Thermal vs Passageway
Thermal (Behr) and Passageway (Valspar) come from different manufacturers. These are both blue-greys, so the question isn't which hue to choose — it's where within blue-grey to land. The 7-point LRV gap — 14 for Passageway vs 7 for Thermal — means Passageway will open up a space more effectively. A ΔE of 13.0 puts these firmly in different territory — two distinct design choices rather than close alternatives. Below you'll find 2 real-room photo comparisons where both colors appear side by side, plus 5 simulated room previews.
Thermal vs Passageway in Real Spaces
2 real rooms side by side. Seeing Thermal and Passageway in actual rooms makes the difference concrete; browse the spaces below to get a feel for how each color lives on a wall.
Living Room
A living room wall sees more varied light than almost any other surface in the house, which makes the choice between these two more nuanced than a chip suggests. Passageway reads slightly lighter here — a subtle but real difference in how open the space feels.
Bedroom
Bedrooms are typically lit with warmer, lower light than the rest of the house — a condition that flatters warm tones and deepens cool ones. Passageway has the edge in reflectance, which shows as a quiet sense of added space rather than an obvious contrast.
Color Details
Thermal vs Passageway Simulated Comparison
5 simulated room previews — drag the slider on each to see Thermal on one side and Passageway on the other.
Digital color is approximate. These simulations are generated from the manufacturer's hex values and overlaid on grayscale room photos — your screen's calibration, brightness, and viewing angle all affect how they render. Before committing to either color, test physical samples in your own space under the light you actually live with.
More Thermal comparisons
See how Thermal stacks up against other well-photographed colors across different brands and tones.
