Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron: The Best Muted Black Paint Color
If you are looking for a paint color with some drama and boldness, Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron may be the best color for you.
It’s a muted black with grey and blue undertones that soften it up so it is not a harsh black. It is lighter than a true black, therefore it is more flexible and can be used in a wide variety of spaces. From cabinets to exteriors and window trim, Wrought Iron is a popular paint color and it’s easy to see why.
image via Architectural Digest
Over the last few years, we’ve seen an increase in the use of darker, bold paint colors in homes. While beautiful white paint colors are still all the rage (click here to see the top 5 white paint colors), adding drama with dark painted cabinetry or black painted windows and doors has become quite the trend. These darker paint colors add depth and style to a space and I’m loving the moodiness of how it elevates a room adding a bit of charm and character.
Let’s take a closer look at Wrought Iron and see why it’s become a favorite.
Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron
As with any paint color review, LRV is a very important consideration when deciding on a paint color for your home. It tells you how dark the color is and how much light it reflects. The higher the LRV number, the lighter the paint color. For example, a white paint color would be in the 50s or higher. Therefore, Wrought Iron is on the lower end of the spectrum being such a dark color.
Wrought Iron LRV is 6.16.
It’s very dark and almost all light is absorbed. We want to be careful where such a dark is used so it doesn’t swallow a room and fall flat rather than beautiful.
If you’ve read several other of my paint color reviews, then you know just how big of a role light plays in how a paint color looks. A paint color swatch can look entirely different on your walls depending on how many windows you have (or maybe none at all), what direction the sun is facing, and time of day.
A single paint color can look different every hour of the day based on the sun. Of course rooms without any windows or natural light also greatly impacts how a paint color reads.
In this case, Wrought Iron comes to life when it gets a little natural light to bring out its best self. You can really see the depth and interest in Wrought Iron and just how pretty of color it is with a little light. It highlights the richness and grey and blue undertones. Without light, it will look nearly black.
Normally, you’d think painting all the kitchen cabinets dark would make the room feel small and closed off. But here, the cabinets look beautiful combined with light walls and ample natural light streaming in from the windows. The cabinets don’t look harsh or black at all. Instead, they are a gorgeous charcoal blue and it really pops.
The best way to know for sure how a color will look in your home is by swatching it on your walls and looking at it different times of the day. I do this for every paint color before committing! You can never be too sure and I’d rather test it than buy a few gallons and realize I don’t love it. Just buy a quart of the color for about $5 and test it on the wall with at least two coats.
Wrought Iron is also a great option for front doors, especially on light colored homes where it really stands out. Such a classic look!
What is the Sherwin Williams Equivalent to Wrought Iron?
If you’re a Sherwin Williams loyalist, there are a couple paint colors that are close to Wrought Iron BM.
A very very close, almost identical match to Wrought Iron is Iron Ore by Sherwin Williams. Its LRV is 6.15 which is .01 off from Wrought Iron. Iron Ore leans a TINY bit more black than Wrought Iron, but it’s a close equivalent.
I did a whole paint review on Sherwin Williams Iron Ore where I go in more detail, but you can see below how Iron Ore looks and it’s definitely a similar look. I used Iron Ore on our fireplace in our home and in spaces that get quite a bit of natural light, you will notice the same hint of grey blue undertones that are evident in Wrought Iron.
I hope this paint color review on Wrought Iron by Benjamin Moore was helpful and that it gives you a better idea of how it looks and when it looks best!
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TOP RECOMMENDED PAINT SUPPLIES
Paint Brushes – The BEST paint brushes for the most accurate edging and they last forever if you clean them well.
Painter’s Tape – a must-have when painting trim and to tape off ceilings when doing walls. Even with a precise paint brush you need tape.
Drop Cloths – You’ll need this for sure when doing any painting. It’s better to have plenty than not enough and constantly moving them around.
Wire Brush for Cleaning – This wire brush is ESSENTIAL to get your brushes clean and remove all the dried paint on the outside bristles. Without this, your brushes will only last a few paint projects.
