Sherwin Williams Cotton SW 9581

Contents

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Cotton for living room (1 photo)
What are Sherwin Williams Cotton undertones?
Is Cotton SW 9581 cool or warm?
How light temperature affects on Cotton
Monochromatic color scheme
Complementary color scheme
Color comparison and matching
LRV of Cotton SW 9581
Color codes
Color equivalents

Official page:	Cotton SW 9581
Code:	SW 9581
Name:	Cotton
Brand:	Sherwin Williams
Collections:	Emerald Designer Edition - Warm + Welcoming

What color is Sherwin Williams Cotton?

Sherwin Williams Cotton SW 9581 is a very light off-white with a soft, warm cast that keeps it from reading stark or icy. Its low saturation gives walls a gentle cream-beige tint, especially alongside bright white trim or cool gray finishes. In daylight, Cotton can appear close to a clean, lightly warmed white; under incandescent or warm LED lighting, its subtle yellow-beige undertone becomes more noticeable. It suits living rooms, bedrooms, hallways, and open-plan spaces where a pale backdrop is wanted without the sharpness of pure white. Pair it with natural oak, linen upholstery, honed stone, muted sage, or charcoal accents for contrast.

Cotton for living room

Check out this stunning light color used in real living rooms. Explore how this grey shade can create a unique space

Sherwin Williams Cotton living room interior

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What are Sherwin Williams Cotton undertones?

Cotton SW 9581 reads as a very light, softly muted white with a faint yellow-leaning cast in the supplied digital sample. That subtle bias can make it look a little warmer than a stark, blue-leaning white, though it remains close to neutral overall. Sherwin-Williams lists Cotton in its White color family but does not describe a specific undertone on the provided official page. Warm artificial light may bring out its slight creamy warmth, while cool daylight can make it appear cleaner and more neutral.

Manufacturer information used in this description: official color page.

HEX value:

#EEEBE1

RGB code:

238, 235, 225

Is Sherwin Williams Cotton cool or warm?

warm

cool

With a hue of 46°, this Grey reads warm on the HSL color wheel.

SW 9581 Cotton HSL code: 46, 28%, 91%

Hue - degree on a color wheel from 0 to 360. 0 is red, 120 is green, and 240 is blue.
Saturation is expressed as a percentage. At 0%, it appears as a shade of grey, and at 100%, it is in full color.
Lightness is also a percentage value. 0% is black, and 100% is white.

How light temperature affects Cotton

Natural Lighting. During the day, natural light shifts from about 2000 K at sunrise/sunset to 5500–6500 K at noon.

Sunrise

Morning

Noon

Afternoon

Sunset

In addition, natural-light temperature depends on its direction:

Direction of sunlight	Visible temp.	Hue	Duration
North	Cool	Bluish	All day
East	Warm	Yellow	Before noon
West	Warm	Orange-red	After noon
South	Warm	Orange-yellow	All day

Artificial Lighting. When choosing bulbs, pay attention to their color temperature in Kelvins.
Use the slider to see how this Grey shade looks under different lighting:

4000K

2000K

3000K

4000K

5000K

6000K

7000K

Coordinating colors.
Colors that go with Sherwin Williams Cotton:

Monochromatic color scheme

This scheme consists of various shades, tints, and tones of a single color. While it offers a perfect combination of hues, without accent décor it may become monotonous.

Lighter shades

SW 9581
Cotton

Darker shades

SW 9581
Cotton

Complementary color scheme

This color scheme is a combination of two shades that are opposite each other on the color wheel. The high contrast between these colors creates a vibrant and dynamic visual effect. For the color Cotton with a orange hue, complementary colors are those with a blue hue close to 226, such as Sherwin Williams Sea Mariner and Starry Night.

SW 9581
Cotton

Compare
Sherwin Williams
Cotton SW 9581
to any other colors

Sherwin Williams
Cotton SW 9581
color equivalents

LRV of Cotton

Cotton has an LRV of 83.14% and refers to White colors that reflect almost all light. Why LRV is important?

Light Reflectance Value scale illustration

Light Reflectance Value measures the amount of visible and usable light that reflects from a painted surface.
Simply put, the higher the LRV of a paint color, the brighter the room you will get.
The scale goes from 0% (absolute black, absorbing all light) to 100% (pure white, reflecting all light).

Act like a pro: When choosing paint with an LRV of 83.14%, pay attention to your bulbs' brightness. Light brightness is measured in lumens. The lower the paint's LRV, the higher lumen level you need. Every square foot of room needs at least 40 lumens. That means for a 200 ft² living room you'll need about 8000 lumens of light – e.g., eight 1000 lm bulbs.

Color codes

We have collected almost every possible color code you could ever need.
Not sure what the difference between HEX and RGB is? We break down color models in plain language. Understanding color models

Format	Code
HEX	#eeebe1
RGB Decimal	238, 235, 225
RGB Percent	93.33%, 92.16%, 88.24%
HSV	Hue: 46° Saturation: 5.46% Value: 93.33%
HSL	hsl(46, 28, 91)
CMYK	Cyan: 0.0 Magenta: 1.26 Yellow: 5.46 Key: 6.67
YIQ	Y: 234.757 I: 5.001 Q: -2.477
XYZ	X: 78.556 Y: 83.03 Z: 83.102
CIE Lab	L:93.028 a:-0.72 b:5.205
CIE Luv	L:93.028 u:2.274 v:8.019
Decimal	15657953
Hunter Lab	91.121, -5.576, 9.713