Journal · By Anas · Updated August 13, 2026 · 6 min read
Sherwin-Williams Olive Grove (SW 7734): The Honest Review
Sherwin-Williams Olive Grove (SW 7734) is a warm, earthy olive green with a clear yellow lean and a published LRV of about 20 — which makes it a genuinely dark paint, far deeper on a wall than it looks on a screen or a one-inch chip. It's a beautiful, grounding color in the right room and a cave-maker in the wrong one. Here's the honest breakdown, and the free way to find out which yours is before you buy a can.
What color is Olive Grove, really?
It's the olive of the name taken seriously: a muted green built on warm, yellow-brown undertones rather than the grey or blue that cools most trendy greens. In bright daylight it reads as a soft, sun-warmed olive; in the evening under warm bulbs it deepens toward a khaki-bronze. That warm undertone is why it pairs so naturally with wood, linen, leather and brass — it comes from the same earthy family.
The LRV of 20 is the number to respect
LRV (Light Reflectance Value) runs 0–100, and Olive Grove's sits around 20 — meaning it bounces back only about a fifth of the light that hits it. Practically: it will visibly darken a room, it needs real lighting (two or three warm sources, not one ceiling bulb), and in a small or north-facing room it can tip from cozy to heavy. In a bright, south-facing room the sun wakes up its yellow side and it glows. This is the single fact most people learn after painting — the pinned photos are almost always big, sun-flooded rooms.
Where Olive Grove works best
- ·Living rooms and studies with good daylight, where its depth makes the room feel intentional and wrapped.
- ·A bedroom accent or headboard wall, with lighter, calmer walls around it — see our calming bedroom shades for partners.
- ·Cabinetry and islands — dark olive on kitchen cabinets against a creamy white wall is a classic that doesn't date.
- ·Rooms you use in the evening: with warm lamps and brass it turns genuinely atmospheric.
Colors that go with Olive Grove
- ·Creamy, warm whites on trim and ceiling — think Alabaster-family whites rather than stark bright white, which fights its warmth.
- ·Benjamin Moore Pale Oak (LRV 70) as the light wall partner — warm enough to agree, light enough to balance the 20.
- ·Warm neutrals like Agreeable Gray (LRV 60) in adjoining rooms, so the transition stays soft.
- ·Materials over colors: oak, walnut, rattan, aged brass, undyed linen. Olive Grove is happiest surrounded by things that came from nature.
Olive Grove vs Evergreen Fog: which green?
The two get shortlisted together constantly. The difference is temperature and depth: Evergreen Fog (SW 9130, LRV 30) is a grey-green — cooler, mistier, one step lighter. Olive Grove is warmer, yellower and darker. If your room is small or your light is cool and northern, Evergreen Fog is the safer deep green; if the room is bright and you want warmth with the depth, Olive Grove earns its pin.
Olive Grove vs Pewter Green vs Evergreen Fog: the three-way
These three are the greens people actually agonise between, and the published LRVs settle most of the argument before taste enters it. LRV runs 0 (black) to 100 (pure white); it is the single number that predicts whether a color will read rich or read like a cave in your particular room.
| Shade | Code | LRV | Reads as | Best light |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evergreen Fog | SW 9130 | 30 | Grey-green, misty, softest | Cool or northern rooms |
| Olive Grove | SW 7734 | 20 | Warm, yellow-leaning, deep | Bright rooms that can carry depth |
| Pewter Green | SW 6208 | 11.83 | Darkest, most dramatic | Strong light, or lean into the dark |
Read down the LRV column and the decision mostly makes itself. Evergreen Fog at 30 is the forgiving one. Olive Grove at 20 is the middle path and the warmest of the three. Pewter Green at 11.83 returns barely half the light Olive Grove does, which is why the rooms that flatter it are either flooded with daylight or deliberately moody — there is no accidental version of that shade.
Pewter Green got the same treatment: the real LRV, the undertone nobody warns you about, and where it fails.
Read the Pewter Green review →Want the wider shortlist first? Ten calming bedroom shades with their published LRVs, from pale to deep.
The calming bedroom colors guide →See Olive Grove on your own walls before you buy
A color this deep is exactly why previewing exists. Upload a photo of your room and repaint the walls in an olive like this one right in your browser — free, unlimited, and the photo never leaves your device. It won't replace a tester pot for the final call (screens never show paint exactly, this page included), but it will tell you in ten seconds whether your room has the light to carry an LRV of 20 — before you've spent anything.
Repaint your own walls in deep olive — free, in your browser, no sign-up.
Try it on my walls →Or see the whole room done: upload one photo and get your real room redesigned around a color like this — furniture kept, plan included.
Redesign my room free →Honesty footer: the LRV above is Sherwin-Williams' published value, rounded, and every hex or screen preview is an approximation. Shortlist on screen, then buy the tester pot and look at it morning and night. Deep colors deserve the extra day.
Quick answers
What is the LRV of Sherwin-Williams Olive Grove?
About 20 (published as 20.21). That makes Olive Grove a genuinely dark paint — it reflects roughly a fifth of the light that hits it, so it needs a bright room or layered warm lighting to stay cozy rather than heavy.
What are Olive Grove's undertones?
Warm and yellow-leaning. Olive Grove is an earthy olive built on yellow-brown undertones, which makes it warmer than grey-greens like Evergreen Fog and a natural partner for wood, brass and linen.
Is Olive Grove too dark for a bedroom?
As all four walls in a small or north-facing bedroom, usually yes — at LRV 20 it will make the room noticeably darker. It works better as an accent or headboard wall with lighter calm shades around it, or in a bright room with layered warm lamps.
What white trim goes with Olive Grove?
A creamy, warm white rather than a stark bright white — Alabaster-family whites agree with Olive Grove's warm undertone, while cool blue-whites fight it and make the green look muddy.
How can I see Olive Grove on my own walls before buying?
Upload a photo of your room to a browser visualizer like RoomCalm's free paint color visualizer and repaint the walls in a deep olive — it shows in seconds whether your room's light can carry an LRV-20 color. Then confirm your finalist with a real tester pot in morning and evening light.