Steel Blue vs Salty Dog
Where Steel Blue belongs to Cloverdale Paint's range, Salty Dog is a Sherwin-Williams color. These are both blues, so the question isn't which hue to choose — it's where within blue to land. They have nearly identical light reflectance values (5 vs 5), so they'll read as similarly Dark in most lighting conditions. The ΔE 5.1 gap is real but not dramatic — close enough to use together, distinct enough to matter as a choice. Below you'll find 2 real-room photo comparisons where both colors appear side by side, plus 5 simulated room previews.
Steel Blue vs Salty Dog in Real Spaces
2 real rooms side by side. Steel Blue and Salty Dog 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.
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. At this scale, the choice between them becomes clear in a way that a swatch alone can't communicate.
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.
Color Details
Steel Blue vs Salty Dog Simulated Comparison
5 simulated room previews — drag the slider on each to see Steel Blue on one side and Salty Dog 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 Steel Blue comparisons
See how Steel Blue stacks up against other well-photographed colors across different brands and tones.
