Soot vs Retreat
Where Soot belongs to Benjamin Moore's range, Retreat is a Sherwin-Williams color. Hue-wise, Soot belongs to the blue-grey family and Retreat to the grey family. Retreat (LRV 21) reflects noticeably more light than Soot (LRV 6), a difference of 15 points that becomes especially apparent in rooms with limited natural light. Soot runs blue while Retreat is decidedly neutral, which means they'll respond very differently to warm vs cool light sources. With a ΔE of 29.2, 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 8 real-room photo comparisons where both colors appear side by side, plus 5 simulated room previews.
Soot vs Retreat in Real Spaces
8 real rooms side by side. Seeing Soot and Retreat 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 Retreat will make the room feel meaningfully brighter than Soot would.
Bedroom
The context that matters most in a bedroom is how a color reads under a bedside lamp at night, not under noon daylight. Retreat reflects noticeably more light off the walls, making the space read more open than Soot.
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. Retreat returns significantly more light to the room — in a smaller or darker space, that difference in perceived brightness is hard to miss.
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. Retreat reflects noticeably more light off the walls, making the space read more open than Soot.
Home Office
The test for a home office color isn't how it looks in a quick glance — it's whether it still feels right after a full day of work. Retreat reflects noticeably more light off the walls, making the space read more open than Soot.
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. Retreat reflects noticeably more light off the walls, making the space read more open than Soot.
Front Door
A front door is a focal point — small color differences read clearly at this concentrated scale. The LRV gap is large enough that Retreat will make the room feel meaningfully brighter than Soot would.
Color Details
Soot vs Retreat Simulated Comparison
5 simulated room previews — drag the slider on each to see Soot on one side and Retreat 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 Soot comparisons
See how Soot stacks up against other well-photographed colors across different brands and tones.
