Sherwin Williams Sea Salt, (AKA SW 6204), is now starting to bring us into the world of color since so many in our series have been in the grey and white family (for good reason – they go everywhere and are so easy to use)! However, it’s not like Sea Salt is a vivid red that will have people take a double-take at your walls (in a good way of course!).
Sea Salt, with its green and gray tones, is a very soothing, beautiful (and quite beachy) backdrop color that can effortlessly fit in with so many color schemes and types of decor.
Let’s take an in-depth look at Sherwin Williams Sea Salt and see if it is the right shade for your home!
To really help you understand more about Sea Salt, it is important to look at a few of its defining characteristics (like light reflecting value), compare its shade to other colors in its family, and then see it in real-life homes.
Through this trifecta, I hope that you will deepen your understanding of Sea Salt and feel confident as to whether or not it could be the right shade in your home!
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After reading this post, if you still aren’t quite sure if Sherwin Williams Sea Salt is the right shade for you, you may want to check out some of the other colors we have explored in this series (linked below) as well. Perhaps your perfect shade is one of these options, instead…
Other Colors Covered in our Paint Exploration Series:
- Chantilly Lace (Benjamin Moore)
- Light Pewter (Benjamin Moore)
- Gray Owl (Benjamin Moore)
- Classic Gray (Benjamin Moore)
- Stonington Gray (Benjamin Moore)
- White Dove (Benjamin Moore)
- Simply White (Benjamin Moore)
- Repose Gray (Sherwin Williams)
- Silver Strand (Sherwin Williams)
- Agreeable Gray (Sherwin Williams)
- Revere Pewter (Benjamin Moore)
- Smoke (Benjamin Moore)
Here’s what Sherwin Williams has to say about their popular paint shade 6204:
First, here’s the “numerical” details, or the LRV.
Sea Salt LRV = 63
LRV = Light Reflectance Value: Rated 0-100 with 0 being pure black, and 100 being pure white. Lighter paint shades REFLECT more light from them and therefore have a HIGHER LRV, and vice versa for darker shades). Below see Seal Salt (63) side by side with pure white (100):
One of the great things about visiting a specific color’s page on the Sherwin Williams website is that they have a lot of useful tools for you.
The SW website provides coordinating and similar colors along with a visualizer where you can use different colors and decor in a picture to play around and try different looks.
That said, there isn’t much of an explanation of the color on there, so that is where this series is going to jump in!
We’ll take a look at comparing Sherwin Williams Sea Salt to other similar colors and then check it out in real-life homes.
Let’s take a closer look! First up? A video preview of this shade as seen in real homes!
Sherwin Williams Sea Salt Color Comparison:
Sherwin Williams classifies Sea Salt in the green family, while still leaning neutral with its grey undertones, which makes this one highly versatile paint color. The grey/green combination gives the color a very warm feeling that will translate into your room.
In an exciting twist of color magic, the grey undertones can also make Sea Salt look a little (to a lot) blue at times too. This is why it is important to get samples of paint and try it on different walls with different lighting throughout the day.
Now, without further adieu, let’s check out Sea Salt in comparison to other popular Sherwin Williams colors.
Sea Salt vs. Comfort Gray:
Now, if Sea Salt is just a little too much color for you, you may want to check out Sherwin Williams Comfort Gray. It is just one notch up the color strip from Sea Salt and brings with it a deeper depth of color.
Comfort Gray still gives that warm tone with the color still reading more green than gray.
It definitely has a little more saturation of color to it than Sea Salt, so if you want a little more drama, go with Comfort Gray. If lighter and brighter is your tendency then Sea Salt may be just the paint color for you!
Sea Salt vs. Oyster Bay:
Hello, Nantucket during the summertime! Or perhaps Prince Edward Island? That’s just what the books tell me since I’ve only been there in my mind.
However, Oyster Bay screams summertime soirees with women in white sundresses and men with seersucker pants as they drink mojitos by their gorgeous homes painted in Sea Salt or Oyster Bay. A girl can dream, right?
Oyster Bay is a deeper, more dramatic green/gray color that is taking the turn towards a cool tone.
