Light Blue
No. 22 · Farrow & Ball
Farrow & Ball
Light Blue
No. 22
Subtle green, a green color
- Color family
- Blue
- Sold for
- Interior and exterior
Farrow & Ball Light Blue No. 22 is a gray-green rather than the blue its name suggests, a quiet color with a muted digital swatch. At an estimated 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, so compare it across the exposures in your home.
Source: Farrow & Ball's color data. LRV is estimated from the published RGB swatch. Undertone labels describe our calculation, not the paint formula or a test in your room. How we assess colors.
Is Light Blue warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers
leans green
Undertone
Subtle green
A gentle lean, quiet on the wall.
Light Blue's published digital swatch falls in our muted green category, but the paint can still appear gray or blue-green. Its muted appearance makes it especially useful to compare beside the actual trim and flooring. 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 different lighting
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. Outdoors, stronger light may make it look lighter, while sun and shade can reveal different gray-green or blue-green impressions. 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 for an illustrative preview beside your floors and furniture. Confirm the color with a physical sample. Your first 3 renders are free.
Light Blue vs Comfort Gray, Quietude, Sea Salt and Pigeon
Comfort GrayLight BlueLight Blue vs Comfort Gray SW 6205
Light Blue is noticeably darker; both fall in our subtle green category. Farrow & Ball LRV is estimated from RGB; this is a digital-swatch comparison.
Comfort Gray SW 6205 is the closest of the page colors in our swatch comparison and a few points lighter, an estimated 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.
QuietudeLight BlueLight Blue vs Quietude SW 6212
Light Blue is a touch lighter; both fall in our subtle green category. Farrow & Ball LRV is estimated from RGB; this is a digital-swatch comparison.
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.
Sea SaltLight BlueLight Blue vs Sea Salt SW 6204
Light Blue is much darker; both fall in our subtle green category. Farrow & Ball LRV is estimated from RGB; this is a digital-swatch comparison.
Sea Salt SW 6204 is much lighter, an estimated 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.
PigeonLight BlueLight Blue vs Pigeon No. 25
Light Blue is much lighter; undertone subtle green vs subtle yellow-leaning green. Farrow & Ball LRV is estimated from RGB; this is a digital-swatch comparison.
Pigeon No. 25 is the same idea carried much deeper, an estimated 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?
Light Blue can appear gray, green or blue-green depending on its setting. Our RGB-swatch calculation puts it on the green side, but that does not rule out a blue appearance on a wall. Compare a physical sample beside your flooring and trim in both daylight and lamplight.
What is the Sherwin-Williams equivalent of Light Blue?
Silvermist SW 7621 is the closest digital-swatch candidate in our catalog, followed by Magnetic Gray SW 7058. At Benjamin Moore, Imperial Gray 1571 and Iced Marble 1578 are other close options, with Metropolitan AF-690 also worth comparing. These are sampling candidates, not equivalent paints. Compare them in the intended finish beside your trim and flooring.
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.
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Trim, ceiling and coordinating colors for Light Blue
School House White No. 291 is Farrow & Ball's complementary white for Light Blue. Sample it for a pale frame around the gray-green walls. Hague Blue No. 30 and Drop Cloth No. 283 are separate scheme trim options, offering a dark blue contrast or a warmer neutral. Shaded White No. 201 is a listed accent to compare if the room needs another pale tone. Test trim and wall samples together under the room's lamps.
Colors similar to Light Blue
Closest matches for Light Blue in other brands
These are the closest digital colors in our catalog, not equivalent paint formulas or touch-up substitutes. Compare physical samples in the same finish before choosing. See the comparison method.