Lamp Black vs Searching Blue
Where Lamp Black belongs to Little Greene's range, Searching Blue is a Sherwin-Williams color. Lamp Black reads as grey, while Searching Blue reads as blue — two distinct hue families, not close cousins. Searching Blue (LRV 21) reflects noticeably more light than Lamp Black (LRV 3), a difference of 18 points that becomes especially apparent in rooms with limited natural light. Lamp Black runs purple while Searching Blue is decidedly cool, which means they'll respond very differently to warm vs cool light sources. With a ΔE of 37.7, 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 3 real-room photo comparisons where both colors appear side by side, plus 5 simulated room previews.
Lamp Black vs Searching Blue in Real Spaces
3 real rooms side by side. Seeing Lamp Black and Searching Blue in actual rooms makes the difference concrete; browse the spaces below to get a feel for how each color lives on a wall.
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. Searching Blue 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. Searching Blue reflects noticeably more light off the walls, making the space read more open than Lamp Black.
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 Searching Blue will make the room feel meaningfully brighter than Lamp Black would.
Color Details
Lamp Black vs Searching Blue Simulated Comparison
5 simulated room previews — drag the slider on each to see Lamp Black on one side and Searching Blue 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 Lamp Black comparisons
See how Lamp Black stacks up against other well-photographed colors across different brands and tones.
