Color spec
| Brand | Sherwin-Williams |
| Name | Upward |
| SKU | SW 6239 |
| Hex | #A1B1BF |
| RGB | 161, 177, 191 |
| HSL | 208°, 19%, 69% |
| LRV | 39 |
| Undertone | cool blue tone |
| Sheens | walls eggshell · trim semi-gloss · cabinets satin |
| Family | Blue |
Upward is the rare blue that acts like a neutral. The gray in it keeps the color quiet, so a whole bedroom or bathroom of it feels calm instead of themed, and at LRV 39 it has enough body to look intentional rather than washed out. The catch is the violet hiding under the blue: take away real daylight and Upward tips periwinkle, which is where almost every disappointed review comes from. Give it a window and a warm white trim and it is excellent.
What Color Is Upward, Really?
A dusty blue with a violet secret. Most people describe Upward as blue-gray and stop there, but the honest description adds a third thing: there is a small amount of red in the blue, which is why so many owners say the wall went periwinkle on them. In good daylight that violet is invisible and the wall just reads as a soft, slightly cloudy blue. In weak light the gray drops out first, the violet stays, and the same paint looks like a pale purple. Nothing is wrong with the can — that is the color's actual personality.
At LRV 39 it is a mid-tone, and that number surprises people who expect a Color of the Year to be pale. Put it next to Sea Salt SW 6204 at LRV 63 and Upward is clearly the darker one: it eats light instead of bouncing it, and a small room with one window will feel noticeably closed in. That weight is also the good news. It is why Upward holds up on a full run of cabinets and on all four walls without going flimsy the way a pastel blue does.
Undertone in one line: cool blue with a whisper of violet — never green, never teal. If your sample looks green, that is your floor or your countertop reflecting up, not the paint.
Where It Shines
Give it one decent window and Upward is genuinely hard to beat. Bedrooms are its home ground — the mid-tone depth makes the room feel settled at night without going dark — and bathrooms come second, where the soft blue reads clean and expensive against white porcelain. On cabinets it may be even better than on walls.
Where It Fails — the Honest Part
The bad reviews for Upward are remarkably consistent. Three situations produce almost all of them, and each one is easy to spot before you buy the gallon.
A room with no window. Interior powder rooms, basements and windowless hallways are where Upward turns periwinkle. Without daylight the gray in the mix stops reading and the violet takes over, especially under cheap LED. If the room has no window, use Stardew SW 9138 — same family, far more gray, no purple flip.
Brown-gold granite, travertine or orange oak. Cool blue and warm earth stone are opposites, and side by side each makes the other look worse: the wall goes cold and steely, the counter goes orange. If you are keeping the earthy stone, go to Sea Salt SW 6204 — the green in it meets those warm tones halfway.
Full-sun exterior siding. Outside, direct sun burns the gray out of Upward and the muted blue reads bright, almost baby blue, across a whole house. It also fades faster on south and west walls. For a full body color pick something deeper like Waterloo SW 9141, and save Upward for the shutters and the front door.
Room by Room
Bedroom — its best room
The mid-tone depth is exactly right here: quiet in the morning, cocooning under lamps at night. Eggshell on the walls, Snowbound SW 7004 on the trim in semi-gloss. Skip it if the only window faces north and you sleep with the blinds shut.
Bathroom — yes, with white fixtures
Against a white tub and white subway tile it reads clean rather than cold, and it hides water spots better than a pale blue. Warm brass or aged bronze fittings keep the chill off. Satin or a scrubbable matte.
Cabinets and vanities — very good
A full run of Upward on a vanity or laundry cabinets gives real depth without turning the room dark, and the muted blue does not scream trend the way a saturated navy or teal does. Use a satin urethane cabinet enamel and keep the walls light.
Kitchen island — yes, if the perimeter stays pale
Upward island under Alabaster SW 7008 perimeter cabinets is a very safe combination, and it flatters both brass and matte black hardware. Check it against your countertop first — warm brown granite is the one thing it argues with.
Home office — better than gray
At LRV 39 the walls do not glare back at a monitor, and the color is calm enough to sit in for eight hours. Add a warm lamp so the video-call light is not entirely blue.
Front door and shutters — a strong yes
On a white or pale gray house Upward reads coastal without being loud, and it is the safest exterior use of this color. Semi-gloss on the door. Full siding is a bigger risk — see the exterior section below.
The Scorecard
What it gets right
- +Blue that behaves like a neutral — calm, not themed
- +Enough weight at LRV 39 to carry a whole room or a full cabinet run
- +Reads clean and expensive next to white tile and porcelain
- +Works with brass, bronze and matte black hardware alike
- +Quiet enough that it will not look dated the way a saturated blue does
Where it struggles
- −Tips periwinkle in windowless rooms and under cool LED
- −Fights brown-gold granite, travertine and orange-toned oak
- −Darker than most people expect from the chip — small rooms feel smaller
- −Goes bright and washed out as a full-sun exterior body color
Light by Light
Most complaints about Upward 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.
TEST IT IN YOUR LIGHT →Upward vs the Colors You're Also Considering
Every Upward 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.
Most of the near neighbors are lighter. Dockside Blue SW 7601 at LRV 43, Respite SW 6514 at LRV 43, and Faded Flaxflower SW 9146 at LRV 44 all sit a few points above Upward's 39, so each gives back more light while holding a similar dusty blue. Stardew SW 9138 at LRV 43 is the grayest of the group and the one to pick if you want the blue barely there.
Across brands, C2 Paint Stockholm C2-750 at LRV 41 is an exact color match on the numbers. Glidden Peace PPG10-28 at LRV 43 and Behr Rainy Sidewalk HDC-CT-24 at LRV 42 are both visually identical in normal room light. Farrow & Ball Lulworth Blue No. 89 at LRV 45 is very close, so sample it first. Benjamin Moore Slate Blue 1648 at LRV 43 is close but visibly different side by side.
Need It From Another Brand?
Any paint counter can custom-tint Sherwin-Williams SW 6239 directly — but if you would rather stay in one brand's own deck, these are the closest stock matches:
Similar Sherwin-Williams colors
closest in the Sherwin-Williams deckThe nearest shades to Upward within Sherwin-Williams's own range, ranked by perceptual color distance — useful when you want the same look a touch lighter, darker, or warmer.
Upward Coordinating Colors
The rule with Upward is to bring the warmth from somewhere else. Left alone with cool whites and cool metals it goes chilly fast, so the partners that work best are soft warm whites, warm greiges, and muted greens that share its grayed base. Deep navy and black are the accent notes that keep it from floating away.
These are the colors that come up over and over with Upward, and the roles they actually play in a real scheme:
Upward on Cabinets and Vanities
This may be the best use of the color, and it is the one that gets the fewest complaints. On a bathroom vanity, a laundry run, or a kitchen island, Upward gives you a real color without committing the whole room, and at LRV 39 the cabinet boxes look grounded instead of pale and cheap. It also solves the periwinkle problem: cabinets sit lower in the room, catch bounced light from the floor, and are usually surrounded by white walls, all of which keep the blue reading blue.
Two practical notes. First, keep the perimeter light — Alabaster SW 7008 or Pure White SW 7005 uppers over an Upward island is the combination that photographs and lives well. Second, use a real cabinet enamel in satin, not wall paint in a higher sheen; a blue this grayed shows every roller mark and every fingerprint edge if the finish is wrong.
Upward Outside: Doors, Shutters, and Siding
Outside, sunlight does something to Upward that it does not do indoors: it burns off the gray. A color that looks like a sophisticated blue-gray on an interior wall can read as a plain light blue across a sunny facade, and on south and west elevations it will look brighter than the sample every single time. That is why the safest exterior use is small — a front door, a set of shutters, a porch ceiling — where the color is framed by white trim and read as an accent.
If you want a full body color in this direction, either accept the pale coastal-cottage look, which genuinely suits a shingled house near water, or go deeper with Waterloo SW 9141 and keep Upward for the door. Pair either one with Pure White SW 7005 trim and a black door for contrast, and check the north side of the house separately — the shaded elevation will read a full step darker and grayer than the sunny one.
Three Ready Palettes Built on Upward
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.
Snowbound is a soft white with just enough warmth to stop the walls reading cold, which a bright blue-white would not do. The navy door gives the scheme one deep note so the mid-tone blue looks chosen rather than washed.
TRY THIS PALETTE →Putting the blue on the 30 percent surface instead of the walls is the trick that keeps a small bathroom from feeling cold, and warm Greek Villa walls cancel the violet risk. Black on the door supplies the contrast that white tile alone cannot.
TRY THIS PALETTE →Accessible Beige next door is the warm anchor that keeps a whole floor of Upward from reading like a cold house. Evergreen Fog shares the same gray backbone, so the green accent looks related instead of decorated.
TRY THIS PALETTE →Accessibility (WCAG contrast)
WCAG 2.1: AA = 4.5:1 normal text · AA Large = 3:1 large text · AAA = 7:1 normal text.
The Questions Everyone Asks
Does Upward look purple?
It can, and this is the number one complaint. There is a small amount of red under the blue, so in weak light or under cool LED the wall drifts toward periwinkle. In a room with real daylight it stays blue. Test a large sample on the wall you are worried about and look at it at night with your actual bulbs on.
Is Upward too cold for a north-facing bedroom?
It is the risky combination. North light is already cool and Upward adds more cool on top, so the wall can read steely and the room feels unfriendly. If you love the color, commit to 2700K bulbs, wood floors, and warm bedding. Otherwise a grayer blue like Stardew SW 9138 takes the north light better.
Upward or Sleepy Blue for a bedroom?
Sleepy Blue SW 6225 is deeper and leans a touch green, so it feels more traditional and more clearly a blue room. Upward is lighter, dustier, and closer to a neutral, so it competes less with your furniture. For a modern, calm bedroom pick Upward; for a cozy classic blue bedroom pick Sleepy Blue.
Will Upward look dated in a few years?
Less than most Colors of the Year. Saturated trend blues age badly, but Upward is heavily grayed, and grayed blues have been in American homes for decades without ever looking of-the-moment. The one thing that can date it is the styling around it — full coastal-theme decor, not the paint.
What ceiling color goes with Upward walls?
A soft white in flat, not a bright builder white. Snowbound SW 7004 overhead keeps the top of the room quiet. If the room is tall and you want it to feel lower and cozier, painting the ceiling Upward too works well in bedrooms — just not in a room that is already dim.
How many coats does Upward need?
Two over an existing light color. Going over beige or a warm tan, use a gray-tinted primer first or the blue will look muddy and uneven for the first coat and you will be tempted into a third. On cabinets, prime, then two thin coats of a satin enamel.
Can I use Upward in a windowless powder room?
Not without accepting that it will read more violet than blue. If you are set on it, use 2700K bulbs with a high CRI and add warm brass fixtures and a wood vanity to pull it back toward blue. The safer choice for a no-window room is Stardew SW 9138.
Will It Work in YOUR Room?
No page can promise how Upward behaves in your light. Upload a photo and see it on your own walls in seconds — before you spend a cent on samples.
TRY UPWARD ON YOUR ROOM →
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