Learn all about Sherwin-Williams Sea Serpent in this color review. 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 screen or the Sherwin fan deck. This color is also an excellent option for interiors.
SW Sea Serpent is a Navy Blue with slight 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.
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What is the 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.
What are the SW Sea Serpent undertones?
Sea Serpent is a blue paint color with green undertones, which give this color a beautiful touch of warmth. It’s one of my favorite navy blue paint colors because it doesn’t feel too cold – just deep, dark and beautiful.
Is Sherwin-Williams Sea Serpent warm or cool?
Like most blue paint colors, Sea Serpent is cool. But because of its green undertones, it has more warmth than some other blue colors that don’t lean toward green.
Sea Serpent for Exteriors
Outdoors is one of the best places to use Sea Serpent paint for your home.
Use Sherwin-Williams Sea Serpent as an exterior paint color, with a darker white trim color to keep the contrast high. If you use a very bright white it can look stark.
This red brick house was completely transformed with SW Sea Serpent for the siding and SW Egret White for the trim. Sea Serpent is one of our favorite dark paint colors for red brick homes. You can also use a Sea Serpent front door and shutters with lighter palettes. If you have shutters, consider using SW Attitude Gray when the siding color is Sea Serpent.
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 darker 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) as front door colors.
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 it as an accent wall or an interior front door.
Can I use Sea Serpent kitchen cabinets?
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 it as a lower cabinet with white upper cabinets in a tuxedo cabinet palette. Ideally the upper cabinet white should be the same as your white trim color.
At my former home, my kitchen had SW Cyberspace lowers that look really lovely with white upper cabinets. Sea Serpent would work in a similar way.
Would a SW Sea Serpent bathroom work?
Sea Serpent could definitely be used in a bathroom. I love the idea of a Sea Serpent bathroom vanity, but you could also use it for an accent wall – or even a whole-room color – as long as it’s balanced with lots of white in the rest of the bathroom space.
My master bathroom is currently painted with SW Cyberspace walls, which you can see below. Sea Serpent is a bit lighter and a bit greener than Cyberspace, but could definitely be used in a similar application.
Should I paint a Sea Serpent accent wall?
Accent walls are one of the best uses for dark paint colors like Sea Serpent. I love the idea of using a Sea Serpent accent wall in an office, library or even dining room. In a room with lots of warm light, its blue-green undertones would look really beautiful.
DESIGNER TIP: Make sure that you test the color in the room. If you don’t have enough light, it will look black. We affectionately call this when a color “blacks out” do to insufficient light to help it come to life.
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 rooms with low light unless you have LOTS of natural light or artificial lighting. For exteriors it’s pretty versatile, but as always you should always test your paint color.
What is the easiest way to test Sea Serpent?
You should always sample and test your paint colors. The easiest way to sample SW Cheviot (and any paint color for that matter) is via SAMPLIZE.
Their peel-and-stick paint samples are easy to use and true to color.
There is no mess, and the cost is less expensive than purchasing a sample and a white poster board. Since you don’t need to dispose of the paint, it’s also environmentally friendly!
With SAMPLIZE, 9X14″ Pre-Painted peel-and-stick paint samples you can easily see how different shades look on your unique wall.
Check out the SAMPLIZE website.
Comparisons with Other Dark Blue Paint Colors
Naval vs. Sea Serpent
Sea Serpent is more muted than SW 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 it’s 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 a lot of time going back and forth with the paint company.
Learn about the pitfalls of matching paint colors in our post, Are Paint Color Matches Accurate?
Key Learning Points
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 most similar color is BM Hale Navy. Sea Serpent 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. Click this link to check out the SAMPLIZE website!
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. Read this post to see results from paint matching.
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Related Posts
The Best Blue Paint Colors for Exteriors
Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore Color Review
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6 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!
What color are the downspouts ever is beautiful
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!