Alabaster

OC-129 · Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore

Alabaster

OC-129

Hex code

#F2EFE8

Light reflectance value (LRV)

85.1Bright white, bounces the most light

0 black100 white

Undertone

Faint yellow-beige, a true neutral

Color family: White
Sold for: Interior and exterior

Try it on your walls Get a sample

Benjamin Moore Alabaster OC-129 is a bright warm white whose only lean is a faint yellow, with nothing green behind it. An LRV of 85 puts it high on the scale, light enough to read as a plain white while keeping the hardness off a wall. Most people who search for Alabaster mean the Sherwin-Williams color of the same name, which is darker and creamier than this one. Benjamin Moore also numbers this color 876.

Is Alabaster warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

too close to gray to lean

Undertone

Faint yellow-beige

graysaturated

Barely off gray.

Alabaster is the rare near-white whose measurement carries yellow and nothing else: no green to cool the warmth and no red to push it pink. On a wall that gives a white which looks clean and faintly sunny at once, without the sage drift that catches out greener whites when the light goes weak. Beside White Dove OC-17 it is brighter and less gray. Beside Swiss Coffee OC-45 it is much lighter and far less creamy. Its one weakness is company: next to a strongly yellow cream it looks plain, and next to a blue-white it looks warm.

Alabaster in north, south, east and west light

North-facing rooms treat Alabaster kindly, because the small amount of yellow in it is all there is to lose, and losing part of it leaves a plain slightly cooler white rather than a gray-green one. That makes it a safer north-room choice than most of Benjamin Moore's warm off-whites. South light warms it and brings the yellow forward. East and west rooms shift it gently across the day. Warm bulbs make it look cream, a 3000K bulb keeps it close to the chip, and 4000K flattens it to plain white.

Watch for

Reads clearly cream under 2700K bulbs at night
Looks plain beside cream trim or an old yellowed ceiling
Reflects enough light to show roller marks on a large wall

Best rooms and surfaces for Alabaster

Alabaster is a whole-house white for people who want warmth without cream: bedrooms, living rooms, hallways and stairwells all take it, and it is bright enough to carry a room with one small window. On trim over a colored wall it reads clean rather than yellow. On kitchen cabinets it gives a warm white that stays white next to both wood and gray stone, which is a narrow and useful trick. In a bathroom it holds its own against white tile better than a cream does. It is the wrong pick only where a room is meant to look cool and modern, since its warmth shows against gray.

Alabaster on an exterior

Benjamin Moore sells Alabaster for outdoor work, and on siding it reads as a warm white rather than a cream, which keeps a white house from looking either stark or dated. Full sun brightens it close to plain white while the shaded sides hold their warmth. It takes a dark roof, black frames and warm stone well. On trim over a mid-tone body it draws a soft line rather than a sharp one, so a house that needs crisp casings wants a brighter white for them.

Try Alabaster on your own walls

Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Alabaster onto the walls so you can judge it in your light, with your floors and furniture. Your first five renders are free.

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Alabaster vs Alabaster, White Dove, Swiss Coffee and Pure White

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Alabaster SW 7008, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Alabaster vs Alabaster SW 7008

Alabaster is a touch lighter; undertone faint yellow-beige vs subtle yellow-beige.

Alabaster SW 7008 is the color most people mean when they type the name, and the two are genuinely different. The Sherwin-Williams version sits three points lower at 82 and carries a gray-beige lean, which makes it creamier and quieter on a wall. Benjamin Moore's is brighter and cleaner, its warmth coming from yellow alone. Ask for the wrong one at the counter and you get a noticeably softer, warmer white than the chip you were looking at.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore White Dove OC-17, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Alabaster vs White Dove OC-17

Alabaster is a touch lighter; undertone faint yellow-beige vs subtle yellow-leaning green.

White Dove OC-17 is two points lower at 83 and takes its softness from a trace of green, which this color does not have. Side by side, White Dove looks a shade gray and Alabaster looks a shade sunny. White Dove is the safer choice in a room full of cool finishes, and Alabaster the better one where wood, cream stone or brass are already doing the warming.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee OC-45, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Alabaster vs Swiss Coffee OC-45

Alabaster is noticeably lighter; undertone faint yellow-beige vs subtle yellow-beige.

Swiss Coffee OC-45 is three points darker at 82 and carries far more yellow, so it reads as a cream while Alabaster still reads as a white. In a north room Swiss Coffee gives more warmth than Alabaster can, and in a bright kitchen it can look yellow where Alabaster stays clean. The question between them is whether the walls should be warm or simply not cold.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Pure White SW 7005, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Alabaster vs Pure White SW 7005

Alabaster is a touch lighter; both have a faint yellow-beige undertone.

Pure White SW 7005 lands a point below at 84 with a similar faint warmth, which makes it the nearest Sherwin-Williams white to this one among the colors with a page here. On a wall the pair is very hard to separate. Pure White is a fraction cooler and slightly grayer, Alabaster a fraction sunnier, and either can stand in for the other without anyone noticing.

Questions about Alabaster

What is Benjamin Moore's equivalent of Sherwin-Williams Alabaster?

Not this color, despite the shared name. By measurement Swiss Coffee OC-45 is the Benjamin Moore white closest to Alabaster SW 7008, near enough to be hard to tell apart on a wall, with White Dove OC-17 next. Benjamin Moore's own Alabaster is brighter and cleaner than the Sherwin-Williams color and will not pass for it.

Does Benjamin Moore Alabaster look yellow?

Slightly, and mostly when something whiter is beside it. Its measurement is a small amount of yellow with nothing else alongside, so under warm bulbs and in afternoon sun it reads cream, while in daylight against gray it reads plain white. It never turns green or pink, which is what separates it from most whites at this brightness.

Is Alabaster OC-129 the same color as 876?

Yes. Benjamin Moore lists it on the off-white deck as OC-129 and among its numbered classics as 876, and both mix the same paint. The same color is also sold as Atrium White OC-145, so a store may hand you that name instead. Nothing about the can changes between the three.

What colors go with Benjamin Moore Alabaster?

Benjamin Moore's own picks beside it are Calm OC-22 and Garlic Bulb 2112-70, two quiet near-whites, with Baked Terra Cotta 1202 and Amorous AF-600 as the color accents. In a room it takes warm wood, cream stone, brass and black metal. Cool blue-grays are where it struggles, since they bring its yellow out.

What is one shade darker than Alabaster?

Sand Dollar OC-71 is the nearest step down, about three points darker and a touch pinker. Dune White 968 is a bigger move, five points down and clearly creamier. Going the other way, Opulence OC-69 is a few points brighter and just as clean, which suits a ceiling above Alabaster walls.

Get a sample before you paint

Use the visualizer to narrow your shortlist, then confirm the finalist on your actual wall. A peel-and-stick sample of Alabaster, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.