Sea Salt vs. Silver Strand:
Since we’ve been steadily staying in the green/gray vein, I wanted to make sure to stray out of that a little bit and pull back to comparing Sea Salt to a more gray tone, like Sherwin Williams Silver Strand.
Silver Strand still reads warm with its green tones but it definitely leans closer to gray than Sea Salt. Silver Strand can also read a lot more blue than Sea Salt, but once again, that all depends on the room, lighting, and other colors in the room.
Sea Salt vs. Tradewind:
Let’s lean even farther into the blue territory with a crowd favorite: Tradewind. This color can still read neutral with having some gray in it, but it again, just like Silver Strand, leans more blue than green.
Tradewind reads as an easy-breezy color to me that would help make any space bright and cheery.
Also, is it just me or are all these paint colors making you crave an ocean view? I think that is a sure sign that the grey/green/blue tones are definitely played up in homes that try to bring the natural beauty of the outdoors inside.
Sea Salt vs. Benjamin Moore Pale Smoke:
Lastly, let’s do one quick cross-brand comparison of two lovely colors. One of my favorite blue-grays (with some green thrown in, for sure) is Benjamin Moore’s “Pale Smoke“.
Almost identical to SW Sea Salt, whose LRV is 63, Ben Moore’s Pale Smoke has an LRV of 64.
A little more green, and a little less blue than Sherwin Williams Tradewind, like Sea Salt, Pale Smoke is a bit of a chameleon color.
In different lights, it can go from reading quite green, to quite blue, to more of a neutral gray.
For those of you who love a little more color, but don’t want to take it to clown-level color saturation, Sea Salt is a great choice. But definitely have a look at Pale Smoke, too.
We have it in several rooms in our home including our kitchen, seen below:
And here again…
We also used Benjamin Moore Pale Smoke in our family room,
as well as our dining room. It’s a light and bright color that has a bit more saturation than your average, ho-hum neutral.
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Ok, let’s get to everyone’s favorite part and see Sherwin Williams Sea Salt in real homes.
We’ll check out how Sea Salt looks in some real spaces under lots of different lighting situations and with lots of other “things” in the rooms (furniture, countertops, etc) that the paint can play on.
Remember that photos on a computer screen are in no way a substitute for seeing a real sample on your own wall, but I think it can be really helpful to at least rule colors “in” to buy samples for, or “out” to just scratch completely.
Sea Salt Kitchens and Dining Rooms:
1. @vintagesouthdevelopment
Let’s just start this party started with an example of Sherwin Williams Sea Salt that will make your eyes pop straight outta yo head. Graphic, sorry…but this kitchen is O-to-the-M-to-the-GREAT, right?
Cabinet color? Sea Salt, friends.
2. @mansiondemullen:
And guess what? Now here’s another real-life looky-loo with some more cabinets painted in Sea Salt!
Honestly, it’s not a color I would have naturally gravitated towards for kitchen cabinets but now that I see if it’s all I want for kitchen cabinets. It’s the perfect color that’s bright, light, and interesting!
3. @buildingourhumblehome:
It’s coastal with a little bit of country with its bright hue, batten boarded walls and is everything I was envisioning for this color.
4. @adesignstory:
Well hello, spring in a room!
Sea Salt lets the bright colors in the plates and flowers pop against it as it lends itself to be more neutral in this room. And the teal goes so well with this color, which isn’t always the case with green-on-green tones.
5. @farmhousetofrills:
Well, looky at Sea Salt being all soft and light in this room filled with natural light and white. It really is amazing how color can be saturated in one room and then bright in another.
If you look at the darkest part of the room in the back of the kitchen, you can see how Sea Salt looks a little more saturated than in the front (and lightest) part of the room.
6. @girlnamedmichal
We shall end the kitchen and dining room portion of this post with me drooling over another set of cabinets painted Sherwin Williams Sea Salt.
I’m losing it over here with how much I surprisingly love Sea Salt on cabinets! Even without anything else finished around these, you know this space can’t help but be bright and happy.
7. @urbanhausdesigns
Seen here in a little breakfast nook area, this is a good picture of how Sea Salt looks against the pure white of the plantation shutters (lovely, btw) and the white molding in the shot.
