Simply Sage
The mid-tone sage Behr files as gray, reviewed honestly: the cabinets where it looks custom, the light that turns it stone, and what to pick instead.
Jessica has spec'd whites and neutrals for more than 300 rooms and keeps a sample wall of painted drawdowns in her studio. Every color review is checked against real reader rooms in the comments and re-tested when a formula changes. About the testing process →
- 1Sage Green22
- 2Evergreen Fog30
- 3Simply Sage38
- 4Saybrook Sage45
- 5Soft Fern57
The Fast Verdict
Simply Sage is a mid-tone sage with the green already grayed out of it — warm, dusty, and quiet enough that Behr files PPU10-16 in the gray family, not the green one. At LRV 38 it has cabinet and accent-wall weight without ever going mint. South light and 2700K lamps pull a faint yellow-herb; north light and cool LEDs leave a stone-gray wall that does not match the name. Buy it for satin cabinets, one committed wall, or a daylit bedroom. Do not buy it hoping for Clary Sage.
Kitchen cabinets and vanities · bedrooms and one accent wall · daylit living rooms that want sage without mint · anyone already in the Behr aisle who wants mid-tone herb with gray in it
You actually wanted a leafy sage · the room faces north and stays dim · your bulbs are 4000K LEDs you will not change · your floors are cool gray LVP · you need a famous Sherwin-Williams name for resale talk
- LRV 38 — deep enough for cabinets and one accent wall without going mint or cave
- Grayed so it behaves like a colored neutral next to oak, walnut, and brass
- Home Depot stocks the same code as wall paint and cabinet enamel
- Warm yellow undertone meets honey-to-walnut wood halfway
- South and west light make it look dusty and expensive, not pastel
- Not a real sage — buyers expecting green see gray by the second wall
- North light and cool LEDs drain the herb and leave stone-gray
- Cool gray floors and icy trim whites make the yellow look dirty
- Almost no famous-room track record — you are sampling without a crowd
What Color Is Simply Sage, Really?
A muted sage-gray with a warm yellow lean and almost no chroma. The hex sits at 167-168-151 — green only a notch above red, blue clearly lower — which is why it reads as a warm stone that hints at herb rather than as a green that happens to be muted. Saturation is about 9 percent. That is the whole personality. On a chip it often looks like a warm gray; on four walls the sage side shows, but only if the light is kind. Behr itself files PPU10-16 in the gray family, and that filing is more honest than the name. It is not mint, not spa-blue, not the yellow-olive of Secret Meadow, not the leafy herb of Clary Sage. Home Depot already sells the same code as a satin and semi-gloss cabinet, door, and trim enamel, which tells you how the store thinks of it: a furniture color, not a theme. It is not a Color of the Year and it has no famous room attached to it.
At LRV 38 it sits in the useful middle of the sage shelf. Clary Sage (SW 6178, LRV 41) is a hair lighter and actually green. Evergreen Fog (SW 9130, LRV 30) is a full step deeper and the cabinet sage most people should sample first. Bitter Sage (N390-4, LRV 34) is the Behr that looks like green, not gray. Whitened Sage (PPU10-12, LRV 74) is the paler sibling on the same PPU10 strip and mostly forgets to be green. Simply Sage is the mid-tone on that strip: deep enough that cabinet doors read as painted furniture and one accent wall holds its color in daylight, light enough that a bedroom still breathes. Plan for four walls to read a half-step deeper and slightly more gray than the 3-inch card. Every low-chroma sage does this, and it is the number-one surprise in rooms that looked perfect in the aisle.
Undertone in one line: warm yellow-gray first, sage second — never mint, never blue, never khaki-olive. If the sample looks quietly herbal, that is south or west light doing its job. If it looks like plain stone or greige, the room is north, dim, or running on cool LEDs. If it looks obviously green, you are standing it next to a true gray or a beige. All three versions are the same gallon being honest about the room.
Where It Shines
This color is built for surfaces that should feel like furniture, and for one wall that should feel like a decision. On kitchen cabinets, a vanity, or a headboard wall, LRV 38 reads custom without asking the room to go dark — especially with a warm white, oak or walnut, and unlacquered brass. Give it south or west daylight and the gray steps back so a dusty herb shows; give it 2700K lamps at night and the yellow keeps it from going institutional. A full daylit bedroom is the other honest home: four walls at this depth stay restful instead of cave-like, as long as the window is real.
