Skimming Stone
No. 241 · Farrow & Ball
Farrow & Ball
Skimming Stone
No. 241
Subtle yellow-beige, a warm color
- Color family
- White
- Sold for
- Interior and exterior
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 estimated 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.
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 Skimming Stone warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers
leans yellow
Undertone
Subtle yellow-beige
A gentle lean, quiet on the wall.
Skimming Stone has a small yellow lean in our swatch calculation, but a pink appearance on a wall remains possible. 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 different lighting
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 for an illustrative preview beside your floors and furniture. Confirm the color with a physical sample. Your first 3 renders are free.
Skimming Stone vs Balboa Mist, Pale Oak, Agreeable Gray and Drift of Mist
Balboa MistSkimming StoneSkimming Stone vs Balboa Mist OC-27
Skimming Stone is a touch lighter; both fall in our subtle yellow-beige category. Farrow & Ball LRV is estimated from RGB; this is a digital-swatch comparison.
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.
Pale OakSkimming StoneSkimming Stone vs Pale Oak OC-20
Skimming Stone is a touch darker; both fall in our subtle yellow-beige category. Farrow & Ball LRV is estimated from RGB; this is a digital-swatch comparison.
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.
Agreeable GraySkimming StoneSkimming Stone vs Agreeable Gray SW 7029
Skimming Stone is noticeably lighter; both fall in our subtle yellow-beige category. Farrow & Ball LRV is estimated from RGB; this is a digital-swatch comparison.
Agreeable Gray SW 7029 is the greige most people in the United States weigh this one against, and it is clearly darker, an estimated 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.
Drift of MistSkimming StoneSkimming Stone vs Drift of Mist SW 9166
Skimming Stone is a touch darker; both fall in our subtle yellow-beige category. Farrow & Ball LRV is estimated from RGB; this is a digital-swatch comparison.
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 in our swatch comparison and has a published LRV close to Skimming Stone's estimate; the paints can still differ 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?
Skimming Stone can show a pink or mauve cast in some settings. Our swatch calculation shows a small warm lean, but cannot rule out that appearance or identify its cause. Check a large sample beside your tile, wood and upholstery, especially if you want to avoid pink.
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.
- Made with real paint
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Trim, ceiling and coordinating colors for Skimming Stone
Farrow & Ball names Strong White No. 2001 as Skimming Stone's complementary white, a starting point for a gentle wall-to-trim transition. Its schemes also include Dove Tale No. 267 and Pelt No. 254 as colored trim options. Wimborne White No. 239 is another listed partner to sample if you want a brighter edge. Check the pairing against your flooring: small differences between pale neutrals can become more noticeable on adjoining surfaces.
Colors similar to Skimming Stone
Closest matches for Skimming Stone 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.