Last Updated on January 15, 2025 by Vannessa Rhoades, Three Bears Home Staging
If you want a clean off-white paint color warmed up by crisp cream undertones, Sherwin-Williams Creamy 7012 may be exactly what you’re looking for. This gorgeous color is a beautiful way to warm up your walls without being too heavy or yellow. Let’s take a closer look at Creamy’s spectral data to see if it’s the right paint for your project.
Walls and ceiling are painted in Sherwin-Williams Creamy.
What is the LRV of Creamy?
Light Reflectance Value (LRV) is a measure of how much light a paint reflects back into a room, with 100% being highly reflective and zero being not reflective at all. SW Creamy has an LRV of 81%, putting it right in the off-white range. This means it will reflect quite a bit of light but won’t be as glaring or bright as a white with a higher LRV, such as Sherwin-Williams High Reflective White.
Walls, ceiling, and trim are painted Sherwin-Williams Creamy 7012.
What are the undertones of Sherwin-Williams Creamy? Does it look yellow? Is it pink?
Sherwin-Williams Creamy is a fairly neutral warm paint color but perhaps a bit more or less colorful than some other popular cream colors. In most cases, Creamy will look cream – not white, not yellow.
Hue family
To get a more objective read on this paint color, let’s examine Creamy’s spectral data. SW Creamy has a hue angle of 96.147°, putting it in the Yellow hue family as you can see in the image below.
Chroma
Chroma is another piece of spectral data we like to evaluate and is a measurement of how vivid or saturated a paint color is. With a chroma value of 7.5, Creamy has a decent amount of color saturation. This means that it has just enough yellow color pigment to give it some nice warmth, balanced with plenty of neutral white and black pigments to keep it from being a glaring yellow.
How Light Affects SW Creamy
In certain qualities of light, Creamy’s warmth will really stand out and may look a bit more yellowish. Like many off-white paint colors, Creamy is highly reflective and vulnerable to the surrounding lighting.
- Creamy will look more balanced in rooms with North-facing light or rooms that have dim lighting.
- Creamy’s warmth will be more noticeable and more intense in rooms that receive a lot of Southern light or afternoon Western light. Both are warmer and a bit yellower.
- Soft white bulbs (the most popular, easily available light bulb color) tend to be quite yellow as well and may amplify the yellow in Creamy. Using the right color light bulbs (3000 K to 3500 K) will give SW Creamy a much more balanced appearance.
- Kitchens that have cool-toned marble or quartz countertops, bright white subway tile, or white appliances may be too stark to pair well with Creamy.
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Ready to take a peek?
What trim color goes with Creamy SW 7012?
Sherwin-Williams Creamy looks great with a clean, soft white like Sherwin-Williams Pure White 7005.
The walls in this kitchen are painted Sherwin-Williams Creamy 7012. The trim and cabinetry are painted Sherwin Williams Pure White 7005 with a semi-gloss sheen.
Can I use Sherwin-Williams Creamy for cabinets and trim?
You certainly can! However, Creamy SW 7012 is not a color we specify very often for trim or cabinets in our color consultations. While Creamy looks fabulous on walls, it’s harder to work with when it comes to using it on trim and cabinets. This is because its higher chroma (i.e., its slightly stronger yellow tone) makes it tricker to pair up with other wall paint colors compared to other more versatile whites and off-whites. In short, it’s more limiting and less flexible as a cabinet or trim color.
These beautiful birch wood cabinets are painted in Sherwin Williams SW 7012 Creamy.
What other paint colors are equivalent or similar to Sherwin-Williams Creamy?
As a reminder, I don’t ever recommend color matching between different brands. This is especially true when it comes to any shade of white paint. You cannot color match between brands and expect to get identical results. You will see shifts in color and depth. If you’re looking for a color that has an equal or similar vibe to Sherwin-Williams Creamy in another brand, take a look at these options:
Walls are Sherwin-Williams Creamy 7012, paired with Sherwin-Williams Pure White 7005 on the trim.
Wondering how SW 7012 Creamy compares to a few other popular paint colors? Keep reading…
Sherwin-Williams Creamy vs Sherwin-Williams Dover White
Sherwin-Williams Creamy and Sherwin-Williams Dover White are quite similar. Both are soft, warm off-whites. Based on their spectral data, both reflect about the same amount of light (Dover White is ever so slightly lighter), and both are in the Yellow hue family. However, Dover White (chroma = 8.2) is a wee bit more colorful than Creamy (chroma = 7.5). This means that in a side-by-side comparison, Dover White will appear a bit yellower than Creamy.
Sherwin-Williams Cream vs Sherwin-Williams Alabaster
Like Dover White, Sherwin-Williams Alabaster 7008 is also quite similar to Creamy in terms of its lightness and hue family. Both are warm, gentle off-whites in the Yellow hue family. Again, however, the difference comes down to chroma, or color saturation. Alabaster has a chroma of 5.6 compared to Creamy’s chroma value of 7.5. This means that in a side-by-side comparison, Alabaster will appear considerably less yellow than Creamy.
Is Sherwin-Williams Creamy a good exterior paint color?
It can be, depending on the house. That said, the considerable dose of yellow in Creamy can rise up a lot more on an exterior wall, especially on the south or afternoon west-facing side of the house. If you’re looking for an off-white or a softer, warm white exterior color, there are other more predictable choices available (try Benjamin Moore Ballet White OC-9 or Sherwin-Williams Shoji White 7042). Again, this is why sampling swatches of the actual paint color in its intended space (on an exterior wall) and viewing it at different times of the day is so important.
Exterior brick has been painted in Sherwin-Williams Creamy 7012.
What other paint colors go with the Sherwin-Williams Creamy color palette?
We think this beautiful warm off-white looks fantastic with tans, beiges, and shades of green! Take a look at some of our favorite SW 7012 Creamy complimentary colors: Pairs wonderfully with other soft, warm hues, like Reynard SW 6348 and Studio Taupe SW 7549
Need Help Choosing a Color?
Need help finding the right paint color? Order a Virtual Color Consultation Report from the color professionals at Three Bears Home Staging to get a custom, curated palette and guidance for your next painting project.
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Vannessa Rhoades
Vannessa Rhoades is the author of Just Right! Easy DIY Home Staging and the founder of the award-winning firm, Three Bears Home Staging®. She specializes in providing positive, empowering virtual consultations that help homeowners and real estate agents all across the country sell more quickly and for more money.
