Sherwin-Williams Stardew SW 9138: Undertones, LRV, Rooms

Sherwin-Williams Stardew SW 9138 is a mid-tone blue-gray, and it is a cool color. Its color page gives an LRV of 43.063 and the hex code A6B2B5, which is RGB 166, 178, 181. Blue is its highest value and red its lowest, so the gray carries a blue cast with a slight lean toward green and none toward violet. It is about 9.8 points darker than Niebla Azul and about 9.2 points lighter than Debonair, its two neighbors on the same store strip. It is a current color: the Sherwin-Williams page for SW 9138 is live.

One limit first: the color page prints no undertone, names no rooms and labels no trim color. Every undertone reading and room suggestion below is ours, built on the published numbers and on Sherwin-Williams' general guides. This article covers interior use.

What Sherwin-Williams publishes for SW 9138

The Stardew color page names the color SW 9138 and gives its light reflectance value as 43.063. The hex code is A6B2B5 and the RGB values are 166, 178 and 181. Usage is listed as interior and exterior, the color family is Blue, and the color strip locator, used to find the chip in the store display, is 221-C3.

The page lists three coordinating colors: Mountain Air SW 6224, Patience SW 7555 and Coral Clay SW 9005. None is labeled as a trim, ceiling or accent color. Sherwin-Williams' public color data also files Stardew in several collections, among them 2017 Holistic, 2020 Haven and 2024 Blues & Greens. For the wider family of interior colors we cover, start with the Sherwin-Williams interior paint colors guide.

Lightness. LRV is the light reflectance value. The Wikipedia entry on light reflectance value describes it as a measure of the visible light a surface reflects, and Sherwin-Williams uses a scale from 0 (no light) to 100 (all light). At 43.063, Stardew sits a little below the middle of that scale: a mid-tone, well short of dark.

Screens are approximate. The hex code and RGB values are a digital rendering. Use them to compare shades, and use a physical sample to judge the paint.

What are the undertones of Stardew?

Because Sherwin-Williams prints no undertone, the RGB values are the most reliable clue. Stardew has its highest value in blue (181), a slightly lower value in green (178) and its lowest in red (166). A pure gray would have three equal values; here blue sits 15 points above red and green only 3 below blue. On the color wheel, where 180 degrees is cyan and 240 is blue, that is a hue of 192 degrees with a saturation of about 0.08 on a scale from 0 to 1 (our calculation). In plain words: mostly gray, tinted blue, with the blue leaning a little toward green.

Sherwin-Williams' public color data also stores a Lab reading, in which one axis (a) runs from green to red and another (b) from blue to yellow. For Stardew, a is about minus 3.6 and b about minus 3.0: green on the first axis, blue on the second, nothing on the red or yellow side. With no red in the mix, a violet cast is unlikely. With b below zero, it sits on the blue side of gray, unlike Sea Salt (b about plus 3.4) or Silvermist (plus 2.1). How far those values show on a wall is our interpretation.

Is SW Stardew warm or cool?

Cool. Blue is the highest RGB value, red the lowest, and the Lab reading has no red and no yellow. There is no warm component to bring forward, so Stardew does not turn greige in any light. What changes is how much blue you see: cool light makes it bluer and crisper, warm light cancels part of the blue and the wall reads grayer, sometimes with a faint green note. That is our reading of the numbers.

Light direction: north, south, east and west

Sherwin-Williams' guide to color by room orientation does not mention Stardew; the points below apply its general rules to SW 9138. It does name two cool, muted colors for south-facing rooms: Rainwashed SW 6211 and Upward SW 6239.

North-facing rooms get the least daylight, and that light is cool. The guide says to avoid cool undertones there because they make the room appear colder, and to look for a higher LRV. Stardew is cool and absorbs more light than it returns, so expect a deeper slate blue-gray, darker than the chip. For a lighter room, step up the same strip to Niebla Azul or Lullaby.

South-facing rooms get warm, fairly steady light. The guide says most colors work there and that cool tones may look more neutral. This is where Stardew is easiest to live with: warm sun takes the edge off the blue and the mid-tone LRV keeps a bright room from glaring.

East- and west-facing rooms change through the day, and the guide's advice is to choose by when you use the room most. An east-facing bedroom used at night shows Stardew at its coolest; a west-facing living room used in the evening shows it at its softest. These applications are our reading of the guide.

Bulbs: how color temperature shifts Stardew

The U.S. Department of Energy's guide to purchasing energy-efficient light bulbs defines correlated color temperature as a specification of the color appearance of the light a lamp emits. Its table runs from warm at 2,700 K through soft at 3,000 K and neutral at 3,500 K to cool at 4,100 K, and it notes that most incandescent lamps produce warm light around 2,700 K. Sherwin-Williams' orientation guide links bulbs and daylight: with warm lighting, pick colors as for a south-facing room; with white or cool lighting, as for a north-facing room. Applied to Stardew, in our reading:

• 2,700 K (warm). The light cancels part of the blue. Stardew reads grayer, and its slight green lean is most likely to show here.
• 3,000 to 3,500 K (soft to neutral). A balanced blue-gray, with neither the gray nor the blue pushed forward.
• 4,100 K and above (cool). The blue comes forward and the wall looks crisper: good at a vanity mirror, cold in a bedroom.

