Paint colors for your home, inside and out
Blush pink · Bedroom · colors from 3 paintings
Blush pink bedroom paint ranges from a pale rose to a clay-toned coral. The three pinks here have an LRV between 37 and 57, light enough for walls but with enough depth to avoid looking sugary.
Quick answer
Use the pale rose (LRV 57) for all four walls, the salmon tone on a headboard or chair, and the blue (LRV 23) in curtains for contrast. Add the cream on trim.
A light pink with a pink-red undertone and an LRV of 57, close to Sherwin-Williams Fading Rose. It is the safest wall color of the three. Measured from Monet's Vétheuil.
From Vétheuil, Claude Monet
A light, warm red-orange pink at LRV 49, near-identical to Behr Iced Copper. Use it on walls in a room with cool light. Measured from Monet's Étretat: The Beach and the Falaise d'Amont.
From Étretat: The Beach and the Falaise d'Amont, Claude Monet
A mid-tone pink at LRV 37 with a warm red-orange undertone. It suits a feature wall or a bold headboard. Measured from Annibale Carracci's Two Children Teasing a Cat.
From Two Children Teasing a Cat, Annibale Carracci
A very light, warm neutral at LRV 74 that works for trim or the ceiling next to the pinks. Measured from Monet's Vétheuil.
From Vétheuil, Claude Monet
A deep warm brown at LRV 11 for wood furniture, a rug or a picture frame. It grounds the pinks. Measured from Carracci's Two Children Teasing a Cat.
From Two Children Teasing a Cat, Annibale Carracci
A mid-tone blue with a cool undertone and an LRV of 23. Use it for curtains or a chair to cool down the pinks. Measured from Monet's Étretat.
From Étretat: The Beach and the Falaise d'Amont, Claude Monet
The same paint reads differently in cool north light, warm south sun and under evening lamps. Find the column closest to your room.
| Color | Neutral daylight | North light | South light | Evening lamps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pale Rose | ||||
| Soft Salmon | ||||
| Dusty Coral | ||||
| Cream Sand |
Pick which color goes on the walls, the big furniture and the bold piece. Floors, shadows and trim follow your choice.
The framed picture on the wall is Vétheuil.
Start with the undertone. The pale rose (#DBBFC7) leans pink-red, which looks clean and slightly cool. The soft salmon (#D7B2A3) and the dusty coral (#D49381) lean warm red-orange, which looks more like dusty rose or clay.
If your bedroom has cool north light, the warm salmon is usually the better choice, because it adds warmth that the light does not supply. In a sunny south-facing room, the pale rose stays softer and does not turn orange.
LRV tells you how bright each one will feel. The pale rose at 57 reflects the most light. The coral at 37 looks deeper and more saturated, so it is better for a single wall behind the bed than for a whole small room. Whichever you choose, hold a large sample next to your bedding before you commit.
The paintings pair these pinks with a cream sand (#ECDEC8), a cocoa brown (#6E5A4B) and a dusty blue (#6E869D). Each plays a different role.
Use the cream sand for trim, the ceiling and bedding. It is light at LRV 74 and shares a warm base with the pinks, so the edges look soft instead of stark.
The cocoa brown is best on wood: a dresser, a bed frame or a bench. Its depth at LRV 11 makes pink look less sweet.
The dusty blue gives relief. A pair of curtains or a velvet chair in this color cools the room and stops the pink from taking over. On the floor, natural oak or a cream rug fits all of these shades. Avoid very bright whites, which can make a soft pink look washed out.
Pink is sensitive to light. In north-facing rooms the pale rose can look grayer and cooler, and the salmon looks more neutral. In south light, all three pinks glow and lean warmer.
In the evening, warm bulbs add orange to the pinks. The pale rose turns a little peachy, and the coral deepens to a soft terracotta. If you read in bed under a lamp, choose a bulb around 2700K so the walls keep a gentle color.
A matte finish suits blush walls because it avoids shine and shows the color evenly. Use satin or semi-gloss only on trim. The blue and brown in this palette look fairly stable across the day, which helps if you worry that the pink will shift too much around them.
Paint a large sample, about two feet square, in two places: one wall that gets direct light and one that stays in shade. Two coats are better than one, since pink can look streaky on a single coat.
Check it at three times: morning, afternoon and evening with the lamps on. Hold your sheets, rug and curtains beside it. Pink next to the wrong fabric can look much stronger than it did on the chip.
The closest paints measured are Sherwin-Williams Fading Rose for the pale rose, Smoky Salmon for the soft salmon, and Coral Island for the dusty coral. These are approximate matches, so compare real chips before buying. Leave the samples up for a couple of days. A pink you still like after two days is a safe bet for a bedroom.
The pale rose (#DBBFC7, LRV 57) is the lightest of the three and reflects the most light, so it keeps a small room open.
It depends on the undertone. The salmon and coral shades lean warm and earthy, and they read more like clay than candy.
The cream sand (#ECDEC8, LRV 74) is soft and warm. It gives clear edges without the sharp contrast of a bright white.
Pair it with deep brown wood and a dusty blue in the textiles. Those two colors give the pink some weight.
People use both terms for muted pinks. The shades here run from the lightest pale rose to the deeper dusty coral, so compare them side by side.
A card with every color on this page, its LRV and the paintings it comes from. Pin it, or take it to the paint store.
Painting images: The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain (CC0). Colors measured by Light & Pigment. Paint names belong to their brands and matches are approximate. Colors look different on screen than on a wall, so always test a sample.
