Santorini Blue

1634 · Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore

Santorini Blue

1634

Hex code

#A2B4BA

Light reflectance value (LRV)

44.7Light-medium, light with some depth

0 black100 white

Undertone

Subtle blue, a cool color

Color family: Blue
Sold for: Interior and exterior

Try it on your walls Get a sample

Benjamin Moore Santorini Blue 1634 is a soft mid-tone blue with a lot of gray in it, nearer a weathered shutter than a summer sky. Its LRV of 45 places it in the middle of the range: easy in a room with decent windows, and noticeably moodier in a small one. Our method reads it as a subtle blue, with almost none of the green that runs through the coastal blues it is usually shelved beside.

Is Santorini Blue warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

leans blue

Undertone

Subtle blue

graysaturated

A gentle lean, quiet on the wall.

Measured, Santorini Blue is a plain blue with a heavy dose of gray and only a trace of green, and that missing green is what separates it from the spa colors nearby. On a wall it behaves like a blue-gray: obvious as a color, never bright, and easy to mistake for a gray in a photograph. It sits well with white oak, rattan and warm brass, and it goes cold quickly beside blue-gray tile or a stainless kitchen. Beneath the Clouds 2131-50 is the same idea with more of the blue taken out, and French Toile CSP-595 is its near twin, grayer still.

Santorini Blue in north, south, east and west light

In a north-facing room the gray wins outright: the blue goes flat and steely, and the room feels chilly unless warm wood or a warm white comes in to balance it. South light is its best exposure and the only one where the chip and the wall really agree. An east room shows it soft and slightly warm at breakfast and steel gray by evening, so a north or east bedroom needs a sample left on the wall for a full day. West light leaves it dull all morning and brings it back after three. Bulbs at 2700K keep the blue readable; 4000K makes it look like primer.

Watch for

Goes steel gray on a north wall and can read like unfinished drywall primer
Beside a green-blue such as Palladian Blue HC-144 it stops looking blue at all
Deepens quickly in a room facing a hedge or a neighboring wall

Best rooms and surfaces for Santorini Blue

Santorini Blue is good on a bathroom vanity and on a mudroom bench, where a mid-tone hides scuffs and fingerprints better than a pale color does. In a living room it needs warm company, wood, cream or leather, or the whole room goes cold. On kitchen cabinets it reads gray from the doorway and blue up close, which suits a small kitchen better than a large one. It is too heavy for a low ceiling and too flat for a hallway with no daylight, where nothing is left of the blue by mid afternoon.

Santorini Blue on an exterior

Benjamin Moore rates Santorini Blue for exterior use, and it is a natural shutter and front door color on a white or cream house. On siding it lightens a long way in full sun toward a pale blue-gray and keeps its depth on the north elevation, so a house painted in it rarely reads the same on two sides at once. It is a common pick for a shingled or cottage-style house near water. Keep the trim bright white; against a cream trim the blue turns muddy.

Try Santorini Blue on your own walls

Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Santorini Blue 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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Santorini Blue vs Stardew, French Toile, Boothbay Gray and Upward

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

Santorini Blue vs Stardew SW 9138

Santorini Blue is a touch lighter; both have a subtle blue undertone.

Stardew SW 9138 is the nearest Sherwin-Williams color to Santorini Blue with a page here, two points darker at 43 and a shade grayer through the middle. On a wall they are close enough that most people would need both samples up side by side to choose. Santorini Blue holds a fraction more blue; Stardew settles a fraction further toward putty in weak light.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore French Toile CSP-595, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Santorini Blue vs French Toile CSP-595

Santorini Blue is a touch lighter; both have a subtle blue undertone.

French Toile CSP-595 is Benjamin Moore's own near twin for this color, two points darker at 43 and pushed a little further into gray. The practical difference is where you are allowed to use it: French Toile is sold for interiors only, so Santorini Blue is the one to reach for when the same color has to run out onto shutters or a front door.

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

Santorini Blue vs Boothbay Gray HC-165

Santorini Blue is a touch lighter; undertone subtle blue vs faint blue-leaning green.

Boothbay Gray HC-165 lands within two points at 43 but reads greener and quieter, with less blue holding it up. In a north room Boothbay Gray drifts gray-green while Santorini Blue turns steel. Choose Boothbay Gray beside beige stone and warm wood; choose Santorini Blue where the room already has white, black and cool metal in it.

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

Santorini Blue vs Upward SW 6239

Santorini Blue is much darker; both have a subtle blue undertone.

Upward SW 6239 is a much lighter take on the same idea, thirteen points brighter at 57 and pale enough to run through a whole floor. Santorini Blue gives a room a mood; Upward keeps the walls quiet and lets the furniture do the talking. In a small bedroom with one window, Upward stays open where Santorini Blue closes in.

Questions about Santorini Blue

Does Santorini Blue look gray?

Often, yes. There is a lot of gray sitting over the blue, so in weak light and in photographs the blue can vanish and leave a plain gray-blue. Strong daylight and warm bulbs bring the blue back. If you want a color that always reads blue, this is not the one.

Is Santorini Blue a good bedroom color?

It is the room people paint it most, and it suits the job: deep enough to quiet a bedroom down, light enough not to close it in. It takes white and cream bedding well and looks best with a wood floor or a warm rug underneath. In a north bedroom, add warmth somewhere or the walls read cold.

What is the Sherwin-Williams version of Santorini Blue?

Languid Blue SW 6226 measures nearest of the three and would pass for the same color once it is on a wall. Dockside Blue SW 7601 is a very close second and runs slightly deeper. Stardew SW 9138 is the closest match with a page here, a little grayer than either.

What colors go with Santorini Blue?

Benjamin Moore pairs it with Cloud White OC-130 and Distant Gray OC-68 for the whites, White Sand OC-10 as a warm neutral and Wolf Gray 2127-40 as the darker accent. In materials it takes white oak, rattan, brass and unlacquered nickel, and it turns cold beside gray-blue floor tile.

What is one shade lighter than Santorini Blue?

Brittany Blue 1633 at 62 is the step up on its strip, and it is a big jump: that color reads as a pale wash rather than a mid-tone. For a small move instead, Cape Blue 1642 at 47 or Exhale AF-515 at 46 keep the same character and only lift the wall slightly.

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 Santorini Blue, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.