Bulb quality matters too. The Department of Energy's LED Basics page says a minimum color rendering index (CRI) of 80 is generally recommended for interior lighting and that 90 or higher indicates excellent color fidelity. Check a large sample board at night as well as by day.

Stardew beside Niebla Azul, Morning Fog, Silvermist and other close colors

The table lists the LRV and hex published by Sherwin-Williams, from lightest to darkest. Hue and saturation are our calculation from the published RGB values. For the family across brands, see the blue-gray paint colors guide.

Stardew vs Niebla Azul. These two are direct relatives: Niebla Azul is chip 221-C2 and Stardew is 221-C3 on the same store strip. Niebla Azul is about 9.8 points lighter (52.91 against 43.063), a gap you see at once on a wall, and its lower hue (184 against 192 degrees) reads slightly more aqua. Sherwin-Williams lists Mountain Air SW 6224 as a coordinating color for both. Choose Niebla Azul for a small room, a north room or a windowless bathroom; choose Stardew when the room has good light and you want the walls to hold their own against white tile and trim.

The rest of strip 221. Lullaby SW 9136 (LRV 64.669) sits above Niebla Azul; below Stardew come Debonair SW 9139 (33.857), Blustery Sky SW 9140 (21.714) and Waterloo SW 9141 (12.972). The lighter chips are grayer, the darker ones bluer.

• Morning Fog is only about 1.4 points darker, so the depth is the same. Sherwin-Williams files it under Neutral and its saturation is about 0.05 against 0.08: it is the gray that hints at blue, and the brand's color data lists it as similar to Stardew. See the Morning Fog undertones guide if Stardew looks too blue on your sample board.
• Silvermist is about 3.9 points lighter and sits on the green side of the line (hue 135 degrees): a green-gray, covered in the Silvermist undertones guide.
• Windy Blue is about 4.4 points lighter with clearly more saturation (0.14 against 0.08). If you want a wall that reads blue, not gray, see the Windy Blue undertones guide.
• Sea Salt (about 20.2 points lighter) and Comfort Gray (LRV 53.79, about 10.7 lighter) belong to the Green family. They are the alternatives when Stardew feels too dark: see the Sea Salt, Comfort Gray and Rainwashed undertones guides.
• Moody Blue is about 16.5 points darker and twice as saturated: see the Moody Blue undertones guide for an accent wall or a vanity.

Best rooms for Stardew, one by one

Sherwin-Williams does not name rooms for SW 9138. The suggestions below come from the light rules above. They are our reading, not a list from the manufacturer.

Bedroom. A mid-tone cool color works where you want a room to feel quieter and a little enclosed. South- and west-facing bedrooms show Stardew as a soft gray-blue, and under warm 2,700 K bedside lamps it grays down in the evening, which suits a room meant for rest. In a north-facing bedroom it deepens toward slate: fine for a cocooning room, heavy if the room is small.

Bathroom. A blue-gray sits well beside white tile, white fixtures and chrome or nickel. Two cautions. Many bathrooms have little or no daylight, so the bulb decides the color: neutral to cool bulbs keep Stardew clean, warm bulbs gray it. And at LRV 43 it darkens a small windowless bath; there, use it on the vanity or below a chair rail. For more shades, see the blue bathroom paint ideas.

Living room. Stardew suits a living room with south or west light, white trim and warm materials to balance it: oak floors, leather, linen, brass. In an open plan, remember that it is not a neutral, and test it against the fixed finishes of every zone it touches.

Where it is a weaker fit: a dim north-facing room you want to brighten, a hallway with no daylight, and a room dominated by yellow-beige tile or carpet. For lighter options, see our roundup of Sherwin-Williams light blue paint colors.

Stardew on a bathroom vanity or kitchen cabinets

On cabinetry, a mid-tone is a block of color surrounded by counters, backsplash and hardware. At an LRV near 43, Stardew shows clearly against a white quartz top and a white backsplash without the weight of a navy. Three combinations to preview: a Stardew vanity with white walls and tile; Stardew lower cabinets with white uppers; or Stardew cabinets with Mountain Air walls. Those pairings are ours. Our guides to bathroom vanity paint colors and blue-gray kitchen cabinet colors cover the wider choice.

Wall paint is not the right product for cabinet doors. Sherwin-Williams' Emerald family page lists Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel "for windows, doors, trim and cabinets". Its product page offers it in satin, semi-gloss and gloss and states that this water-based enamel resists yellowing compared with traditional oil-based coatings.

