Backwater vs Before the Storm
Where Backwater belongs to Cloverdale Paint's range, Before the Storm is a Sherwin-Williams color. Backwater reads as blue-grey, while Before the Storm reads as grey — two distinct hue families, not close cousins. They have nearly identical light reflectance values (18 vs 18), so they'll read as similarly Dark in most lighting conditions. At ΔE 3.0, these are close — the kind of difference that matters when choosing between them, but doesn't read strongly in a finished room. Below you'll find 2 real-room photo comparisons where both colors appear side by side, plus 5 simulated room previews.
Backwater vs Before the Storm in Real Spaces
2 real rooms side by side. Backwater and Before the Storm 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. The two are close enough that the choice comes down to finer qualities — undertone, texture, what the color sits next to.
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. At this scale the difference is subtle — you'd need them side by side, as shown here, to reliably tell them apart.
Color Details
Backwater vs Before the Storm Simulated Comparison
5 simulated room previews — drag the slider on each to see Backwater on one side and Before the Storm 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 Backwater comparisons
See how Backwater stacks up against other well-photographed colors across different brands and tones.
