Is Sherwin Williams Silver Strand right for your home?

A beautiful blend of cool tones, this cooler gray hue is a stunning choice for walls. A true camelion, Sherwin Williams Silver Strand changes hue depending on lighting, your overall decor and time of day.

If you want to use Silver Strand in your next project make sure you read my full review first, as Silver Strand is not so silver after all!

What are the undertones of Silver Strand?

Silver Strand is a beautiful color, but it is rather complicated because of its blue-green undertones. Technically a gray paint color, sometimes it looks anything but.

We painted Silver Strand in my daughter’s room and I can honestly say with the lighting in her room, I almost never see strictly gray. I typically see a gray blue and sometimes in the afternoons I’ll see a gray blue green color.

Is Sherwin Williams Silver Strand warm or cool?

Silver Strand is a cool paint color, thanks to those blue/green undertones.

Deciding if Silver Strand is right for you

My three best tips for picking out the right color for your space:

Observe your undertones

The key to getting paint color right is to make sure the undertones of your paint color coordinate with your home’s fixed elements and furnishings.

For example, if you want to put Silver Strand in your bathroom, you shouldn’t just choose it because you like the color. You should choose the color because of how it coordinates with the blue and green undertones.

Take a look at this countertop:

This countertop has absolutely no cooler tones and has a warm golden cream tone to it. Pairing this countertop with a gray that has blue undertones is not going to yield a pretty end result. This type of countertop would look better with a cream or a darker off-white.

Now, look at this countertop:

This countertop is on the cool side and has blue gray undertones. This type of countertop would pair beautifully with any gray that has blue undertones, and Silver Strand would look lovely paired together.

All this to say, it’s so important to take inventory of your room and notice what you’re working with first before you make the paint color decision.

If Silver Strand is the color you want, make sure your major elements have cooler blue undertones.

Pay close attention to your lighting

I always recommend you test out your paint color to see how it reacts to your light, but with these chameleon paint colors like Silver Strand you really have to pay attention. Silver Strand is definitely not a color you should paint in your home if you’ve only seen it online or in someone else’s home, you have to see how it reacts in your lighting.

Grab a sample of Silver Strand and look at how it reacts in your space. I’ve seen Silver Strand come off as more of green gray before, and in my daughter’s room it comes off as a blue gray. During the late afternoon it tends look like more of a blue-green-gray. Make sure you’re okay with how the color reads in your space depending on the natural and artificial light in your home.

Test it out

I recommend testing out paint colors in one of two ways–either purchase those peel and stick samples of paint and place them in front of a white poster board or paint large squares of paint on a pure white poster board (leaving a white boarder).

See how I’ve tested the color above? Ideally that’s how you’d test a wall color. I also don’t test out colors in isolation, either. Silver Strand will look like just a gray by itself, but place it next to Sea Salt, Wickham Gray and/or Gray Owl, and you’ll easily see the color for what it is.

What colors go well with Silver Strand?

Anytime paint colors have multiple undertones, they’re a bit easier to work with in terms of color pairings. Here’s some of my favorite color combinations:

Benjamin Moore White Dove–This creamy off-white is my first choice for a trim color that pairs beautifully with Silver Strand.

Sherwin Williams First Star–A really pale gray with blue undertones that would perfectly complement the blue undertones in Silver Strand,

Benjamin Moore Boothbay Gray–A pretty gray with blue undertones, Boothbay Gray is significantly darker than Silver Strand and would work well as part of a whole home color scheme that incorporates Silver Strand.

Naval –A beautiful sultry navy blue hue that provides a pretty pop of color, especially when paired with Silver Strand.

Silver Strand vs. Sea Salt

Sea Salt is a classic paint color that’s been popular for years and looks very similar to Silver Strand, but as you can see below, Sea Salt is a blue green paint color, not a blue green gray paint color. I’d choose Sea Salt over Silver Strand when you want something a bit brighter and a bit less neutral.

Silver Strand vs. Wickham Gray

Wickham Gray is very much like Silver Strand–it’s a gray paint color that has those blue/green undertones to it, but it’s significantly lighter than Silver Strand. If you like the direction of Silver Strand but think it reads too dark for your space, try Wickham Gray.

Silver Strand vs. Gray Owl

Gray Owl is a classic gray paint color that has blue undertones and very, very subtle green undertones too. If Silver Strand reads a little too blue/green, try Benjamin Moore Gray Owl.

What trim color pairs well with Silver Strand?

Silver Strand works with a few different trim colors, but I personally like it best with White Dove. White Dove is quite versatile, as it’s a soft white but it’s got a gray undertone in it, which makes it work well with cooler colors like Silver Strand. You could also try pairing Silver Strand with a crisp white like Chantilly Lace. If you’re interested, here’s my full White Dove paint color review.