Sherwin Williams Thunderous is a great neutral color that works particularly well on cabinetry. Thunderous is a great choice for anyone who loves bold greens, but doesn’t want to commit to one on the wall.
One thing is for sure about Thunderous, if you choose to use it, you will constantly be answering the question on insta: “What is that paint color?”
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What Color is Sherwin Williams Thunderous SW 6201
What a great question. If only I could answer it!
(Well you know me, I’ll try.)
Sherwin Williams Thunderous is a dark color that looks like equal parts gray, green, and brown. It is probably best describes as a very dark greige, with a hunter green undertone.
On the color wheel, it is a yellow, right on the edge of green.
Funny enough, Sherwin Williams actually classifies Thunderous as a green, which was a real surprise.
LRV
The LRV of a color indicates on a scale of 0 – 100 how much light a color reflects (or doesn’t reflect). True black has an LRV of 0 and pure white has an LRV of 100.
In the paint world, we are working in a range of about 3 – 93 because no paint color is purely black or completely white.
The LRV of SW Thunderous is 15. I normally consider truly dark colors to have an LRV of 10 or less, but Thunderous does appear pretty dark.
Sherwin Williams Thunderous Undertone – Warm or Cool?
As I mentioned earlier, Thunderous has a greenish undertone.
Because Thunderous is so yellow (and trust me, it’s technically really yellow) it should be warm.
I think Thunderous is a real chameleon and has the qualities of a true neutral.
Thunderous is like taupe, it has a quality that can’t be described.
Is Sherwin Williams Thunderous Gray or Greige or Taupe
Ah, speaking of taupe!
Thunderous is too green to really be considered a taupe, but if you are searching for a taupe, you might like Thunderous!
Thunderous is definitely closer to a greige, it has far too much yellow and warmth in it to be considered a gray… but again, it definitely has a green tone.
Thunderous Complementary and Coordinating Colors
The technical complementary color for SW Thunderous, would be a deep blue-gray. I decided to choose Sherwin Williams Mineral Gray for this palette.
Of course most people are using Thunderous as their bold color, and they wouldn’t be looking to mix it with another dark shade like navy.
I kept the rest of the palette in soft coordinating tones:
Here are the colors that I used, from left to right:
Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace
Chantilly Lace is the perfect white-white. It is technically in the green family, so it does work exceptionally well with other greens, but it doesn’t have any noticeable color to it.
Sherwin Williams Pure White
Sherwin Williams Pure White is an uber popular white! It has a tiny bit of a warm tone to it, but it is still very light and bright. Compared to other whites it can look a touch gray, but again, that would be side by side, and in real life, it’s pretty darn white.
Sherwin Williams Sea Salt
Sea Salt is the ultimate soft green that you can use in your whole home as a neutral. It’s like “builder beige” except green and pretty. (Read my post about Sea Salt.)
It looks really nice with Thunderous, but it will also really show off the green tones, so make sure that is your goal before going this route!
Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay
I chose SW Oyster Bay for this palette because it’s a nice middle ground between Thunderous and Sea Salt. If you want a coordinating lighter green, you might really like Oyster Bay.
Some other greens can be hard with Thunderous, because they make it look more olivey or muddy. Oyster Bay has enough warmth to keep Thunderous looking fresh and neutral.
Sherwin Williams Thunderous
Of course, literally had to be in the palette.
Sherwin Williams Mineral Gray
As I mentioned, Mineral Gray is technically the type of color that complements Thunderous. I can see how they work well together, and would potentially look amazing on an exterior, or perhaps in a study.
For regular use though, that would be a pretty dark color scheme.
You could also consider a blue-white to coordinate with Thunderous, but I didn’t find one that I liked with it.
More Coordinating Colors for Thunderous:
I never do anything halfway. I actually wish I could once in a while, because these posts take a lot of blood, sweat, and tears!
What I’m trying to say is: Here’s another palette:
Here are the colors that I used, from left to right:
Sherwin Williams Eider White
Eider White is another really popular white from Sherwin Williams. It is a soft off-white that has a hint of super pale greige.