Where It Fails
Almost every unhappy story about Simply Sage follows one of three scripts, and all three are visible on a sample board before you open a gallon. None of them are a coverage problem. If your room matches one, this is not your sage, and a third coat will not fix it.
On the chip the name does the selling. On four walls the gray is what you get. Behr files it as gray for a reason: chroma is so low that next to Clary Sage, Bitter Sage, or the herbal Pinterest save you actually wanted, Simply Sage retreats to a warm stone and can look unfinished. If the room should read green from the doorway, this saturation is too low. Step to Clary Sage (LRV 41) or Bitter Sage (LRV 34) — those actually look like green — and keep this one for cabinets and for people who wanted a sage-gray.
Cool, flat daylight strips the yellow that keeps the herb alive. At LRV 38 there is not enough bounce to rescue a windowless hall or a north bedroom you wanted to feel garden-soft, so four walls settle into a stony gray that readers of every cousin in this family call drab or just greige. You did not get a sage room; you got a darker version of the gray you were trying to leave. Warm 2700K bulbs help after dark; they will not rewrite the daylight. In that light go greener and a touch lighter with Clary Sage, or pick a greige and stop asking a gray-sage to work without sun.
4000K LEDs and leftover kitchen fluorescents kill the yellow and leave a flat institutional gray — the sage in the name is gone by dinner. Cool gray LVP, gray-washed wood, and a stark blue-white trim do the same from the other direction: they push the warm yellow into relief so the wall looks dirty next to the cool neighbor. Swap every bulb to 2700K–3000K before you blame the paint. If the cool floor is staying, this is the wrong gray-green.
Room by Room
This is the job the depth was mixed for, and Home Depot already sells PPU10-16 as a satin and semi-gloss cabinet, door, and trim enamel. Satin on the boxes or an island, a light perimeter in Alabaster or White Dove, oak or walnut floors, brass or bronze pulls. At LRV 38 the doors read as painted furniture without the cave of Pewter Green (SW 6208, LRV 12) or the fame-tax of Evergreen Fog. Full uppers and lowers in a small, dark kitchen is the version that closes in — keep the perimeter light unless the room is large and south-facing. 2700K under-cabinet strips are part of the spec.
One headboard wall is the low-risk version of the name: enough color to feel considered, gray enough not to theme the room. Four walls work in a south or west bedroom with cream bedding and warm lamps. Matte or eggshell. A north bedroom on cool overheads is the miss — the walls go stone-gray and the sage you paid for never shows. If you love the chip but the light is average, keep three walls in White Dove and let one wall carry the gray-sage.
A south living room with oak, a worn sofa, and White Dove trim can wear it as a whole-room sage-gray without the farmhouse weight of a deeper green. It behaves like a colored neutral, which is why Pinterest saves it as a whole-house green even though Behr will not file it that way. A north living room will look like someone mixed greige with a rumor of olive. Eggshell walls; do not run it whole-house if half the rooms face north.
Small rooms take mid-tone gray-sage well, and you can control the bulbs. Satin on a vanity under a warm stone top, or all four powder-room walls in eggshell with brass and a cream towel. It looks custom without betting the house. Cool gray tile is still a no — it will flatten the yellow and leave you with a stone box.
Enough color to look intentional on a video call without bouncing a strange cast onto your face. Eggshell, White Dove trim, one walnut or Iron Ore shelf. An interior office on cool overheads is the stone-gray version — swap the bulbs before you swap the paint. East light will read cooler at 8am; sample that hour if that is the only window.
Behr tints PPU10-16 into exterior and masonry bases, and the warm gray-sage can sit well on a body next to stone, brick, or wood. Full sun pulls a little more herb; the shaded north side will read a step grayer and more stone. It is not a headline exterior color. Sample the sunny side and the shade before you commit a facade, and keep trim in a separate warm white — a stark bright casing will make the body look dingy from the street.
Your Light Is the Risk
Warm daylight lifts the yellow-herb so the gray-sage actually reads as sage. This is the exposure the color was mixed for — cabinets, accent walls, and bedrooms that face the sun.
Cool gray daylight kills the yellow and the wall goes stone. Fine if you half-wanted greige; disappointing if you bought it for sage.
East morning is the cooler, grayer read. West afternoon and golden hour pull the herb forward and the wall looks a half-step greener for an hour. Sample both hours on the same wall.
2700K–3000K bulbs wake the yellow and the sage comes back after dark. 4000K and cool white LEDs flatten it to plain gray — swap the bulbs, not the paint.
Most complaints about Simply Sage are a light mismatch. Upload a photo of your actual room and see it on your walls — then ask for the same wall in north light or evening lamps before you buy a single sample.
Need It From Another Brand?
Any paint counter can custom-tint Behr PPU10-16 directly. If you would rather stay in one brand's own deck, these are the closest stock matches, measured as ΔE2000. Under 2 is a difference you will not see on the wall.
| Brand | Closest color | ΔE | LRV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherwin-Williams | Frosted FernSW 9648 · Sherwin-Williams | 0.5 | 38 | Color page → |
| Benjamin Moore | Jockey Hollow GrayHC-108 · Benjamin Moore | 3.5 | 39 | Color page → |
| Valspar | Afternoon NapT679 · Valspar | 2.0 | 39.5 | Color page → |
| PPG / Glidden | Wandering WillowPPG1031-3 · PPG / Glidden | 0.5 | 38 | Color page → |
| Glidden | Wandering WillowPPG1031-3 · Glidden | 0.5 | 38 | Color page → |
| Dutch Boy | Greywood423-3DB · Dutch Boy | 2.5 | 38 | Color page → |
Similar Behr Colors
The nearest shades to Simply Sage within Behr's own range, ranked by perceptual color distance — useful when you want the same look a touch lighter, darker, or warmer.
WCAG 2.1: AA is 4.5 : 1 for normal text, 3 : 1 for large text, AAA is 7 : 1.
Simply Sage vs the Colors You're Also Considering
Every Simply Sage sample board has the same rivals on it. The numbers show the real lightness gap — then it comes down to which risk you would rather live with.
Pick this when you want the grayer, quieter Home Depot version at almost the same depth, and you are already in that aisle.
Sherwin-Williams SW 6178 · LRV 41Clary SagePick this if you want a genuinely easy herbal sage — a hair lighter, clearly green, the one lighting weakness is worth it when green is the point.
Pick this when you want the same gray-sage idea a bit lighter, and you are tinting at Home Depot.
Sherwin-Williams SW 9130 · LRV 30Evergreen FogPick this for the best cabinet sage in the SW deck — a full step deeper, famous, and the one most people should sample first.
Within Behr the differences are fine. Historical Gray N370-4A, #A7A699 at LRV 38, is a touch grayer. Sage Wisdom MQ6-27, #ACA995 at LRV 39, is warmer and lighter. Garden Promenade HDC-AC-18, #A5AA9D at LRV 39, shows more green, and Woodland Sage HDC-NT-01, #A5A495 at LRV 37, is the darkest and most grounded.
Across brands, PPG Wandering Willow PPG1031-3 at LRV 38 measures 0.48 away and Sherwin-Williams Frosted Fern SW 9648 at LRV 38 measures 0.53, so both are the same color for practical purposes. Rodda Buried Fossil R057 at 0.88 is equally close. C2 Bramble C2-957 at 1.41 and Kompozit Silverado Ranch 0421 at 1.66 are visually identical in normal room light.
Valspar Afternoon Nap T679 at LRV 39.5 and 2.02, and Dutch Boy Greywood 423-3DB at 2.5, are very close but worth sampling. Benjamin Moore Jockey Hollow Gray HC-108 at LRV 39 and 3.54 is close but visibly different side by side, reading warmer and more taupe.
Simply Sage Coordinating Colors
The rule for coordinating with Simply Sage: warm whites, deeper gray-sages, and one near-black — and keep icy whites and cool gray floors at arm's length. It wants a soft edge, not a gallery one. These are the partners that keep showing up in rooms that work:
The PPU10 Strip, and Why Behr Files This Sage as Gray
Simply Sage sits on Behr's PPU10 strip with Whitened Sage (PPU10-12, LRV 74) as the pale sibling that mostly forgets to be green. The store sells PPU10-16 as wall paint, as a cabinet-door-trim enamel, and in exterior and masonry bases — one code, three jobs. That is the whole public file. It is not a Color of the Year. It is not Evergreen Fog. Designer roundups almost never name it. The closest honest description on the open web is a muted sage with a gray-green base, low chroma, and medium depth, and Behr's own product page files it under gray, not green.
That filing is the review. People reach for it because the chip looks like a calm sage under Home Depot lights, then discover four walls are a warm stone. Jungle Camouflage (N350-4, LRV 38) is the same-depth Behr that actually reads as a livable sage, stuck with a worse name. Valspar Sprig of Sage (8004-28D, LRV 36) is the Lowe's-shelf cousin. If you need a hundred owner photos before you commit, you are in the wrong aisle — sample Evergreen Fog. If you are already at Home Depot and the gray-sage is the point, paint a poster board, move it from the sunny wall to the north one at 8am and 6pm, and believe the wall, not the name.
