Blue Nova vs Steam

Both from Benjamin Moore's palette. Hue-wise, Blue Nova belongs to the blue family and Steam to the beige-greige family. Steam (LRV 84) reflects noticeably more light than Blue Nova (LRV 17), a difference of 67 points that becomes especially apparent in rooms with limited natural light. Blue Nova runs cool while Steam is decidedly yellow, which means they'll respond very differently to warm vs cool light sources. With a ΔE of 55.4, the contrast is hard to miss. These aren't variations on a theme — they're two different answers to the same question. Below, 5 simulated room previews show how each color reads at scale — real-room photos will be added as they become available.