It may not look like a super-saturated color on the swatch, but it is definitely a colorful paint on the wall!
8. @westhollar
Sherwin Williams Sea Salt looking perhaps surprisingly at home in this mid-century modern dining room…
9. @shannon_thompson_
Here’s a nice example of Sea Salt being used in a large area/open concept floor plan kitchen and dining area paired with weathered gray floors.
View this post on Instagram
SW Sea Salt Living Rooms:
10. @buildingourhumblehome:
Why can’t I breathe, whenever I look at this living room? (Please sing along in your head with my updated Michelle Branch lyrics…Yes that’s an early 2000’s throwback).
This room is perfection with the color and decor choice.
We peeked at this space when we were checking our @buildingourhumblehome’s kitchen and dining room, and I am just as in love with her Sea Salt living room!
11. @westhollar
Sea Salt is looking pretty awesome in this sweet mid-century modern vibed living room.
12. @newperspectiveinteriordesign:
You know what, I am getting a new perspective on orange and Sea Salt in this room. That new perspective is that I am LOVING it!
Pops of color in the pink, orange and red family really seem to shine along with Sea Salt.
13. @acottagegirl:
You know that not only does this living room light a fire in me but so does that cute as a button dog!
I love how the vintage wood tones play with Sea Salt to make a warm, lived-in vibe for the room.
14. @milam.interiors:
Oh hello, Sea Salt combined with a navy blue accent in the built-ins. I am LOVING this combination!
The whole room looks very elegant and classic with the color pairing and decor.
I don’t know…I’m still not sure if it’s the right paint color for me.
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Sherwin Williams Sea Salt Bedrooms:
15. @killington_collection:
Look at the natural light spilling into the room, making Sea Salt show its blue tones. I also think that the blue in the bedding lends the bedroom to look more blue than green since paint colors on the wall can reflect the colors in the room.
16. @fresh_look_calgary:
I think I've found my next bedroom (in my dreams at least). The tall ceilings with the wooden beams and Sea Salt complementing it all make this a serene and comforting bedroom.
This is definitely the bedroom I imagine in the Nantucket house I mentioned earlier.
17. @livingthatlakelife:
This is another bedroom that is all about those coastal vibes, and I am here for it (I think I've made that obvious by this point). I love Sea Salt with white planking or other architectural details to play off of.
18. @emilysprojectlist:
This bedroom is more classic and chic in its styling; Sea Salt blends perfectly with this look, somehow giving it that modern antique vibe.
I may have made that up, but now I'm going to start looking for it more because it may just be the next big trend.
19. @leeannleopard07
Nest up, this bedroom shows the perfect way to layer neutrals, which includes using Sherwin Williams Sea Salt as a neutral.
It's enough color to add interest to the walls and while letting the different tonal neutrals play off of its beautiful color.
20. @remingtonranchfarmhouse
Sea Salt with farmhouse flair. Check out how soothing Sea Salt looks in this rustic retreat of a master bedroom. Do you like the color paired with the raw wood tones?
Sea Salt in Hallways:
21. @onehouse2barns
Major bonus. Sea Salt plays well with cows.
22. @southfloridafarmhouse:
We all know that gold is still having a big moment; this just confirms that Sea Salt looks charming and elegant paired with gold (like we had any doubts about it).
What a happy space to welcome people into your home.
23. @buildingourhumblehome:
I would just like to emphasize that this is a hallway. A hallway!! Wow! Who wouldn't love this beautiful, architecturally interesting, and highly functional hallway.
Sea Salt definitely helps lighten up this potentially dark passageway and even makes the hall feel like a sanctuary!
24. @the.old.barn
Another gorgeous example of Sea Salt in a modern farmhouse-style home. It's the color painted in the hallway seen behind that gorgeous barn door.
Sherwin Williams Sea Salt Bathrooms & Laundry Rooms:
Of all the ways to use this truly livable color, I think seeing it in bathrooms is my favorite.
Blue/green is a very popular color for bathrooms (keep that in mind if you're thinking of putting your house on the market anytime soon).
A timeless blue/green hue reminds us of resorts. Vacations. Spas. All of which are GREAT things, am I right? Why wouldn't anyone want that feeling as they enter their bathroom each day?
25. @katiebush09:
I am loving the white + black + Sea Salt. I think that is a great base to build a room upon!
26. @builtonbarrow
Often, you see Sea Salt painted on the wall ABOVE wainscoting, but here, they've flipped that concept and put the lovely buffalo check pattern atop a Sea Salt color below.
27. @goldenboysandme:
Don't be fooled; the wall color is Sea Salt but the vanity is NOT! Wow! They look very similar, don't they?
The vanity is actually Opal Silk by Behr but that doesn't stop this combination from winning!
28. @sheffield_manor:
Sea Salt brightens up this space and hopefully helps laundry day (ok, but what day isn't laundry day?) be a little bit better.
And how about that lovely reflection off the shine of the stainless steel washer and dryer? Nice, right?
29. @reddesignky
Check out how different SW Sea Salt looks in the darker corner of this gorgeous bathroom versus the lighter areas of the room. It is playing pretty green in those darker zones.
Also a good look at the paint color against marble, which is one place this color really shows off some of its more beautiful qualities, I think.
30. @aandjpaintingservices
Here's a good look at a bathroom before and after being painted with Sea Salt.
31. @hillcreekranch:
Fresh. That's the word that I now associate with Sea Salt as a color. After looking at all of these spaces, the one thing they all have in common is that they all feel fresh.
This bathroom is no different. Dare I say it is so fresh and so clean clean?🎵
32. @littlesteelehouse:
Oh, a planked wall painted Sea Salt! I love it! I've kept saying that architectural details and Sea Salt pair well together.
This is the first time we've seen Sea Salt painted on these details, and it's giving me all the feels! But wait - were you fooled like I was?!
Read her caption for your mind to be blown!
33. @justanotherfarmhouse
Queue the jaw-drop. Check out the Sea Salt cabinets in this amazing laundry room that I'd like to live in.
34. @kristen_w13:
Bringing it back to that coastal vibe with this bathroom full of blue tones and coral!
35. @coloradopaintmasters
Sea Salt in a bathroom is a resort-y color to my eyes. It is the picture of leisure, isn't it?
36. @farmhouse4010
OK, saving an absolutely luscious laundry room for last here. Check out these splendiferous sea salt cabinets from Farmhouse 4010 on Insta...yum.
Sea Salt Exteriors:
37. @saltymermaidobx:
This is the time we have all been waiting for - were we or weren't we about to see beach house pictures with Sea Salt exteriors?
Check out this beauty at the Outer Banks! (PS - Have you watched that Netflix show yet?)
38. @beshfamfarmhouse:
Ok, ok, Sea Salt is not just for beach houses. Look at this stunning farmhouse with Sea Salt and black accents. This is spectacular!!
Plus, it shows us that Sea Salt is not just a color for beach living.
39. @farmhouse4010
And ANOTHER farmhouse with an awesome pop of Sea Salt! Check out this amazing dutch door. #swoon
40. @opmiprop:
Well isn't she sweet! Again, those black details and Sea Salt are creating a winning combination.
I bet that house sold fast! Also, isn't is amazing how much lighter paint looks outside with full sun? Wow!
41. @talysahill
One more gorgeous door featuring SW Sea Salt...
42. @kristiwebbinteriors
Check out Sea Salt on shutters! Isn't it a pretty choice?
Other SW Sea Salt "Sightings"
43. @renovation_junkies
In a basement...
44. @dwellbycheryl
How about this classy, inviting bathroom mood board featuring SW Sea Salt? Looks like a place I'd love to visit, for sure!
45. @the.old.barn
Office Space, SW Sea Salt style.
Last but not least,
46. A Sea Salt-y Dog from @blkbirdsing
Looks like the jury is out on what our labrador friend here thinks of the shade...
And that brings us to the end of this color study! I hope that this has given you a bit more of a glimpse into whether or not Sherwin Williams Sea Salt is a color that you'd like to use in your own home!
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