If you’re interested, I have reviewed what feels like a million and one whites, but many are covered in this one mega post about Snowbound.
Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray
I have covered both Agreeable Gray and Accessible Beige pretty thoroughly in this post: Accessible Beige vs Agreeable Gray.
I think either of these neutrals would work really well with Thunderous!
My preference would be Agreeable Gray, because I like Thunderous to look cooler, but Accessible Beige is probably the more on-trend choice.
Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige
Beige is back baby! In that post I just mentioned, I curated some great pics of both Agreeable Gray and Accessible Beige.
Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze
Urbane Bronze has an actual bronzey quality to it that I really like. It would be an amazing choice on an exterior with Thunderous!
Sherwin Williams Thunderous
Of course, the color, the myth, the legend.
Benjamin Moore Vintage Vogue
Vintage Vogue has some of the same chameleon-like qualities of Thunderous, but instead of ever looking gray, it tends to lean more warm. It looks quite green against Thunderous, but looks more neutral when it’s with other greens.
I would love to see someone use these two together. I think that could look really nice.
(It also might not contrast enough. Give it a shot and let me know?)
Benjamin Moore Thunderous Equivalent
Sharkskin 2139-30
I think it speaks to the uniqueness of Thunderous that I was not able to find a whole bunch of similar colors. I was able to find a solid choice from each competitor that would work well, but not 5 or 6.
Sharkskin by Benjamin Moore, is a little bit more green than Thunderous, and a little warmer (less gray). By a “little bit more green,” I truly mean a teeny tiny bit, because it is still totally a yellow.
You can see that Sharkskin looks slightly more olive-toned than Thunderous, but it would be even less pronounced if they weren’t side by side.
Valspar Thunderous Equivalent
Night Safari 6011-3
Valspar’s Night Safari is my favorite dupe of the bunch. It is a fair bit darker than Thunderous at 8.379, but you could totally buy that these were on the same color strip.
If you want a dupe and you don’t want to go this dark, you could ask for Night Safari at 25% lighter.
Behr Thunderous Equivalent
To be honest, I didn’t find a Behr color as close as I would like to Thunderous. The one I ended up choosing is Shadows.
Behr Shadows PPU25-03
Shadows has the same LRV as Thunderous, at 15. It also has some of the same difficult to pin down qualities as Thunderous.
Shadows is a super de-saturated green, so it’s more gray than green. Where it differs from Thunderous, is that it isn’t really yellow at all, and you can see that it is quite cool-toned comparatively.
Sherwin Williams Thunderous Cabinets
Ashley from @designingthedillons used Thunderous on her kitchen cabinets, and it looks amazing!
I don’t know for sure, but the color on her walls looks like Agreeable Gray.
You can see from the countertops that Thunderous looks great with both cream and gray.
I really can’t get enough of Ashley’s kitchen!
If you can’t get enough either, check out my Trend-Setting Green Kitchen Cabinet Ideas.
Sherwin Williams Thunderous Bathroom
Now let’s take a look at Thunderous in the bathroom.
In this smaller bathroom, Thunderous looks cozy and rustic.
In this super clean and modern bathroom, Thunderous provides a nice pop of color.
Did you notice in the kitchen and the bathrooms that Thunderous looks great with all different hardware colors?
Don’t Forget Your Supplies!
This little brush might look funny, but it’s my absolute ride or die!
Rollers like these hold the most paint and make the job faster. Get a metal roller cage for easy on and off.
DryDex is the fastest (and funnest!) way to make chips and dents disappear. (Make sure you get a small spackling tool that actually fits in the container, and a sanding sponge.)
This tool will save your back and limit time on a ladder.
Thunderous Final Thoughts
The best thing about Thunderous isn’t its versatility, its nod to green, or its general moodiness, it’s the fact that not everybody is using it!
If you’re looking for a unique color for your home that isn’t polarizing, Thunderous might just be the one!
I mean I love Urbane Bronze and Tricorn Black as much as the next girl, but I love having to ask what a color is, even more!
Not the one for you? That’s fine. I have way more colors for you to peruse!
More Colors
