Every taupe paint at Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore and Behr, in one list: the colors Benjamin Moore files as taupe, plus each brand's own "taupes". Pick the brand, warm or cool, and how light, and see the taupes that fit, lightest or darkest first, each with its LRV.
Taupes that fit
The lightest taupe: Behr N170-1 Tailor's Chalk, LRV 81 (ours). 164 taupes fit.
Tap a color to choose it. LRV is how much light a color reflects (0 black, 100 a perfect white): the brand's own printed LRV where we read it, else ours, worked out from the brand's digital color. A screen shows that digital version, so check a real chip in your room's light before you buy. We are not connected to any of these brands.
Quick answer: Benjamin Moore’s homeowner-favorite taupes are Driftwood 2107-40 (LRV 25.29), Weimaraner AF-155 (30.99) and Pashmina AF-100 (44.2). The finder above lists all 164 taupes of Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore and Behr by LRV, warm or cool, light to deep.
How to use the taupe paint finder
- Pick a brand, or keep all three.
- Pick warm or cool: warm taupes have hints of red or yellow, cool ones lean gray.
- Pick how light: Light, Medium or Deep, by Benjamin Moore’s own Light, Medium and Dark tags (every color it tags Dark has a printed LRV of 21.96 or less, every Light one 57.09 or more).
- Tap a taupe to choose it, then see it on a wall in the room paint visualizer, or find its closest twins at the other two brands.
What counts as a taupe
The finder uses Benjamin Moore’s own filing. Its color service tags every color with a family and a subfamily, and the finder takes every color it files under the subfamily Taupe: 64 colors, every Benjamin Moore taupe its taupe page features among them. Benjamin Moore describes taupe as A blend of brown and gray
, and says From the warm tone of a classic trench coat to the cooler shade of fresh mushrooms, taupe spans a wide and stylish spectrum.
Sherwin-Williams and Behr do not publish families this way, so a Sherwin-Williams or Behr color joins when its closest Benjamin Moore color, by CIEDE2000, is very close (under 3) and is a taupe by Benjamin Moore’s filing, or when its own brand’s name says taupe (“Poised Taupe”) and it is a neutral with an LRV inside the range of Benjamin Moore’s own taupes. A color Sherwin-Williams files as a white, or one named a white, is left to the white paint finder. Every color in the list says why it is there. That gives 164 taupes: 50 at Sherwin-Williams, 64 at Benjamin Moore and 50 at Behr, from the brands’ own palette files.
Warm or cool: the undertone
Benjamin Moore: To tell if a taupe paint color is warm or cool, look closely at its undertones; warm taupe often has hints of red or yellow, while cool taupe leans toward gray or violet.
Every one of Benjamin Moore’s own taupes reads red to yellow on screen, so what sets a warm one apart is how much of that color it carries. Warm is the third of Benjamin Moore’s taupes with the most color (a CIELAB chroma of 10.42 or more) and Cool the grayest third (8.07 or less); the same lines place the Sherwin-Williams and Behr colors. That is our reading of each brand’s digital color: 54 taupes read warm and 65 cool, and the rest sit between, as Pashmina AF-100 does (Benjamin Moore: perfectly balanced between warm and cool
).
Popular taupes, with their LRV
LRV, light reflectance value, is how much light a color reflects, from 0 for black to 100 for a perfect white. Benjamin Moore’s and Sherwin-Williams’ LRVs are the ones each brand prints, read from its color service on 2026-10-11; a Behr LRV is ours, worked out from its digital color, and marked (ours).
