Deep Royal vs French Gray
Where Deep Royal belongs to Benjamin Moore's range, French Gray is a Farrow & Ball color. Hue-wise, Deep Royal belongs to the blue family and French Gray to the beige-greige family. French Gray (LRV 43) reflects noticeably more light than Deep Royal (LRV 5), a difference of 38 points that becomes especially apparent in rooms with limited natural light. Deep Royal runs blue while French Gray is decidedly warm, which means they'll respond very differently to warm vs cool light sources. With a ΔE of 54.2, the contrast is hard to miss. These aren't variations on a theme — they're two different answers to the same question. Below you'll find 4 real-room photo comparisons where both colors appear side by side, plus 5 simulated room previews.
Deep Royal vs French Gray in Real Spaces
4 real rooms side by side. Seeing Deep Royal and French Gray 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
In a living room, color works across both daylight and evening light — the same wall can read very differently at noon and at 8pm. The LRV gap is large enough that French Gray will make the room feel meaningfully brighter than Deep Royal would.
Dining Room
A dining room lit by a dimmed pendant or candles is one of the most forgiving environments for paint — warm light softens almost everything. French Gray returns significantly more light to the room — in a smaller or darker space, that difference in perceived brightness is hard to miss.
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. French Gray reflects noticeably more light off the walls, making the space read more open than Deep Royal.
Kitchen Cabinets
Kitchen cabinets are constantly compared against adjacent materials, which means subtle differences between these two become much more visible. French Gray reflects noticeably more light off the walls, making the space read more open than Deep Royal.
Color Details
Deep Royal vs French Gray Simulated Comparison
5 simulated room previews — drag the slider on each to see Deep Royal on one side and French Gray 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 Deep Royal comparisons
See how Deep Royal stacks up against other well-photographed colors across different brands and tones.
