French Toile

CSP-595 · Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore

French Toile

CSP-595

Hex code

#A2B0B7

Light reflectance value (LRV)

42.8Light-medium, light with some depth

0 black100 white

Undertone

Subtle blue, a cool color

Color family: Neutral
Sold for: Interior

Try it on your walls Get a sample

Benjamin Moore French Toile CSP-595 is a smoky blue-gray, quiet enough to work as a neutral but blue enough that nobody calls it gray. An LRV of 43 sits in the light-medium band, so it holds a wall without darkening a room that has decent windows. Benjamin Moore sells it for interior use only. It is chosen most often for bedrooms and for cabinetry that needs a color without going navy.

Is French Toile warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

leans blue

Undertone

Subtle blue

graysaturated

A gentle lean, quiet on the wall.

Measured, French Toile is a blue with a clear pull toward green, and that pull is what stops it reading as a baby blue or a periwinkle. The effect on a wall is smoke rather than sky. Against white trim it reads plainly blue. Against warm oak floors the green side comes forward and it looks closer to slate. Beside gray tile it is the bluer of the two by a wide margin, and beside a true navy it looks almost gray. There is little enough pigment in it that it behaves like a neutral in a room with a lot going on.

French Toile in north, south, east and west light

North light is where French Toile turns cold: the blue comes forward, the green drops back, and a small north room can feel chilly, so it needs warm wood, brass or a warm white to answer it. South light is its best exposure and the version closest to the chip, since warmth in the light balances the blue. East rooms are soft in the morning and cooler as the day runs on. West rooms are flat early and best in the late afternoon. Keep bulbs at 3000K: 2700K warms it usefully and 4000K pushes it blue.

Watch for

Feels chilly in a north room with no warm wood or brass to answer it
Looks slate rather than blue over orange-toned oak floors
Goes noticeably bluer under 4000K bulbs, which is the trap in a bathroom

Best rooms and surfaces for French Toile

French Toile is a bedroom color first: deep enough to feel restful, light enough not to shrink the room, and quiet enough to live with for years. It works on cabinetry too, in a laundry, a mudroom or on a kitchen island, where it reads as a soft blue against white counters and warm hardware. On bathroom walls it needs warm bulbs and a wood vanity, or the room goes cold. A north-facing living room is the one place to be careful, since at this depth the blue takes charge. It sits well with white oak, unlacquered brass, linen and cream, and badly with yellow-beige tile.

Try French Toile on your own walls

Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders French Toile onto the walls so you can judge it in your light, with your floors and furniture. Your first five renders are free.

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French Toile vs Stardew, Santorini Blue, Boothbay Gray and Upward

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Stardew SW 9138, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

French Toile vs Stardew SW 9138

French Toile is a touch darker; both have a subtle blue undertone.

Stardew SW 9138 matches French Toile within a fraction of a point on lightness and is the nearest thing to it in the Sherwin-Williams range. Both measure a subtle blue. The small difference once painted is that Stardew stays more even while French Toile shows more of its green side in warm light. If you are matching a room already done in Stardew, the two will not fight each other.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Santorini Blue 1634, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

French Toile vs Santorini Blue 1634

French Toile is a touch darker; both have a subtle blue undertone.

Santorini Blue 1634 is two points lighter and reads as the more openly blue of the pair, a soft coastal blue where French Toile reads as smoke. Both measure a subtle blue, so the gap is small, but on a big wall Santorini Blue looks like a color decision and French Toile looks like a neutral. In a bedroom that difference sets the whole mood of the room.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Boothbay Gray HC-165, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

French Toile vs Boothbay Gray HC-165

French Toile is a touch darker; undertone subtle blue vs faint blue-leaning green.

Boothbay Gray HC-165 sits at the same lightness again and is the grayer of the two: its lean measures as a faint blue-leaning green, against a subtle blue here. Side by side, Boothbay Gray looks like a gray with weather in it and French Toile like a blue that has been dulled down. For cabinets that should not commit to blue, Boothbay Gray is the safer pick.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Upward SW 6239, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

French Toile vs Upward SW 6239

French Toile is much darker; both have a subtle blue undertone.

Upward SW 6239 is fifteen points lighter and much airier, a pale blue-gray that keeps a room bright. French Toile is what you choose when Upward turns out too faint to register as a color at all. In a bedroom with large windows Upward stays a soft wash on the wall while French Toile holds its own against white bedding and white trim.

Questions about French Toile

Does French Toile look blue or gray?

Blue, but only just. The measurement is a subtle blue with a pull toward green, so in most rooms it reads as a smoky blue-gray rather than a plain blue. Light and neighbors decide it: white trim and cool bulbs make it look blue, warm oak and 2700K bulbs make it look gray-green. Almost nobody reads it as a bright color.

Is French Toile a good color for cabinets?

It suits cabinetry well, and a laundry, a mudroom or an island is where it shows best. At this depth the doors hold their color under bright task lighting instead of washing out, and the blue stays muted enough not to date the room. Warm brass and a white or cream counter flatter it. Gray quartz with a blue cast makes the whole run look cold.

What colors go with French Toile?

Benjamin Moore puts Steam AF-15 and Ice Fog CSP-575 with it, Early Frost CSP-590 as the lighter step and Silhouette AF-655 as the near-black, which marks out the range it works in. Add white oak, unlacquered brass, linen and cream to that. Yellow-beige tile and honey oak are the two finishes that fight it.

What is the Sherwin-Williams equivalent of French Toile?

Dockside Blue SW 7601 is the nearest by measurement and the two would be difficult to separate once painted. Languid Blue SW 6226 comes next and reads a couple of points lighter. Of the Sherwin-Williams colors with a page here, Stardew SW 9138 is the closest. Every match named here is measured rather than official.

Get a sample before you paint

Use the visualizer to narrow your shortlist, then confirm the finalist on your actual wall. A peel-and-stick sample of French Toile, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.