Light Blue

No. 22 · Farrow & Ball

Farrow & Ball

Light Blue

No. 22

Hex code

#B5BBB4

Light reflectance value (LRV)

48.7Light-medium, light with some depth

0 black100 white

Undertone

Subtle green, a green color

Color family: Blue
Sold for: Interior and exterior

Try it on your walls Get a sample

Farrow & Ball Light Blue No. 22 is a gray-green rather than the blue its name suggests, a quiet color with very little pigment in it. At an LRV of 49 it sits in the light-medium band, comfortable in a room with good windows and noticeably moodier in a small one. People use it on cabinets, paneling and walls, and it shifts between exposures more than most neutrals do.

Is Light Blue warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

leans green

Undertone

Subtle green

graysaturated

A gentle lean, quiet on the wall.

Measured, Light Blue holds a small green lean and no blue whatsoever, which is the first thing to know about a color with blue in its name. There is so little pigment that the surroundings decide what shows. Beside warm oak and brass it reads as a soft sage; beside white marble and chrome it goes gray. Against a chalky white the green is easy to see, and against a blue-white it looks like plain gray. Two of its measured neighbors mark the directions it can travel: Mizzle No. 266 is lighter with more green in it, and Lamp Room Gray No. 88 is darker and drier.

Light Blue in north, south, east and west light

North light is where Light Blue shows the most green and the least warmth, and in a north bedroom it can settle into a cold gray-green the chip never hinted at. Warm oak, a cream trim and 2700K bulbs are what bring the sage back. South rooms soften it and hold it on the sage side all afternoon. East rooms swing widely, warm sage at breakfast and gray-green by four o'clock. West light finds an olive in it late in the day that the morning never shows.

Watch for

Turns a cold gray-green in a north room under cool bulbs
Picks up an olive cast in late west sun
Reads gray rather than green beside white marble and chrome

Best rooms and surfaces for Light Blue

Light Blue does as much work on woodwork as it does on walls, and it keeps its character on kitchen cabinets in a room with white counters, where a grayer color would go flat. On walls it wants daylight. In a small room with one window it drifts toward gray and loses the green that made it worth choosing in the first place. It is a weak pick for a windowless bathroom under cool LEDs, and a strong one for a paneled study or a hall with a run of doors. It sits with oak, brass, linen and unlacquered nickel, and it stands up beside dark woodwork better than most colors this light.

Light Blue on an exterior

Farrow & Ball sells Light Blue for outside work, where it is used most on doors, sash windows and garden joinery rather than whole walls. Daylight is warmer than any bulb, so outdoors it reads greener and a step lighter than the same paint indoors. Full sun can take it close to a pale stone color, and the green returns in shade. An off-white frame keeps its outline; against red brick the green in it is much easier to see.

Try Light Blue on your own walls

Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Light 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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Light Blue vs Comfort Gray, Quietude, Sea Salt and Pigeon

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Comfort Gray SW 6205, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Light Blue vs Comfort Gray SW 6205

Light Blue is noticeably darker; both have a subtle green undertone.

Comfort Gray SW 6205 is the closest of the page colors by measurement and a few points lighter, an LRV of 54 against 49. Both read as quiet green-grays, but Comfort Gray keeps more blue in its green, so it leans coastal where Light Blue leans sage. In a north room the gap narrows and both go gray. Comfort Gray is the easier choice for a bathroom, and Light Blue has more to give on woodwork.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Quietude SW 6212, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Light Blue vs Quietude SW 6212

Light Blue is a touch lighter; both have a subtle green undertone.

Quietude SW 6212 lands within a point of the same depth, 48 to 49, which leaves the undertone as the only real difference between them. Quietude is the bluer of the two and reads as a soft blue-green in daylight, while Light Blue stays on the green side of gray and rarely looks blue at all. Anyone who chose Light Blue expecting a blue would be happier with Quietude.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Sea Salt SW 6204, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Light Blue vs Sea Salt SW 6204

Light Blue is much darker; both have a subtle green undertone.

Sea Salt SW 6204 is much lighter, an LRV of 63 to 49, and carries a clearer green-blue. On a wall Sea Salt comes across as a pale spa color; Light Blue comes across as a gray with green in it. A small bathroom is Sea Salt's ground. A paneled study, a run of cabinets or a room with dark furniture is where Light Blue does what Sea Salt cannot.

Living room walls rendered in Farrow & Ball Pigeon No. 25, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Light Blue vs Pigeon No. 25

Light Blue is much lighter; undertone subtle green vs subtle yellow-leaning green.

Pigeon No. 25 is the same idea carried much deeper, an LRV of 34 to 49, and the two often appear in one house. Pigeon holds its green in shadow, which is why it works on cabinets and joinery, while Light Blue keeps the room light. Walls in Light Blue with cabinets or a dresser in Pigeon is a straightforward way to run both without the room reading as one color.

Questions about Light Blue

Is Farrow & Ball Light Blue actually blue?

No. The measurement finds a small green lean and no blue at all, so on a wall it reads as a gray-green or a soft sage. The name belongs to the color rather than describing what shows in a room. If you want something that looks blue at the same depth, Quietude SW 6212 or Skylight No. 205 is nearer to what the name promises.

What is the Sherwin-Williams equivalent of Light Blue?

Silvermist SW 7621 is the closest by measurement, near enough that the two are hard to tell apart on a wall, with Magnetic Gray SW 7058 a step behind it. At Benjamin Moore, Imperial Gray 1571 and Iced Marble 1578 sit just as close, and Metropolitan AF-690 is within a shade. Buy a sample of whichever you pick, because a match this close still moves once it is in a real room.

Does Light Blue work in a bedroom?

Yes, in a bedroom that gets daylight. The green is soft enough to live with, and warm bulbs push it back toward sage at night. In a north-facing bedroom with one small window it can turn cold, so keep the ceiling and trim warm and bring in oak or brass. On a headboard wall by itself it can look patchy against a bright white ceiling.

What colors go with Light Blue?

Farrow & Ball's own scheme is a dark one: it sets Hague Blue No. 30 on the joinery and brings in Mouse's Back No. 40 as the second color. For something lighter, Shaded White No. 201 and School House White No. 291 keep the green visible in the walls, and Drop Cloth No. 283 adds warmth. Oak, brass and natural linen suit it, while chrome and white marble pull it toward gray.

What is one shade darker than Light Blue?

Light Blue is not on a Farrow & Ball strip, so the step down comes from its measured neighbors. Lamp Room Gray No. 88 is the nearest darker color, drier and less green. Blue Gray No. 91 is roughly the same depth with more green in it. In the other direction, Mizzle No. 266 and Cromarty No. 285 are the lighter versions of the same idea.

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