Simply Sage With Wood Tones and Floors
This decision gets made at the floor, and the yellow undertone is the advantage. Honey oak, red oak, walnut, butcher block, and rattan all sit comfortably against Simply Sage because the warmth meets theirs halfway — unlike a cool mint sage, this one does not shove builder oak toward orange. Pale white oak and a clear finish are easy. Cream carpet is fine.
The honest no is cool gray. Gray LVP, gray-washed wood, and blue-gray porcelain pull the yellow into relief so the wall looks slightly dirty, the way a warm greige does next to a cool floor. It is not always a dealbreaker — a large rug and 2700K lamps fix it in most rooms — but test a big sample above the actual floor before painting the whole kitchen.
Metals are the easy part: unlacquered brass, antique bronze, and matte black all work. Polished chrome is the one that leans cold against the yellow-gray and can make the cabinets look tired. Save the chrome for a cooler green.
Three Ready Palettes Built on Simply Sage
A color is never alone on the wall. These are complete combinations in the 60-30-10 pattern, with the reason each one holds together. Every one opens in the visualizer.
Alabaster keeps the perimeter a superb cabinet white so Simply Sage on the boxes reads furniture, not a themed kitchen. Evergreen Fog on the island is a full step deeper in the same gray-sage family — two depths, one mood, brass hardware. Skip this scheme over cool gray LVP.
Try this palette in your roomWhite Dove is the safest warm white against this yellow-gray sage — a stark bright trim would make the walls look dusty. Muted Sage on one piece of furniture is the same gray-leaning family a step deeper, so the bedroom layers instead of theming. Warm 2700K lamps are part of the paint job.
Try this palette in your roomAccessible Beige is the safest warm neutral, and it shares Simply Sage's yellow-warm lean, so a sage-gray dining room or office off a greige main floor reads like the same house getting quieter, not a color change. White Dove trim ties both back together.
Try this palette in your roomSimply Sage FAQ
Is Simply Sage green or gray?
Gray first, sage second. Behr files PPU10-16 in the gray family, and on four walls that is what you get: a warm stone with a dusty herb lean. In south light the sage shows; in north light or under cool LEDs it is just gray. If you want a color that stays herbal from the doorway, this chroma is too low — look at Clary Sage or Bitter Sage.
What trim white goes with Simply Sage?
A warm, slightly grayed white. White Dove is the default; Alabaster if you want the Sherwin-Williams version of the same calm. Polar Bear is the Home Depot same-aisle option and it behaves. A stark blue-based white makes an LRV 38 wall look dingy. Behr Swiss Coffee is the miss in the other direction — it is the warmest of the safe off-whites, and stacked on this already-yellow sage it shows. Semi-gloss on the trim, eggshell on the walls.
Is it good for kitchen cabinets?
Yes — that is its best use. Home Depot already sells the code as a satin and semi-gloss cabinet, door, and trim enamel. It works on lowers, an island, or a full perimeter in a daylit kitchen with Alabaster or White Dove walls. A whole kitchen of Simply Sage cabinets over cool gray floors is a color fight. Satin urethane-fortified enamel either way.
Does Simply Sage work with oak floors?
Warm wood is the easy pairing. Honey oak, walnut, and pale white oak all meet the yellow undertone halfway, which is why this gray-sage is kinder to builder oak than a cool mint like Frosted Sage. The honest no is cool gray LVP and gray-washed wood: they push the yellow into relief and the wall looks dirty. Sample a big board over the actual floor.
How does it compare to Evergreen Fog and Clary Sage?
Clary Sage (SW 6178, LRV 41) is the genuinely easy herbal sage — a hair lighter, clearly green. Evergreen Fog (SW 9130, LRV 30) is a full step deeper and the cabinet sage with a decade of owner photos. Simply Sage sits between them in depth and below both in chroma. It is the Home Depot gray-sage, not the famous one. If resale talk matters, sample Evergreen Fog first.
Can I use it on an accent wall?
Yes — LRV 38 is deep enough that one wall holds its color in daylight without turning minty, which is exactly the known job for this chip. Matte or eggshell on the headboard wall, White Dove on the other three. In a north room the accent will still go stone-gray; if green is the point of the wall, pick Bitter Sage instead.
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