GREYS

Cold Steel

#7D8C96

RGB 125, 140, 150 · HSL 204°, 11%, 54% · CMYK 17, 7, 0, 41

Cold Steel is #7D8C96 in HEX — rgb(125, 140, 150), hsl(204°, 11%, 54%), cmyk(17%, 7%, 0%, 41%).

Cold Steel pulls into the mid-tone end of the greys spectrum — HSL 204°, 11%, 54%. The neutral saturation makes it near-neutral and forgiving, and the hue reads cool. In interior projects it shines on walls, soft furniture, hard surfaces — as the project's quiet backbone. Reads best alongside white trim, natural wood, brass, soft black accents.

Color Codes

HEX#7D8C96

RGB125, 140, 150

HSL204°, 11%, 54%

HSV204°, 17%, 59%

CMYK17, 7, 0, 41

Decimal8227990

CSS RGBrgb(125, 140, 150)

CSS HSLhsl(204, 11%, 54%)

Paint Matches — this color across 16 brands

Behr

Cold Steel MQ5-20

Exact match

PPG

Chalky Blue 1153-5

ΔE 1.9 · #7B8F99

Kilz

Porpoise Gray RM110

ΔE 1.9 · #788791

Benjamin Moore

Mineral 1622

ΔE 2 · #82919C

Valspar

Cornflower Blue 4008-4B

ΔE 2.4 · #768793

Dulux

Blue Ribbon S39B4

ΔE 2.6 · #7C8997

Sherwin-Williams

Storm Cloud SW6249

ΔE 3.3 · #7A848D

Kobra

Grey 42

ΔE 3.3 · #889099

Vista Paint

Mirador K-795

ΔE 3.4 · #748490

RAL

Squirrel Grey 7000

ΔE 3.6 · #78858B

Hallman-Lindsay

Smoky Day 491

ΔE 4.3 · #7D8F92

IKEA

IKEA158 158

ΔE 4.4 · #7C9195

Dunn-Edwards

Mica Creek DE5823

ΔE 4.5 · #70828F

Colorhouse

Water .05 Water-05

ΔE 4.9 · #82979D

Farrow & Ball

Stone Blue 86

ΔE 6 · #7997A1

Dutch Boy

Natural Gray VS-9332

ΔE 7.9 · #878787

Light Reflectance & Undertone

Light Reflectance Value (LRV)

25/100

Medium

0 · DarkLight · 100

Balanced reflectance — holds colour without washing out. Versatile for most rooms and the most forgiving range for true-to-chip results.

Undertone

TemperatureCool MasstoneBlue UndertoneViolet

A near-neutral with a subtle cool violet undertone — it will pick up colour from surrounding surfaces and shift noticeably under different light.

Color Theory

Complementary

#7D8C96

#97877D

Analogous

#7D9794

#7D8C96

#7D7F97

Triadic

#7D8C96

#977D8C

#8C977D

Split-Complementary

#7D8C96

#977D7F

#97947D

Tetradic

#7D8C96

#947D97

#97877D

#7F977D

Monochromatic

#363F44

#59666E

#7D8C96

#A7B2B9

#D2D7DB

Rectangle

#7D8C96

#877D97

#97877D

#8C977D

Compound

#7D8C96

#7D7F97

#97877D

#97947D

Variations

Lighter

#97A3AB

#B2BABF

#D3D7D9

Darker

#61717B

#434E55

#262D32

Saturation

#868A8E

#7D8C97

#4997CB

Interior Use

Best Rooms

living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms

Best Uses

walls, soft furniture, hard surfaces

Pairs With

white trim, natural wood, brass, soft black accents

Accessibility (WCAG)

vs White

3.46:1

AA Large

vs Black

6.06:1

Deuteranopia

#7D8C96

#848897

Original → Simulated

Protanopia

#7D8C96

#8A8A95

Original → Simulated

Tritanopia

#7D8C96

#7D8D8C

Original → Simulated

Color Psychology

Quiet · Versatile

Cold Steel gets out of the way so the architecture and the people in the room do the work. The right neutral is never a default — it reads warm or cool, dusty or sharp depending on its undertone, and that undertone is what makes or breaks the room.

