Skimming Stone

No. 241 · Farrow & Ball

Farrow & Ball

Skimming Stone

No. 241

Hex code

#DBD5CA

Light reflectance value (LRV)

66.9Light, brightens without washing out

0 black100 white

Undertone

Subtle yellow-beige, a warm color

Color family: White
Sold for: Interior and exterior

Try it on your walls Get a sample

Farrow & Ball Skimming Stone No. 241 is an off-white built on a warm gray, closer to a soft neutral than to a white. With an LRV of 67 it returns two thirds of the light that reaches it, bright enough to carry a whole floor of a house and still visible against a white ceiling. It is often picked as the lighter alternative to Elephant's Breath No. 229 for hallways, living rooms and bedrooms.

Is Skimming Stone warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

leans yellow

Undertone

Subtle yellow-beige

graysaturated

A gentle lean, quiet on the wall.

Measured, Skimming Stone has a small yellow lean and no red in it at all, which matters because the color has a name for flashing pink. The cast is real but it comes from the neighbors, not the paint: a cool white trim, blue-gray tile or weak north light will all pull a mauve edge out of it. On its own, in daylight, the wall reads as a warm gray with beige underneath. Beside a cream such as Slipper Satin No. 2004 it looks gray, and beside a plain gray such as Cornforth White No. 228 it looks beige.

Skimming Stone in north, south, east and west light

North-facing rooms show Skimming Stone at its grayest and are also where it can fall flat, since the cool light drains the yellow and leaves a gray that will take a mauve edge from a cool white trim. A warm white on the woodwork and 2700K bulbs answer that. South rooms turn it creamy through the afternoon, close to a plain off-white. East light gives the warmest version early and a grayer one after lunch. In a west room the late sun brings out a pink-beige on whichever wall takes the light head on.

Watch for

Takes a mauve edge in north light beside a cool white trim
Goes creamy on a south wall through the afternoon
Sits close enough to some ceiling whites that the two blur

Best rooms and surfaces for Skimming Stone

Skimming Stone suits rooms that want warmth without cream: living rooms, bedrooms, stairwells and a hall with no window, where it has enough gray to avoid going yellow and enough warmth to avoid going cold. On kitchen cabinets it reads as a warm stone gray and needs a lighter wall above so the room does not sink into one tone. In a bathroom tiled in cool gray it lands on the wrong side of neutral and the mauve edge shows up. It works with oak, wool, unpolished brass and painted furniture, and it holds up under a white ceiling only when that white is a warm one.

Skimming Stone on an exterior

Farrow & Ball rates Skimming Stone for exterior use, though it does more as an interior wall color than on a whole house. Full sun bleaches it toward a plain off-white, so the gray that makes it interesting indoors mostly vanishes, and shade brings it back. It is a reasonable pick for stucco or a garden wall where a bright white would glare. On woodwork it keeps more of itself, and a darker trim such as Dove Tale No. 267 gives the scheme its edges.

Try Skimming Stone on your own walls

Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Skimming Stone 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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Skimming Stone vs Balboa Mist, Pale Oak, Agreeable Gray and Drift of Mist

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Balboa Mist OC-27, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Skimming Stone vs Balboa Mist OC-27

Skimming Stone is a touch lighter; both have a subtle yellow-beige undertone.

Balboa Mist OC-27 is the closest color to this one in any brand, a point or so darker at 66 to 67, and the two are hard to separate on a wall. Balboa Mist holds a touch more gray and reads slightly cooler in north light. The measurable gap between them is smaller than the shift either one makes between morning and evening on the same wall.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Pale Oak OC-20, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Skimming Stone vs Pale Oak OC-20

Skimming Stone is a touch darker; both have a subtle yellow-beige undertone.

Pale Oak OC-20 is a shade lighter, 69 to 67, and warmer in its lean, with more beige and less gray behind it. In a bright room Pale Oak can read almost white while Skimming Stone still shows as a color. Choose Pale Oak for a room that needs lifting. Choose Skimming Stone when the walls should sit back and let the trim and the furniture do the talking.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Agreeable Gray SW 7029, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Skimming Stone vs Agreeable Gray SW 7029

Skimming Stone is noticeably lighter; both have a subtle yellow-beige undertone.

Agreeable Gray SW 7029 is the greige most people in the United States weigh this one against, and it is clearly darker, an LRV of 60 next to 67. Both measure a subtle yellow-beige, so the family is shared, but Agreeable Gray reads as a color on the wall where Skimming Stone reads as an off-white. In a dim hallway Agreeable Gray can turn heavy while Skimming Stone stays light.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Drift of Mist SW 9166, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Skimming Stone vs Drift of Mist SW 9166

Skimming Stone is a touch darker; both have a subtle yellow-beige undertone.

Drift of Mist SW 9166 lands within two points of the same lightness, 69 to 67, and the two get mixed up regularly. Drift of Mist is the cooler and cleaner of the pair, with less beige holding it down, which suits rooms with gray tile and cool marble. Skimming Stone brings more warmth to wood floors, wool and old furniture.

Questions about Skimming Stone

Is there a dupe for Farrow & Ball Skimming Stone?

Limewash SW 9589 is the closest by measurement and lands on the same LRV, near enough to be hard to tell apart once it is on a wall. Egret White SW 7570, which has its own page here, is next, followed by Windfresh White SW 7628 and Taupe of the Morning SW 9590. At Benjamin Moore, Bruton White CW-710 is within a shade.

Does Skimming Stone look pink?

Not by measurement. There is no red in it whatsoever, only a small amount of yellow, so a pink or mauve cast is coming from whatever sits next to it. Cool white trim, blue-gray tile and north light are the usual causes. Warm the trim white and the bulbs and the wall returns to a warm gray.

Is Skimming Stone a good whole-house color?

It is one of the more forgiving choices for that job, because at this lightness it changes with each room's exposure without ever looking like a different paint. The catch is the white beside it: pick one trim white and run it everywhere, since Skimming Stone shifts warm or cool depending on that choice. In a very dark north room, pair it with warm bulbs or step up to something lighter.

What colors go with Skimming Stone?

Farrow & Ball's own scheme pairs it with Dove Tale No. 267 on the woodwork, Elephant's Breath No. 229 as the deeper neutral and Wimborne White No. 239 as the light one. Calluna No. 270 and Pelt No. 254 are the scheme's purples when the room wants a color in it. Oak, wool, aged brass and painted furniture all suit it; cool gray tile does not.

What is one shade darker than Skimming Stone?

Skimming Stone is not on a Farrow & Ball strip, so the step down comes from its measured neighbors: Shaded White No. 201 is a few points darker with a little more yellow, and Cornforth White No. 228 is grayer again. Repose Gray SW 7015 makes the same move in the Sherwin-Williams deck. Upward, Shadow White No. 282 is barely lighter and School House White No. 291 clearly so.

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 Skimming Stone, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.