Garden Gate is one of those colors that might look less than appetizing on paper, but to the discerning eye, this earthy green is a sumptuous showstopper!
Part brown, part green, and part something in between, this shade requires thoughtful pairing and a firm resolve! Let’s see this color in real homes, talk about undertones, get coordinating color ideas, and finally: See some dupes!
What Color is Sherwin Williams Garden Gate?
Garden Gate is a dark earthy green that ranges in appearance from deep olive to smoky sage. It can also look quite brown forward with a green undertone. We will get to real life examples in just a minute!
The LRV of Garden Gate is 10, which is right where truly dark paint colors start:
What Are the Undertones of Sherwin Williams Garden Gate?
Garden Gate most often appears as a deep green with warm earthy undertones. Sometimes it can flip, and look more brown than green, in which case the green appears as an undertone.
Garden Gate in the Sherwin Williams Color Strip
Garden Gate is the darkest shade on a color strip that is full of really great colors!
The other colors on this strip are:
- Ancient Marble
- Grassland
- Svelte Sage
- At Ease Soldier
- Connected Gray
- Eclipse
These colors are all super stylish, and I featured a lot of similar shades in my trend predictions for 2026. I also used Grassland in my coordinating color palette for Sherwin Williams Anonymous.
Garden Gate in a Color Palette
Here are the coordinating colors that I came up with for Garden Gate:
Coordinating White Paint Color for Garden Gate
I opted not to use a true white in this color palette, because I think Garden Gate needs the kid-glove “subtle white” treatment. For this reason, I went with the off-white of Sherwin Williams Natural Choice.
This shade is very neutral, and it can appear like a true white if you use it like one (aka with no other white!). You might also like Benjamin Moore Seapearl.
For something closer to a true white, try old reliable: Sherwin Williams Alabaster.
Neutral Paint Color to Use with Garden Gate
Choosing a neutral beyond off-white was a little tricky for this color. I think the lightest colors on the same strip would be safe bets, like Ancient Marble or Grassland:
For this color palette I went a tiny bit deeper and chose Svelte Sage.
This one is definitely more green than beige/neutral, so you may prefer one of the lighter shades, or a more traditional neutral, like Sherwin Williams Shiitake.
Try Garden Gate with Terracotta or Clay
I really wanted to bring at least some color into this palette, but Garden Gate is a bit temperamental when it comes to other color families. I ended up going the clay route, because a warm terracotta is a nice complement to Garden Gate, and it brings a pop of color while still being neutral.
For a bolder choice, try Garden Gate with Sherwin Williams Wheat Penny:
For something that is closer to a neutral, try Sherwin Williams Utaupeia.
This crassly named color is a clay version of taupe. You could also call it a rosy brown. This color looks quite specific on the swatch, but it’s a very useable almost teddy bear brown.
Alternative Coordinating Color for Garden Gate: Cyberspace
If clay and terracotta are absolutely not your jam, Garden Gate could also work with a smoked out navy blue. I would try something like Sherwin Williams Cyberspace, which does look quite nice beside Garden Gate:
Other blues might work, but I think it’s a try-it-and-see situation. I didn’t find a lighter one that I liked for this palette.
Bear in mind that the cooler you go with coordinating colors, the more likely Garden Gate is to look olivey or brown.
I accidentally offered so many alternatives to my original coordinating colors, that it created a whole secondary palette for Garden Gate!
Having options never hurts!
Sherwin Williams Garden Gate for Your Home’s Interior
Garden Gate might actually be the least popular shade on its color strip. I have examples of the lighter shades in the collection, as well as some similar colors, to help you visualize this one.
Garden Gate on Kitchen Cabinets
This kitchen is At Ease Soldier, which is actually a few shades lighter than Garden Gate, but I found pictures where it looks quite dark.
The team at @spacedesignokc used this moody green-brown in a galley kitchen.
For reference, At Ease Soldier typically looks like this:
Here is one more picture where this color looks uncharacteristically dark, and more like Garden Gate:
I forgot to point it out, but in the first photo from this kitchen, you can see how the color looks very brown, and in this last one, it looks more green.
Sherwin Williams Garden Gate on Walls and More
Here is another example of Garden Gate using a slightly lighter shade, this time it is Sherwin Williams Connected Gray:
Lucky for us, Gina from @bayberrymoon has used a few colors that are very close to Sherwin Williams Garden Gate! This first one is Benjamin Moore Country Life, which is just a little lighter:
Gina used Country Life on this dresser, but I edited the color a tiny bit so that it matches Garden Gate exactly:
On this dresser you can see the cooler sage look to Garden Gate. Here is one more look, but I haven’t edited it. (It was also a lighter photo to begin with.)
Garden Gate for Your Home’s Exterior
Garden Gate is a bit less predictable outside. I have only seen it on one house, so we will have to do our best!
This is Urbane Bronze where it looks a little bit more green:
This is actually pretty close to the cooler outdoor look of Garden Gate, but I would expect it to look a little lighter on a sunny day like this.
Now let’s see a warmer look:
I believe that this was a custom color, but it is quite close to Garden Gate. In the sun it’s a little hard to see the color for what it is, but if you look in the shady spots, you can see that it’s pretty close.
Dupes for Sherwin Williams Garden Gate from Other Brands
Not sure about Sherwin? Here are the best color matches for Garden Gate from Benjamin Moore, Behr, and Valspar:
Benjamin Moore Version of Garden Gate
The best Garden Gate color from Benjamin Moore, is the color Aegean Olive:
Aegean Olive is just a bit more gray than Garden Gate. This is the closest match overall, but I do think that Country Life is also a great option, if you are open to a slightly lighter color.
Garden Gate Valspar Equivalent
From Valspar (Lowe’s) the best alternative to Garden Gate is Olive Smudge.
Olive Smudge is a little darker than Garden Gate, but otherwise it is almost identical.
Best Behr Match for Garden Gate
I wasn’t able to find quite as close of a match at Home Depot as I would like, but I finally settled on Behr Fig Tree.
Fig Tree is a bit more boldly olive than Garden Gate (meaning it isn’t quite as brown). It is also a hair lighter.
Other options you could consider from Behr are Mountain Olive (more gray) or Kilimanjaro (more brown), but Fig Tree is the closest on paper.
Here is another look at each of these dupes:
Thank you so much for reading until the end! That really helps my blog. I hope this post helped you decide if Garden Gate is the right shade to harvest for your home!
Not the one? Here are more colors you are sure to love:
