Icy
Often used for its versatile and reflective qualities, Icy remains a staple for Sherwin-Williams designers. It is widely considered one of the best colors in its class to provide a clean, timeless feel that works across various lighting conditions. We've gathered 10 real-home scenarios to help you visualize this color alongside our expert data.
Hex
#BBC7D2
LRV
56.17
Icy's Color Strip
Icy is the second shade on this 7-color strip, sitting between Mild Blue and Solitude. The strip spans from Mild Blue at the lightest end to Dignified at the deepest. Browsing strip 186 alongside this color helps you gauge whether to go lighter, darker, or stay right here.
Icy in Real Rooms
Icy has a high LRV of 56.17 — it reflects a lot of light and will read pale and airy in most spaces. It's neutral in temperature and , making it adaptable across different lighting conditions and room orientations. Grouped in the Purple family, the photos below show it applied in a dining room, bedroom, front door, home office, living room, patio, house, mudroom, kitchen and bathroom.
1 Dining Room Photo
Pairing Icy with a white ceiling and high white wainscoting creates a classic, high-contrast look that is perfect for a traditional dining space. It brings a sense of architectural rhythm and formality that is hard to achieve with lighter tones.
Icy paint in a mid century dining room
@mybudgetrecipes
1 Bedroom Photo
Icy has a unique ability to make a bedroom feel larger yet more intimate at the same time. By softening the "edges" of the room, the walls seem to move back, while the warmth of the tone makes the bed feel like a safe, protected island in the center of the space.
A moody bedroom painted in Icy
@mybudgetrecipes
1 Front Door Photo
The front door is a great place to experiment with higher sheen levels. Icy in a high-gloss finish creates a mirror-like surface that looks incredibly expensive and traditional, echoing the grand entryways of London or New York.
modern luxury front door featuring Icy by Sherwin-Williams
@mybudgetrecipes
1 Home Office Photo
The transition from "home life" to "work life" can be signaled by the color of the room. Entering a space painted in Icy provides a mental shift, telling your brain that it's time to settle in and be productive.
Sherwin-Williams Icy in a moody home office
@mybudgetrecipes
1 Living Room Photo
There is a specific "glow" that Icy takes on during the golden hour in a living room. As the sun sets, the pigments react with the low-angled light to create a hazy, ethereal atmosphere that feels incredibly high-end. It's a color that rewards those who use the room during the transition of the day.
A minimalist living room painted in Icy
@mybudgetrecipes
1 Patio Photo
Icy on a patio or porch provides a sense of "enclosure" even in an open space. It defines the boundaries of the outdoor room, making it feel more private, secure, and ready for relaxation.
rustic modern patio featuring Icy by Sherwin-Williams
@mybudgetrecipes
1 House Photo
On the exterior, Icy holds up across all lighting conditions — crisp in full sun, rich and dimensional on overcast days. It pairs especially well with white trim, black window frames, and natural stone, giving the home a timeless, curated presence.
Icy color — coastal house inspiration
@mybudgetrecipes
1 Mudroom Photo
Icy handles the visual noise of a high-traffic entry point with ease. Coats, shoes, bags — the color grounds all of it without making the chaos worse. It's also incredibly forgiving of the scuffs and marks that come with daily use.
Icy paint in a small mudroom
@mybudgetrecipes
1 Kitchen Photo
The challenge with kitchen color is longevity: it needs to look right at 7am under bright task lights and at dinner with the pendants dimmed low. Icy manages to bridge all three lighting scenarios with ease, which is a rarer quality in a paint pigment than it sounds.
Icy — organic modern kitchen
@mybudgetrecipes
1 Bathroom Photo
Icy is the perfect "clean" color for a bathroom that still wants to feel cozy. It lacks the clinical coldness of a pure white but retains a sense of hygiene and order that is essential for a space dedicated to self-care and grooming.
Icy — earthy bathroom
@mybudgetrecipes
Coordinating Colors
Rarified Air reflects far more light (LRV 78 vs 56), opening up a space where Icy encloses it.
At LRV 73 vs 56, Modest White is decisively the brighter choice.
Icy reflects far more light (LRV 56 vs 37), opening up a space where Trusty Tan encloses it.
Trim Color
Rarified Air reflects far more light (LRV 78 vs 56), opening up a space where Icy encloses it.
Similar Colors
Their light reflectance is nearly identical (LRV 57 vs 56), so neither reads brighter in a room.
Their light reflectance is nearly identical (LRV 56 vs 55), so neither reads brighter in a room.
A 3-point LRV gap (59 vs 56) makes Wondrous Blue the marginally brighter of the two.
With LRVs of 56 and 56, the two reflect almost the same amount of light.
A 8-point LRV gap (56 vs 48) makes Icy the marginally brighter of the two.
Bewitching Blue reads slightly lighter (LRV 61 vs 56), a gap that shows most in low-lit rooms.
Complementary Colors
At LRV 56 vs 35, Icy is decisively the brighter choice.
At LRV 81 vs 56, Heavenly White is decisively the brighter choice.
Original White reflects far more light (LRV 74 vs 56), opening up a space where Icy encloses it.
Icy reflects far more light (LRV 56 vs 20), opening up a space where Warm Stone encloses it.
Lighter Colors
Darker Colors
A 8-point LRV gap (56 vs 48) makes Icy the marginally brighter of the two.
At LRV 56 vs 29, Icy is decisively the brighter choice.
At LRV 56 vs 35, Icy is decisively the brighter choice.