Learn all about Sherwin-Williams Sea Serpent in this color review (Sample Here). This dark muted blue-green paint color is a gorgeous option for exteriors with red brick or warm stone colors. It looks much brighter outside than on the page. This color is also an excellent option for interiors.
SW Sea Serpent is a Navy Blue with green undertones. The first time I saw a house painted this color I pulled over and looked for the color in my Sherwin-Williams sample deck. This stop-and-stare color is a Color Concierge client favorite.
Please note that all the photos in this post are from Color Concierge projects.
LRV of Sea Serpent
The LRV of Sea Serpent is 7, which makes it a dark navy blue that will look much more colorful outside than inside. LRV (Light Reflectance Value) is a measurement used to identify how light or dark a color is. The scale goes from 1 (pure black) to 100 (pure white) and indicates how dark or light a color is.
Sea Serpent for Exteriors
Use Sherwin-Williams Sea Serpent as an exterior paint color, with a warmer white trim color for a traditional house. This red brick house was completely transformed with SW Sea Serpent for the siding and SW Egret White for the trim. You can also use Sea Serpent for front doors and shutters with lighter palettes. If you have shutters, consider SW Attitude Gray.
And check out this transformation! Our homeowner was really brave to trust us with this transformation, but now this house looks updated and transformed.
This was the back, after and before.
You can see that we simplified the corner trim in the back. We also changed the downspout color to the body color to make the downspouts disappear.
What are Best Exterior White Trim Colors for Sea Serpent?
I would stick with white trim colors with an LRV between 70 and 75. We used SW Egret White (LRV=70) for the trim here, but we also could have used Oyster White or Pearly White. A very light white would have been too stark a contrast.
TIP: When using dark paint colors consider a warmer white or light greige so that the contrast doesn’t look too stark. Check out the sweet diamond accent on the peak! We often see those on houses painted the same color as the roofline.
Best front Door colors with Sea Serpent and Red Brick
We used a beautiful cherry-red called SW Stolen Kiss that contrasted with the blue-green paint color and brightened up the brick entry. And, I love the name! You could also use SW Tricorn Black (black), or SW Attitude Gray (green-gray).
Sea Serpent Front Doors and Shutters
We love Sea Serpent front doors, and it makes a perfect and versatile shutter color. This photo was from another project where we paired with Iron Ore siding in the SW Iron Ore Paint Color Review. It looks amazing with red brick.
Sea Serpent for Interiors
This paint color is nice in rooms with tons of natural or artificial light. If you don’t have enough light, it will look black. You can also use as an accent wall or an interior front door.
Best Interior White Trim & Ceiling Colors with Sea Serpent
Use warmer whites such as SW Greek Villa, SW Alabaster, or BM White Dove. If you pick a trim color that is too creamy, it can start to look yellow.
When To Avoid Sea Serpent
For interiors, avoid in rooms with low light unless you have LOTS of natural light or artificial lighting. For exteriors its pretty versatile, but as always you should always test your paint color.
You can absolutely use this color for cabinets. If you want to use it for both upper and lower cabinets, make sure that you install soft white countertops and a white backsplash to keep the look light and balanced. You can also use as a lower cabinet with white upper cabinets. Ideally the upper cabinet white should be the same as your white trim color.
What is the easiest way to test Sea Serpent?
We always recommend that you test paint colors in your house because lighting can change a color completely.
In the old days, this meant we painted a large poster board with sample pots and a huge mess.
Now we have SAMPLIZE, 9X14″ Pre-Painted peel-and-stick paint samples. Check out the SAMPLIZE website HERE.
Comparisons with Other Dark Blue Paint Colors
Naval vs. Sea Serpent
Sea Serpent is more muted than Naval, and has more green. When you get it outside, Naval is cooler, bluer and more crisp than Sea Serpent. They are both beautiful, but its just a matter of preference.
BM Hale Navy vs. Sea Serpent
Although Sea Serpent is much warmer than Hale Navy, it’s the color I turn to if a client wants Hale Navy but has to use a Sherwin Williams branded color. If you place them next to each other you can see the green in Sea Serpent, but the overall effect will be similar.
SW Charcoal Blue vs. Sea Serpent
Charcoal Blue is much more purple than Sea Serpent, and much cooler. One of my painters called Charcoal Blue a “blurple” (blue-purple) color, which makes sense when you see it. Both colors are lovely, but Sea Serpent is warm and Charcoal Blue is very cool.
Which Benjamin Moore Colors are like Sherwin-Williams Sea Serpent?
I would say Benjamin Moore Hale Navy, because it gives a similar effect. We never recommend paint matching unless you are willing to spend alot of time going back and forth with the paint company.
Learn more about matching paint colors here.
The Verdict
Sherwin-Williams Sea Serpent is a dark navy blue with green undertones. You could almost call it a dark blue green, but not quite. The color most like it is BM Hale Navy. It is most often used as an exterior paint color, but would look fantastic as an interior accent color or a wall color in a well lit room.
No matter what, don’t forget to test your paint colors. It’s a standard best practice. Whenever I test my paint colors, they are perfect, and when I don’t test they turn out wrong. We love to test with SAMPLIZE peel-and-stick samples. Check out the SAMPLIZE website HERE.
NEVER, EVER use paint matches from a different brand than the one specified. Results are poor and there are no standards for the sheens. Even though your painter may truly believe it can be done, don’t do it. See results from paint matching here.
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Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore Color Review
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5 Responses
Absolutely gorgeous!
Not only are your color choices, as always, perfect, but this is a really enjoyable summary of Sea Serpent and other popular navy choices.
Our home in the Northeast was red brick, externally and internally. Now in Maryland, there’s even more red brick. It’s a challenge to get anyone away from whites, but navy/dark blues are a beautiful complement that makes brick crisp-looking.
Lovely!
Thank you for this article! I found this in perfect timing as we just decided to paint our house Sea Serpent and do the trim in Iron Ore and I was looking for examples. I’m curious – what finish did you do the Sea Serpent in? My painter is recommending satin for the exterior, but it looks way too shiny for my taste in the sample he painted. This house looks a little more flat and earthy like I want it. Thank you!
Would Sea serpent look good as a trim against Dover white
That could look very pretty!