If you’re looking for a great, versatile paint color from Benjamin Moore, Silver Satin is worth a try. In addition to being fun to say, Silver Satin is a proud member of Benjamin Moore’s all-time best-seller list.
Also known as OC-26, Silver Satin is beautiful, sleek, and classy and will add elegance and style to any room it’s added to. You can use it in any room in your home, from the bathroom and kitchen to your bedroom or living room.
If you’re curious and want to know more about this great paint, you’ve come to the right place.
What Color is Silver Satin?
- LRV: 75.29
- RGB: 228, 225, 217
- Hex Value: #E4E1D9
As its name implies, Silver Satin is a silver-white paint color with shades of gray added into the mix. It comes off as mostly neutral, thanks to the gray and silver shades, but it has just enough silver to pop off the walls.
Because of how light and bright Silver Satin is, it’s considered to be part of the white paint family and is often thought of as off-white. However, depending on how light is hitting Silver Satin, it can look yellow, orange, silver, or even purple.
Silver Satin Undertones
To the untrained eye, Silver Satin might look like just another whitish-gray paint. However, this unique color is packed with undertones and subtle hints of something more.
The main undertones you pick up will largely depend on the type of light you have shining on Silver Satin and how much sun exposure it’s getting. Here are some of the undertones you can expect to see.
- Violet Purple
- Green
- Yellow
- Orange
While white, gray, and silver are the main colors you will see with Silver Satin, it can emanate shades of these other colors.
Is Benjamin Moore Silver Satin a Warm Color?
In the same way that it’s tough to tell what the exact undertones of Silver Satin are, it’s also tough to pinpoint whether or not it’s a warm or cool color.
At most times, Silver Satin is considered a warm color, especially when there is light shining on it. However, in darker rooms without much sunlight, Silver Satin can appear cooler and grayer than it actually is.
Silver Satin LRV (Light Reflective Value)
Light Reflective Value, LRV, is one of the main criteria that people look at when they’re choosing a paint color. LRV measures how much light the paint color will reflect and is measured on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being the most and 0 being the least.
Silver Satin has an LRV of between 75 and 77, putting it on the brighter side of things. With this high of an LRV, Silver Satin will be brighter and lighter when light is shining directly onto it.
A high light reflective value also means that light will reflect off of walls painted with Silver Satin and amplify the room around it. This is extremely important if you like natural light and want certain rooms to appear bright without having to turn on the lights.
How to Use Silver Satin in Your Home
Because of its unique undertones and off-white appearance, Silver Satin is one of the most versatile paints Benjamin Moore has in its arsenal. You can use it in nearly any room in your home and in most capacities.
Silver Satin For the Living Room Walls
Silver Satin is a great way to amplify natural light in your living or dining room. It has a moderately high light reflective value and will act as a natural light source on sunny days when the curtains are open.
In the evening and when the curtains are drawn, Silver Satin will be more toned-down and neutral. As such, it emanates comfort and warmth and is a great way to bring a room together.
Silver Satin For the Bedroom
If you don’t want a bedroom that’s bright and airy, then you should steer clear of Silver Satin. However, if you like the idea of having a bright bedroom that feels clean and sleek, Silver Satin is a great option.
You can also use it as an accent wall in your bedroom if you want to keep things on the dark side. Simply paint most of your walls with a darker shade of paint, and use Silver Satin on a single wall. This will add some natural light to your bedroom without it feeling like the sun is constantly shining in.
Silver Satin For the Bathroom
In years past, it was common to use darker paints in bathrooms. Nowadays, however, it’s preferable to use lighter colors in bathrooms.
As such, Silver Satin is the perfect paint color for your bathroom. It will make it feel light, comfortable, and warm, and is the perfect paint to pair with a bolder color for your bathroom cabinets.
Silver Satin For the Kitchen
Your kitchen is one of the most important rooms in your home. While there are a lot of features that people like in their kitchens, light is at the top of the list.
Because Silver Satin has such a high LRV, it’s a great option for kitchens. Light will radiate off of Silver Satin and amplify the area around you, which is important for meal preparation and planning. It’s neutral enough, however, to offset with a bold backsplash or cabinet color.
Silver Satin For Kitchen Cabinets
If you don’t want to use Silver Satin for your entire kitchen, it’s also a great color to use on your kitchen cabinets. This is an especially good option if you want a modern, sleek kitchen that’s modeled after the Swedish or Nordic style.
Another reason that people love Silver Satin in their kitchens is that it pairs well with appliances. Whether your kitchen appliances are black or stainless steel, Silver Satin will help them stand out.
How Light Affects Silver Satin
Silver Satin and other shades of grey and silver are unique in how light affects them. Depending on what room this paint is in and how the light is hitting it, Silver Satin can look like many different shades.
Rooms Facing East
The sun rises in the east, which means that if you have an east-facing room, it will be super bright in the morning. It also means that, because of how the sun hits Silver Satin in the mornings, your paint will have a slightly orange tone.
Rooms Facing North
Rooms that face the north don’t get as much sunlight as other rooms in your home. Therefore, Silver Satin in north-facing rooms will look toned-down and dull unless it’s getting hit by direct sunlight.
