Paint colors · Sherwin-Williams, as published by the brand

Mindful Gray SW 7016: hex, RGB, LRV and undertone

Mindful Gray (SW 7016) is a Sherwin-Williams mid-tone neutral at #BCB7AD with an LRV of 47.698. It measures as a warm neutral with a yellow undertone.

By Paul Gunder. Every value is computed from published standards; see how ColorPlum works.

Updated November 11, 2026

Sherwin-WilliamsMindful GraySW 7016

Hex: #BCB7AD
RGB: 188, 183, 173
LRV: 47.698
Undertone: Warm neutral, yellow undertone

LRV 47.698. Mid-tone: noticeably colored; best in rooms with good daylight.

A neutral with a yellow cast (OKLCH hue 85°, chroma 0.015). Expect the yellow to show more in warm evening light and next to cooler whites.

Coordinating colors Sherwin-Williams suggests

Eider WhiteSW 7014
Pearly WhiteSW 7009
Homburg GraySW 7622

Closest colors from other brands

ΔE is the CIEDE2000 difference between the published values: under 2 is hard to tell apart on a wall, 2 to 5 is a visible but related shade. Always compare real chips before you buy.

Name, code, LRV and color value as published by Sherwin-Williams on its color page (checked 2026-11-11). A screen can only approximate paint: sheen, lighting and the screen itself all change it, so check a physical sample. ColorPlum is not affiliated with Sherwin-Williams.

ColorPlum swatchMindful Graylight, grayish orange

HEX: #BCB7AD
RGB: rgb(188, 183, 173)
HSL: hsl(40, 10%, 71%)

Best text on it: black at 10.51:1

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Mindful Gray#BCB7AD

Every code for Mindful Gray

HEX#BCB7AD
RGBrgb(188, 183, 173)
HSLhsl(40, 10%, 71%)
HSV40°, 8%, 74%
CMYK0%, 3%, 8%, 26%
Lablab(74.6% 0.5 5.8)
OKLCHoklch(78.1% 0.015 84.6)
Decimal12367789

Tints, shades and tones

From white to black in 10% steps, with Mindful Gray in the middle. Tap a code to copy it.

90%#F8F8F7
80%#F2F1EF
70%#EBE9E6
60%#E4E2DE
50%#DEDBD6
40%#D7D4CE
30%#D0CDC6
20%#C9C5BD
10%#C3BEB5
Base#BCB7AD
10%#A9A59C
20%#96928A
30%#848079
40%#716E68
50%#5E5C57
60%#4B4945
70%#383734
80%#262523
90%#131211

Tones (mixed with gray)

10%#B6B2A9
20%#B0ACA4
30%#AAA7A0
40%#A4A19B
50%#9E9C97
60%#989692
70%#92918E
80%#8C8B89
90%#868685

Matching colors

Complementary

#BCB7AD
#ADB2BC

Analogous

#BCAFAD
#BCB7AD
#BABCAD

Triadic

#BCB7AD
#ADBCB7
#B7ADBC

Split complementary

#BCB7AD
#ADBABC
#AFADBC

Tetradic (square)

#BCB7AD
#ADBCAF
#ADB2BC
#BCADBA

Monochromatic

#726B5E
#9A9283
#BCB7AD
#DEDCD7
#F6F5F4

Mindful Gray in 3D color space

OKLab, the space ColorPlum does its math in: lightness runs up the pole, hue goes around it and saturation grows outward. The faint shell is every color a screen can show (saturation is drawn wider than lightness so hues separate). Drag to turn it.

Mindful Gray with its complement, its triad and its tint and shade

Mindful Gray
Triad #ADBCB7
Triad #B7ADBC
Complement
50% tint
50% shade

Mindful Gray in use

New collectionAutumn edit

Card body text stays dark for reading; mindful gray carries the header and the button.

Shop nowTag

Headline in Mindful Gray

A paragraph with a link in dark text, because this color is too light for text on white; use it for fills instead.

How it looks with color-vision deficiency

A simulation (Machado and colleagues, 2009) of how the color and its complement read without one type of cone.

Typical color vision#BCB7AD
Protanopia (no red cones)#BAB7AC
Deuteranopia (no green cones)#BBB8AD
Tritanopia (no blue cones)#BFB5B4

Contrast and readability

Pairing	Ratio	WCAG 2.2
as text on white	1.99:1	AA AA large AAA
as text on black	10.51:1	AA AA large AAA
white text on it	1.99:1	AA AA large AAA
black text on it	10.51:1	AA AA large AAA
on your background	1.74:1	AA AA large AAA

Try a background

Export

:root {
  --mindful-gray: #bcb7ad;
  --mindful-gray-rgb: 188 183 173;
  --mindful-gray-on: #000000;
}

On this page

Mindful Gray, SW 7016 from Sherwin-Williams, is a mid-tone greige. Its hex is #BCB7AD, its RGB is 188, 183, 173, and its LRV is 47.698. The brand file lists no collection for it.

Reading the values

In HSL it is hsl(40, 10%, 71%), and in OKLCH it is oklch(78.1% 0.015 84.6). Those numbers describe a light-to-middle gray with a faint push toward yellow. The computed undertone label is warm neutral, yellow undertone, based on a hue of 85 degrees and chroma of 0.015.

That yellow cast is small, but the yellow strengthens under lamplight after dusk and when a bluer white sits beside it. If you pair it with a crisp blue-white trim, expect the walls to look a bit sandier than they do in the swatch.

Where it sits among similar colors

Within Sherwin-Williams, Light French Gray SW 0055 is 3.4 away, Repose Gray SW 7015 is 4.7, and Accessible Beige SW 7036 is 5.2. The first two are related but visible differences; the last crosses into clearly different territory.

Benjamin Moore has the nearest outside match: Pashmina AF-100 at 3.4, then Revere Pewter HC-172 at 4.2 and October Mist 1495 at 5.6. None of these is below 2, so none will pass as a swap without a visible shift. Always compare real samples.

Worked example

Take a hallway that gets afternoon sun from a west-facing glass door. At an LRV of 47.698, Mindful Gray is a mid-tone: it holds some color on the wall instead of bleaching out, but it still returns about half the light. That suits a passage where you want warmth without darkness.

The brand lists Eider White (SW 7014), Pearly White (SW 7009) and Homburg Gray (SW 7622) as coordinating colors. A sensible plan is Pearly White on the door casings and ceiling so the walls look intentional against them, with Homburg Gray reserved for a console or a painted bench as the darker note. Sample all three on the same wall, because the yellow in Mindful Gray will move between them.

Light and use

Because the LRV sits near the middle of the scale, Mindful Gray changes noticeably between a bright window wall and a shaded corner. Paint a large sample on two different walls and look at each in morning and evening before you buy gallons. A room with north light will make it feel cooler and a little darker, while a sunny room will let the warm yellow reading come forward.

On a screen

Black text on #BCB7AD measures 10.51:1, which is comfortably readable. White text reaches just 1.99:1, so keep white labels off this color. To test other text shades, the contrast grid shows ratios across a whole set at once.