What colors go well with Stardew? Trim and coordinating colors

The color page labels no trim or ceiling color for SW 9138. The roles below are our suggestions.

Pure White sits about 40.9 points above Stardew and Extra White about 42.8, so baseboards and casings stand out sharply (our subtraction). Mountain Air is about 30.1 points above; in the color data behind the page it is the coordinate stored as the white, and its RGB values (216, 224, 223) show the same cool lean as Stardew. The Pure White undertones guide covers the most likely trim candidate.

The other two coordinates are both warm, and that is the useful lesson of the official list. Patience has red as its highest RGB value and Coral Clay is filed in the Red family: Sherwin-Williams pairs this cool blue-gray with a cream and a clay, not with more blue. In a room, that means warm wood, leather, terracotta or brass next to Stardew walls.

Other pairings circulate on third-party pages: Sea Salt SW 6204, Agreeable Gray SW 7029 and Debonair SW 9139. None is on the Sherwin-Williams page for Stardew. Sea Salt is lighter and greener. Agreeable Gray (LRV 60.386) is a warm greige that plays the same counterweight role as Patience; see the Agreeable Gray undertones guide. Debonair is the next chip down the strip.

Sheen and paint line

The color page does not name a sheen. The Sherwin-Williams paint sheen guide works by room, not by color. It suggests eggshell or satin for bedrooms and living rooms and flat for ceilings. For bathrooms it says a satin or semi-gloss sheen is ideal because it can withstand moisture, and it calls semi-gloss great for trim and moldings.

Stardew is a color, not a product, so it can be tinted into the brand's different interior lines. For a bathroom, the Duration Home Interior Acrylic Latex page states that the paint is durable in moist environments like bathrooms, that it contains anti-microbial agents which inhibit the growth of mold and mildew on the paint surface, and that it comes in flat, matte, satin and semi-gloss in all Sherwin-Williams colors. The Emerald family page describes Emerald Interior Acrylic Latex with advanced stain blocking and washability. Those are the manufacturer's own statements, not independent tests. Our Emerald interior paint review covers that line in detail.

Whatever the shade, ventilate. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states that paints, varnishes and wax all contain organic solvents, and advises increasing ventilation when using products that emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

A short note on Stardew outside

Sherwin-Williams lists SW 9138 for interior and exterior use. Outdoors there is far more light than in any room, so expect a soft light blue-gray on siding or shutters, paler than on a bedroom wall (our reading). For a deeper color from the same strip used outside, see the Waterloo SW 9141 exterior guide.

Preview Stardew in your own room

A published LRV and a hex code do not show how a color sits next to your floor, your tile or your window light, and with a blue-gray that context decides whether you see blue, gray or a hint of green. Upload a photo of your room and the visualizer shows SW 9138 on the walls, so you can compare it with Niebla Azul or Morning Fog in the same photo before you order samples. The interior paint visualizer works the same way for any of the colors compared above.

Sources and references

• Sherwin-Williams, Stardew SW 9138 color page (LRV 43.063, hex A6B2B5, RGB, usage, Blue family, strip 221-C3, coordinating colors): sherwin-williams.com. Read on November 13, 2026, and cross-checked against Sherwin-Williams' public color data (same figures, plus Lab values, collections and similar colors).
• Sherwin-Williams color pages for the coordinating colors and the strip neighbor: Mountain Air SW 6224 (LRV 73.211), Patience SW 7555 (66.659), Coral Clay SW 9005 (25.997), Niebla Azul SW 9137 (52.91, strip 221-C2)
• Sherwin-Williams public color data, read on November 13, 2026 (LRV, hex and RGB of the other colors compared, from Sea Salt SW 6204 to Moody Blue SW 6221, strip 221 and the white trim colors)
• Sherwin-Williams, guide to color by room orientation (daylight by orientation, artificial light, LRV advice): sherwin-williams.com
• Sherwin-Williams, paint sheen guide (sheens by room, moisture and cleaning notes): sherwin-williams.com
• Sherwin-Williams, Duration Home Interior Acrylic Latex product page (moist environments, anti-microbial agents, sheens): sherwin-williams.com
• Sherwin-Williams, Emerald family and Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel pages (interior products, enamel for cabinets, sheens): Emerald family, Urethane Trim Enamel
• U.S. Department of Energy, Purchasing Energy-Efficient Light Bulbs (correlated color temperature, 2,700 K to 4,100 K table): energy.gov
• U.S. Department of Energy, LED Basics (color rendering index): energy.gov
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Volatile Organic Compounds' Impact on Indoor Air Quality (VOC sources, ventilation advice): epa.gov
• Wikipedia, Light reflectance value (definition of LRV only, secondary support): en.wikipedia.org