Rooms Facing West
In the same way that east-facing rooms get the most sun in the mornings, west-facing rooms will get the most sun in the evening as the sun is going down. Therefore, you can expect Silver Satin in west-facing rooms to be a dull grey or silver during the day and turn to more of an orange tone in the evening.
Rooms Facing South
South-facing rooms are the polar opposite of north-facing ones. South rooms will get lots of sunlight throughout the day, which means that Silver Satin will be bright and popping. Therefore, you shouldn’t use Silver Satin in south-facing rooms unless you want to brighten the room.
What Colors Go With Benjamin Moore Silver Satin?
While Silver Satin is a great paint color, your home would look fairly dull if it was the only paint you used in your entire home. As such, it’s important to know what other paints and colors to pair with Silver Satin.
Bold Colors That Go With Silver Satin
While light can alter the exact color of Silver Satin, it will typically look mostly white or gray and lend a warm, neutral feeling to rooms.
Therefore, it’s a great option to pair with bolder colors that lend character and depth.
- Black
- Gold
- Green
- Blue
When you pair Silver Satin with these bold colors, it will help them pop and shine. Silver Satin will add light and airiness but will go mostly unnoticed next to these bold options.
Neutral Colors That Go With Silver Satin
Despite the fact that Silver Satin is a fairly neutral color, it pairs great with other neutrals, including the following.
- Other shades of gray
- Other shades of white or silver
- Natural, muted, woody tones
- Soft shades of blue
By pairing the right colors with Silver Satin, both paints will stand out more and shine with their finest qualities.
Trim Colors to Combine With Silver Satin
Regardless of what type of paint you use on your walls, it’s always best to use a shade of white on your trim.
In the case of Silver Satin, Chantilly Lace or a similar shade of white is ideal for your trim.
How Does Silver Satin Compare to Similar Colors?
There are more than 1,000 different paint colors, so it’s inevitable that Silver Satin won’t look slightly like other colors. However, although Silver Satin looks similar to other colors, it’s a unique color that is unlike any other.
Silver Satin vs. Classic Grey
The paint that probably gets confused the most with Silver Satin is Classic Grey. Classic Grey is another popular color from Benjamin Moore, and the two shades have the same light reflective value.
However, upon closer examination, you can see that Classic Grey is slightly darker than Silver Satin. Classic Grey also has slightly more pigment than Silver Satin and has undertones of green and violet.
Silver Satin vs. Paper White
Another color that Silver Satin commonly gets confused with is Paper White. As with Classic Grey, Paper White is a popular Benjamin Moore shade that has a similar LRV as that of Silver Satin.
However, as its name implies, Paper White is lighter and whiter than Silver Satin, although not by much. In fact, depending on how the light hits either color, Silver Satin might even appear lighter than Paper White.
Silver Satin vs. Balboa Mist
Silver Satin and Balboa Mist don’t look as similar as the other paints on this list, but people often debate about which type of paint they prefer. In many instances, the decision comes down to Silver Satin vs. Balboa Mist because of the unique qualities either option provides.
Balboa Mist is slightly darker and more beige than Silver Satin. It also has undertones of pink and lavender and can end up looking fairly dull in a large space. Therefore, most people opt for Silver Satin over Balboa Mist.
Silver Satin vs. Calm
Finally, Silver Satin is also very similar to Calm by Benjamin Moore. The two paint colors have similar undertones and qualities, but Silver Satin is slightly darker than Calm.
Calm also has more reddish or pinkish undertones depending on how the light is hitting it. Silver Satin, on the other hand, veers on the side of yellow, orange, or purple undertones.
Silver Satin FAQs
What Color Is a Shade Lighter than Silver Satin? What about darker?
If you want to stick with Benjamin Moore but choose a paint that’s a shade lighter than Silver Satin, Paper White and Calm are the way to go. If you’re looking for something a shade darker, Balboa Mist and Classic Grey are good options.
Does Silver Satin Look Dingy?
If you use Silver Satin in the right manner and have the correct type of light shining onto it, it won’t appear dingy. However, if you put Silver Satin in a dark room that rarely sees natural or LED light, it can appear on the dark and dingy side.
Can I Use Silver Satin as Exterior Paint?
You can most certainly use Silver Satin on the exterior of your home. Benjamin Moore makes batches of this paint specifically for outdoor use.
In addition to being durable and waterproof, Silver Satin from Benjamin Moore will help the exterior of your home look bright and welcoming.
It’s an especially good option if you want to have gutters or a front door that are of a bolder nature. Silver Satin is also very complimentary of landscaping, bushes, and other outdoor features.
What Sherwin Williams paint is similar to Silver Satin?
If you only have access to Sherwin Williams products and want something as similar to Silver Satin as possible, Eider White SW 7014 is the way to go.
Conclusion
As you can see, there’s a lot to love about Silver Satin from Benjamin Moore. It’s a very warm, comforting color that adds a ton of natural light, courtesy of its high light reflective value. With undertones of violet, green, yellow, and orange, Silver Satin is mostly neutral with slight tones of color and life.
Because of its unique color profile, you can pair Silver Satin with bold or neutral colors. You can also use it in any room of your home, with cabinets or as exterior paint, making it extremely versatile.
Regardless of how or where you plan to use Silver Satin, however, you should always use paint samples first. You should also think carefully about how the light is going to hit your Silver Satin paint because it could affect the color and tone.