW 9587, Cast Iron SW 6202, Downing Stone SW 2821 and Armory SW 9600. By our calculation, Burnished Brandy's hue angle is about 64 degrees against 229 for Mount Etna, a difference of about 165 degrees, close to the opposite side of the color wheel. That is why cedar posts, a stained wood door and red brick look right on a slate-black house. The Sherwin-Williams exterior color combinations show full schemes.

What colors go with Mount Etna as a door or shutter color

When Mount Etna is the accent, the body color does the framing. The gap is the LRV difference between the body and Mount Etna:

A near-black accent keeps a workable gap on almost any body: graphic against white, gentle against greige or stone. See the Agreeable Gray SW 7029 exterior guide for a greige house and the Repose Gray SW 7015 exterior guide for a cooler gray one.

Strip 279: seven deep blues and teals

Some Sherwin-Williams strips run from a pale tint down to a dark shade, so the top of the strip supplies a trim: strip 225, covered in our Storm Cloud SW 6249 exterior guide, is one. Strip 279 does not: all seven of its colors are dark, between LRV 4 and 14. Values from Sherwin-Williams' color data, all rated for exterior use:

The strip is a shortlist if Mount Etna is nearly right: Gale Force for more blue, Cascades for more green. The trim has to come from elsewhere.

Mount Etna vs Iron Ore, Cyberspace, Naval and other dark exteriors

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

Mount Etna and Iron Ore are not interchangeable: same depth, but one is a slate and the other a neutral; the Iron Ore exterior guide covers the neutral side and the Naval SW 6244 exterior guide the navy one. If the heat limits rule out an LRV of 6, Slate Tile is the same slate at more than twice the reflected light: see the Slate Tile SW 7624 exterior guide. For the others: the Tricorn Black exterior guide, the Urbane Bronze exterior guide and the Ripe Olive exterior guide.

Benjamin Moore colors near Mount Etna

No official equivalent exists. These are the closest by our calculation from screen colors, with the LRVs Benjamin Moore publishes; test a painted sample.

Product and sheen for a color this dark

Sherwin-Williams lists three sheens on its Emerald Exterior page: flat, described as non-reflective and helpful for hiding surface imperfections; satin, with a slight gloss; and gloss, recommended for windows, doors and trim. Our reasoning from those descriptions: flat on rough or wavy siding, because a near-black shows every dip once it shines; satin on smooth fiber cement; gloss or satin on the door and shutters. We found no fade figure published for this color, so we give none. Our Emerald Exterior review covers the product.

Painting conditions and how much Mount Etna 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. Coverage is 250 to 300 sq ft per gallon. Our arithmetic: for 2,000 sq ft of siding, two coats take 13.3 to 16 gallons; two coats on the outside face of a 36 by 80 inch door (40 sq ft) fit in a quart.

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; homeowners working on their own home are generally exempt unless, for example, they rent out all or part of it. Under a homeowners association, check the HOA color rules guide before you order.

How to test Mount Etna before you commit

1. List each surface and its material, and look up the maker's dark-color rule for anything vinyl, PVC, factory-finished or a garage door.
2. Paint two coats on a 2 by 2 ft board, with a strip of your trim white along one edge.
3. View it on the north and south walls, at noon and late in the day.
4. Put Iron Ore beside it if it looks too blue, Gale Force if it looks too black.

For the wider range, start with our Sherwin-Williams exterior paint guide.

Sources and references

• Sherwin-Williams, SW 7625 Mount Etna: color values and coordinating colors.
• Sherwin-Williams, October 2024 Color of the Month: Mount Etna: description and paired colors.
• Sherwin-Williams, color pages for Extra White, Natural Choice, Edgy Gold, Gale Force and Cyberspace: comparison values.
• Sherwin-Williams, Duration Exterior product data sheet (K32 series, March 2026): substrates, vinyl rule, conditions, coverage.
• Sherwin-Williams, VinylSafe colors for vinyl siding: palette, Gray Jacket SWVS 434 swatch.
• Sherwin-Williams, Emerald Exterior Acrylic Latex Paint: sheens.
• Benjamin Moore, color pages for Stonecutter, Lead Gray and Regent Green: LRV and description.
• AZEK Exteriors, Classic White Trim technical data sheet (August 2025): painting guidance, LRV 55 threshold.
• Simpson Door Company, Paint It Black: dark color threshold, warranty conditions.
• Clopay, Painting your garage door (effective May 11, 2020): paint type, LRV bands.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program: pre-1978 homes, certification.