| Color | LRV | Undertone | How light | Why it is here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Moore 2107-40 Driftwood | 25.29 | warm | medium | Benjamin Moore files it as taupe |
| Benjamin Moore AF-155 Weimaraner | 30.99 | warm | medium | Benjamin Moore files it as taupe |
| Benjamin Moore AF-100 Pashmina | 44.2 | leans yellow | medium | Benjamin Moore files it as taupe |
| Benjamin Moore AF-150 Cotswold | 39.04 | warm | medium | Benjamin Moore files it as taupe |
| Benjamin Moore 983 Smokey Taupe | 54.53 | leans yellow | medium | Benjamin Moore files it as taupe |
| Benjamin Moore 1552 River Reflections | 35.28 | cool | medium | Benjamin Moore files it as taupe |
| Benjamin Moore AF-720 Sparrow | 21.14 | leans yellow | deep | Benjamin Moore files it as taupe |
| Benjamin Moore HC-86 Kingsport Gray | 25.05 | warm | medium | Benjamin Moore files it as taupe |
| Benjamin Moore 1545 Iron Gate | 23.1 | leans yellow | medium | Benjamin Moore files it as taupe |
| Benjamin Moore HC-97 Hancock Gray | 26.86 | warm | medium | Benjamin Moore files it as taupe |
| Sherwin-Williams SW 6039 Poised Taupe | 22 | cool | medium | its own name says taupe |
Worked examples
A cozy bedroom. Choose Warm and Medium: 45 taupes. Weimaraner AF-155 (LRV 30.99), which Benjamin Moore calls a lush, popular neutral
, is one of them.
A light taupe. Choose Light: 28 taupes, the lightest Behr N170-1 Tailor’s Chalk (LRV 81 (ours)).
Sherwin-Williams only. Choose Sherwin-Williams: 50 taupes, each with the LRV Sherwin-Williams prints; the lightest is Sherwin-Williams SW 7632 Modern Gray (62.5).
Common mistakes when choosing a taupe
- Judging it in one light. Benjamin Moore:
Since taupe can skew warm or cool depending on the space, test samples on multiple walls and observe them throughout the day.
- Ignoring the furniture. Benjamin Moore:
Pair with existing furnishings to ensure harmony.
A cool taupe beside a red-brown sofa can look gray and flat. - Bright white trim by default. Benjamin Moore pairs taupe walls with off-white trim and ceilings, such as Simply White OC-117 or White Dove OC-17.
- Trusting a screen. Every color here is the brand’s digital stand-in for the paint. Look at a real sample on the wall morning and evening.
Found your taupe? See it on a sample room or your own photo in the room paint visualizer, and pick the trim with the trim color picker. Planning the furniture too? The free 2D room planner lays out the room.
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- Taupe kitchen cabinets
- What color carpet goes with taupe walls
- Paint colors for a taupe carpet
- Warm neutral paint colors that never read cold
Taupe paint color questions
What are the most popular taupe paint colors?
Benjamin Moore names Driftwood 2107-40, Weimaraner AF-155 and Pashmina AF-100 as homeowner favorites, and features Cotswold AF-150, Smokey Taupe 983, River Reflections 1552 and Sparrow AF-720 among its most popular.
What is the best taupe paint color?
The one that suits your light and your furniture: decide warm or cool, then how light, and sample two or three on more than one wall.
What is a warm taupe paint color?
Benjamin Moore: warm taupe often has hints of red or yellow. Choose Warm in the finder: 54 taupes.
Is taupe warm or cool?
It can be either. Benjamin Moore calls taupe a mix of brown and gray that can range from a tan trench coat to fresh mushrooms, and says lighting will also affect how it looks.
What color goes well with taupe paint?
Benjamin Moore: taupe complements other neutrals, with off-white trim and ceilings such as Simply White OC-117 or White Dove OC-17.
What is a light taupe paint?
Choose Light in the finder: 28 taupes with an LRV of 57.09 or more.
What are the best taupe paint colors from Sherwin-Williams?
Choose Sherwin-Williams in the finder: 50 taupes, each with the LRV Sherwin-Williams prints.
Can I see a taupe on my own walls?
Yes. Tap a taupe, then See it on a wall: the room paint visualizer paints it on a sample room or on your own photo, in your browser.