Paint colors for your home, inside and out
Modern style · colors from 5 paintings
Modern bedrooms work best with a light wall color, one mid-tone and a few deep accents. This palette gives you six colors measured from paintings, each with its LRV, undertone and closest paint matches. Use it to build a two-color or three-color scheme for walls, furniture and textiles.
Quick answer
Use Pale Frost Green (LRV 76) on the walls, Warm Putty Gray on the main furniture and Deep Slate Teal as the one bold piece. Keep Deep Bronze Brown for textiles.
Use it on all four bedroom walls. At LRV 76 it bounces light, and its green undertone keeps it cool and clean. Measured from "Icebound" by John Henry Twachtman, c. 1889.
From Icebound, John Henry Twachtman
A good alternative wall color when you want a warmer light shade. Its LRV of 67 still reflects light, and the pink-red undertone softens the room. Measured from "Houses of Parliament, London" by Claude Monet, 1900-1.
From Houses of Parliament, London, Claude Monet
Use it on a dresser, a bed frame or a feature wall. At LRV 36 it adds weight without making the room dark, and its warm yellow undertone sits well with wood. Measured from "Mount Washington" by Winslow Homer, 1869.
From Mount Washington, Winslow Homer
Keep it for small touches such as a picture frame, a lamp base or a metal detail. At LRV 1 it absorbs nearly all light, so a whole wall would shrink the room. Measured from "Landscape" by Théodore Rousseau, c. 1835.
From Landscape, Théodore Rousseau
A good choice for curtains, a throw or a rug. At LRV 9 it is very deep, and its warm yellow undertone sits well with wood tones. Measured from "Mount Washington" by Winslow Homer, 1869.
From Mount Washington, Winslow Homer
Use it for a bold piece such as a headboard wall or an accent chair. At LRV 16 it reads very dark, and its cool blue undertone contrasts with warm wood. Measured from "Standing Bather, Seen from the Back" by Paul Cezanne, 1879-82.
From Standing Bather, Seen from the Back, Paul Cezanne
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 Frost Green | ||||
| Soft Pink Haze | ||||
| Warm Putty Gray |
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 Icebound.
Start with the walls. The two lightest colors, Pale Frost Green (LRV 76) and Soft Pink Haze (LRV 67), both sit above the 60 mark, so they reflect light and make a bedroom feel open. Frost Green leans green and reads cool and clean. Soft Pink Haze leans pink-red and warms the room.
Then pick one supporting color for furniture or a feature wall. Warm Putty Gray (LRV 36) is a mid-tone, so it adds weight without darkening the room. Deep Slate Teal (LRV 16) suits a bold piece such as a headboard or a single wall behind the bed.
For a two-color modern scheme, pair a light wall with one deep color and stop there. Frost Green with Deep Slate Teal is a good start. Keep the near-black and the deep bronze for small areas like textiles, a lamp base or a frame. At LRV 1 and 9, they take in almost all the light that reaches them.
Trim and ceiling come first. With Pale Frost Green walls, a ceiling in the same color keeps the room calm, or you can go one step lighter for a little lift. Trim in the wall color gives a soft, modern look with fewer lines. If you want trim to show, keep it lighter than the wall rather than darker.
Wood and flooring come next. The suggested wood tone, #8B6B4A, is a warm mid-brown. It suits a bed frame or nightstands beside Warm Putty Gray and Deep Bronze Brown, because all three share a warm yellow undertone. Against cool Deep Slate Teal, the warm wood gives a clear contrast.
For floors, a light floor keeps the room as bright as the light walls promise. A darker floor adds weight and looks best with the lightest wall color, where the contrast is greatest. Use the deep bronze for curtains, a throw or a rug, and the near-black only in small touches such as a picture frame or lamp.
Light changes every color on this page, so look at your room first. In a room with weak daylight, a color with LRV 76 or 67 helps bounce what light there is. A mid-tone like Warm Putty Gray (LRV 36) will look darker and more muted there.
Cool light brings out the green in Pale Frost Green and the blue in Deep Slate Teal. Warm light brings out the yellow in Warm Putty Gray, Deep Bronze Brown and the near-black. The pink-red undertone in Soft Pink Haze shows more in warm light.
Lamps matter too, since most people use a bedroom in the evening. Warm bulbs push every color here a little toward yellow. Check your bulbs before you judge a wall color.
Very dark colors, below about 20 LRV, take in most of the light that hits them. On a wall they make a room feel smaller and cozier. Use them on one wall, ideally the one behind the bed, and keep the others light.
Never choose from a screen alone. The hex values here are measured from paintings, and the paint matches are the closest measured, not a promise of an exact result. Sherwin-Williams SW 6182 Ethereal White, Behr HDC-NT-24 Glacier Valley and Farrow & Ball No. 252 Pavilion Blue are all near-identical to the pale green. For the deep bronze, Sherwin-Williams SW 2846 Roycroft Bronze Green, Behr N210-6 Swiss Brown and Valspar 6009-3 Montana Moss are near-identical.
Paint a sample board about two feet square, or use a large peel-and-stick sample, and move it around the room. Check it on the wall beside the window and on the wall opposite, in morning, afternoon and evening. Look at it next to your bedding, wood and floor.
The near-black has no close commercial match. Choose the nearest very dark color you can find and test it the same way, or keep it for small objects instead.
For walls, Pale Frost Green (LRV 76) and Soft Pink Haze (LRV 67) are the lightest options here. Add Warm Putty Gray for furniture and Deep Slate Teal for one bold piece.
Pair Pale Frost Green walls with Deep Slate Teal on a headboard wall or accent chair. The light green reflects light and the deep teal gives a clear contrast.
Pale Frost Green and Warm Putty Gray keep a larger room quiet and balanced. Add Deep Bronze Brown in curtains or bedding for depth without painting a dark wall.
They are not tied to a year. Each color was measured from a painting, and the light-wall, mid-tone and deep-accent approach works in any year.
Yes, in small amounts. Colors below about LRV 20, such as Deep Slate Teal (16) and Deep Bronze Brown (9), work on one wall or in textiles while the other walls stay light.
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, 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.