SymbolismBalance, sophistication, calm

PersonalityAdaptable, considered, timeless

versatileneutraltimelessbackdroptrimwall

How it looks under different light

#9D968C

Warm Bulb 2700K

Incandescent / soft white LED — pulls colour toward yellow/amber.

#7D8C96

Daylight 5500K

Midday natural light or daylight-spec LED — closest to the paint chip.

#8A9BB0

Cool Bulb 6500K

Cool white LED / overcast daylight — pulls colour toward blue.

Pairs With

#EAEBEB

Trim

Matched off-white

Same hue at 92% lightness — trim reads coordinated, not stark.

#F7F7F7

Ceiling

Whisper tint

Near-white with a hint of the hero's undertone — ceiling feels intentional.

#926F58

Accent

Complementary punch

Hue +180°, slightly muted for paint vs. screen — use on a door, frame, or single piece.

#574738

Floor

Walnut neutral

Warm mid-brown grounds the scheme regardless of hero hue.

Paint Info

Brand · Product Line

Benjamin Moore / Regal Select Interior

Recommended Finishes

Eggshell (walls) · Pearl (trim) · Matte (ceiling)

Eggshell hides imperfections on main walls while keeping the color rich; pearl on trim adds subtle sheen and easier cleaning; flat matte on ceilings prevents glare.

Best Surfaces

Primary walls · Cabinetry · Trim · Soft furniture

Coverage & Dry Time

Typical coverage 350-400 sq ft per gallon over a primed surface.

Touch-dry in ~1 hour. Recoat after 4 hours. Full cure 7-14 days.

Primer

Standard primer is adequate.

Application Tip

Use a 9" microfiber roller on walls and a 2.5" angled sash brush for trim cuts. Two coats minimum for even depth.

Paint Calculator

Wall area (m²)

Coats

Coverage (m² / L)

You'll need

4.0 litres

1.06 US gallons · room for one touch-up coat. Buy slightly more to ensure single-batch match.

Code Snippets

CSS — color

color: #7D8C96;

CSS — background

background-color: #7D8C96;

CSS Variable

--color-cold-steel: #7D8C96;

Tailwind v3 — config

colors: { 'cold-steel': '#7D8C96' }

Tailwind — arbitrary

bg-[#7D8C96] text-[#7D8C96]

SCSS

$cold-steel: #7D8C96;

Similar Colors

Mineral Alloy

#81909B · ΔE 1.7

Wild Blue Yonder

#798E99 · ΔE 2.2

Chiswell Blue

#81929B · ΔE 2.3

Amsterdam

#81949D · ΔE 3.2

Polaris Blue

#7C939E · ΔE 3.5

Oxford Gray

#8290A0 · ΔE 3.9

Bachelor Blue

#758391 · ΔE 4.1

Blue Dusk

#6E8791 · ΔE 4.4

Built by DSGN.HOUSE Updated 2026

Our color tools run on our own catalogue of 26,000+ real paint colors across 16 brands — Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, Behr, Dulux, RAL and more — with the color math (HSL and CIELAB matching) computed in-house, not scraped from summaries. Every color you pick maps to a real, buyable paint with its code, so what you see here you can actually take to the store. We review and update these tools and their data regularly.

Created by Denis Kataev, founder of DSGN.HOUSE — a software engineer and digital entrepreneur building professional color-design tools for everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What color is #7D8C96?

#7D8C96 is Cold Steel, a mid-tone grey with a cool undertone.

Is #7D8C96 warm or cool?

Cold Steel reads cool, which influences how it interacts with surrounding tones and natural light.

What rooms work best with Cold Steel?

Cold Steel works well in living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms. Designers typically use it for walls, soft furniture, hard surfaces.

What colors pair well with Cold Steel?

Cold Steel pairs naturally with white trim, natural wood, brass, soft black accents. Its complementary color is also a strong contrast option for accents.

Where can I download Cold Steel?

You can download Cold Steel on DSGN.HOUSE in 15 designer formats including CSS gradient, Figma, Procreate swatches, Tailwind config, Adobe ASE, SVG, and 4K wallpapers — all free.

What's the hex code for Cold Steel?

The hex code is #7D8C96. In RGB it's 125, 140, 150, and in HSL it's 204°, 11%, 54%.

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