Paint colors for your home, inside and out
Rustic style · colors from 6 paintings
Rustic bedroom colors come from woods, fields and fire: a warm cream wall, olive and forest greens, and a terracotta brown. These six define the Rustic style, and each was measured from a painting.
Quick answer
Use the cream #E5DEC4 on the walls, the olive #6B6D50 on the main furniture and the terracotta #8D512E for wood. Use #372C1F as the bold piece and #414639 for textiles.
A very dark brown with a warm yellow undertone and an LRV of 3, with no close commercial match. Use it for a bed frame or beams. It comes from Gustave Courbet's The Deer.
From The Deer, Gustave Courbet
A deep green with an LRV of 15, good for a headboard wall or a painted chest. It was measured from Charles-Edouard de Beaumont's In the Sun, and Sherwin-Williams SW 6180 Oakmoss is a very close match.
From In the Sun, Charles-Edouard de Beaumont
A deep brown with a warm red-orange undertone and an LRV of 12, close to a stained wood tone. It comes from Franz Xaver Winterhalter's Florinda, and Behr 240D-7 Chestnut Stallion is a very close match.
From Florinda, Franz Xaver Winterhalter
A very light color with a warm yellow undertone and an LRV of 73, the best wall color in this set. It was measured from Jonas Welch Holman's Woman with a Book, and Sherwin-Williams SW 6406 Ionic Ivory is a near-identical match.
From Woman with a Book, Jonas Welch Holman
A very dark green with an LRV of 6, suited to curtains, a throw or a door. It comes from Courbet's The Hidden Brook, and Sherwin-Williams SW 7749 Laurel Woods is a near-identical match.
From The Hidden Brook, Gustave Courbet
A mid-tone with a warm yellow undertone and an LRV of 35. It suits a rug, a bench or a second wall color. It was measured from Sheldon Peck's Phebe Russell Swain Welch, and Sherwin-Williams SW 7024 Functional Gray is a near-identical match.
From Phebe Russell Swain Welch, Sheldon Peck
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Lace Cream | ||||
| Barn Wood 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 The Deer.
Rustic rooms rely on warm, matte, natural colors. The cream #E5DEC4 at LRV 73 is the wall color, because it keeps the room light and lets the wood and textiles stand out.
The olive #6B6D50 and the forest green #414639 are the green options. Olive is lighter, at LRV 15, and suits a bed wall or painted furniture. The forest green at LRV 6 is closer to black and suits textiles or a door.
For warmth, the terracotta brown #8D512E acts like wood. The barn gray #A89F96 sits in the middle, which makes it handy for rugs and benches. A rustic bedroom needs only three or four of these at a time.
Trim in the same cream as the wall keeps the room soft and avoids a crisp, modern line. If you want it to stand out slightly, use a cream a step lighter.
Ceilings can be the cream, or you can leave beams in the dark oak brown #372C1F. A dark beam against a cream ceiling gives a typical rustic look.
For floors, wide-plank wood in a mid brown suits the palette. The suggested wood tone is #8B6B4A. A wool rug in the barn gray or the olive adds texture without bringing in a new color.
Metal hardware in black iron or aged brass goes well with the dark tones. Avoid bright whites and glossy finishes, which look out of place here.
Rustic colors depend on warm light. In a north-facing room, the cream looks a little duller and the olive can look gray. Under a south-facing window, the cream is bright and the greens look fresh.
At night, warm bulbs add yellow to the cream and deepen the terracotta. The dark greens and browns, #414639 and #372C1F, nearly merge, so use a lamp near them.
If the room has little daylight, keep the dark colors to the bed, a chair or curtains and put the cream on the walls. A room with LRV 3 or 6 on every wall is difficult to light, however much you like the colors.
Paint a large sample of the cream on the wall opposite the window and a sample of the olive on the wall behind the bed. Leave them for a few days.
Place wood, fabric and rug samples next to them. Rustic colors rely on the way they work with natural materials, and a wood stain can change how the walls look.
Check the colors at midday and at night. If the cream looks too yellow, move to a lighter or grayer neighbor. If the olive feels heavy, use it on a single wall. Remember that the paint matches here are the closest measured ones, so always compare real samples before buying large quantities.
Warm cream, olive, forest green and terracotta brown are typical. The set here includes #E5DEC4, #6B6D50, #414639 and #8D512E.
Yes, for textiles or a door. At LRV 6 the forest green #414639 is too dark for all walls in most rooms.
A warm cream such as #E5DEC4 sets off wood and keeps the room bright.
Matte or flat paint gives the soft, aged look that suits rustic style.
Yes. Use the cream on the walls and keep dark colors to small pieces.
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 Metropolitan Museum of Art, 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.
