Cheating Heart vs Deep River
Both from Benjamin Moore's palette. Both sit in the grey family, which is useful context if you're narrowing within a single hue direction. They have nearly identical light reflectance values (9 vs 8), so they'll read as similarly Dark in most lighting conditions. Cheating Heart runs blue while Deep River is decidedly green, which means they'll respond very differently to warm vs cool light sources. The ΔE 3.8 gap is real but not dramatic — close enough to use together, distinct enough to matter as a choice. Below you'll find 3 real-room photo comparisons where both colors appear side by side, plus 5 simulated room previews.
Cheating Heart vs Deep River in Real Spaces
3 real rooms side by side. Cheating Heart and Deep River are close enough that the difference can be hard to judge from a chip alone — these photos show how each reads at scale, across different spaces and lighting conditions.
Living Room
In a living room, color works across both daylight and evening light — the same wall can read very differently at noon and at 8pm. Side by side like this, the difference is easy to read — which is exactly why seeing them in a real space is more useful than comparing chips.
Bathroom
Bathrooms are one of the few spaces where you're genuinely enclosed by the paint color, which makes the choice between these two more consequential. The distinction reads clearly at room scale, making the choice between them concrete.
House
Seen across an entire facade, subtle tonal differences become pronounced. What reads as nearly the same on a chip often reads as clearly different at scale. The distinction reads clearly at room scale, making the choice between them concrete.
Color Details
Cheating Heart vs Deep River Simulated Comparison
5 simulated room previews — drag the slider on each to see Cheating Heart on one side and Deep River 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.