Ballet White

OC-9 · Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore

Ballet White

OC-9

Hex code

#E5E0D0

Light reflectance value (LRV)

72Off-white, light and airy

0 black100 white

Undertone

Noticeable yellow-beige, a warm color

Color family: White
Sold for: Interior and exterior

Try it on your walls Get a sample

Benjamin Moore Ballet White OC-9 is a warm off-white with enough cream in it to read as a color in daylight. Its LRV of 72 puts it in off-white territory, light enough to brighten a room but far from the brightness of a decorator white. It is a common whole-house pick for older homes and for houses with heavy wood, where a cooler white would leave the woodwork looking orange.

Is Ballet White warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

leans yellow

Undertone

Noticeable yellow-beige

graysaturated

A visible lean you see in daylight.

Ballet White measures as a plain warm yellow with a trace of green underneath and nothing red, so the cream in it never turns peach or pink. The trace of green is what keeps the yellow from going buttery, and it is the reason the color can look almost gray on a dull day. Set against warm oak or maple the wall recedes and reads as a soft neutral. Set against gray tile or a blue-white ceiling the yellow steps forward. Compared with Shoji White SW 7042, which holds a hint of red, Ballet White stays cleaner and less taupe.

Ballet White in north, south, east and west light

A north room is where the cream in Ballet White is most useful and least visible. Cool light drains the yellow back and the walls settle into a warm gray that still keeps rooms from feeling blue, but nobody would call the result cream. South rooms are where it earns its name, going soft and buttery from midday on. In an east room it is warmest first thing and quietest by evening. West sun late in the day adds gold to the top half of the walls. Keep bulbs at 2700K to 3000K; cooler lamps flatten it toward gray.

Watch for

In a dim north room it can read as a plain warm gray, not a cream
Warm wood floors push it further yellow than a sample board suggests
Beside a blue-white ceiling paint the walls look distinctly yellow

Best rooms and surfaces for Ballet White

Ballet White carries whole floors rather than single rooms: hallways, stairwells, bedrooms and dining rooms in one color, since it is light enough for a windowless hall and warm enough for a room full of wood. On kitchen cabinets it reads as a soft cream, gentler than a true white and less yellow than the creams a step below it, which suits a kitchen with wood counters or aged brass. It is not the pick for a bathroom with cool marble or a modern gray-tiled shower, where the warmth fights the stone. Ceilings take it well in a flat sheen when the walls are the same color, since the room then reads as one soft envelope.

Ballet White on an exterior

Benjamin Moore sells Ballet White for exterior use, and it is a steady body color on a house with dark shutters or a stained wood door. Direct sun lifts it close to a plain warm white, so the cream people liked on the chip mostly shows in the shade of a porch, a gable or a north wall. That makes it a safer exterior than a deeper cream, which can go gold across a whole sunlit elevation. Crisp white trim gives the strongest lines; a black roof and dark windows keep it from looking washed out.

Try Ballet White on your own walls

Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Ballet White 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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Ballet White vs Swiss Coffee, White Dove, Shoji White, Wind's Breath and Pale Oak

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

Ballet White vs Swiss Coffee OC-45

Ballet White is noticeably darker; undertone noticeable yellow-beige vs subtle yellow-beige.

The gap here is about ten points of lightness, and it is the whole story: Swiss Coffee OC-45 reads as a soft white, Ballet White reads as a cream. Swiss Coffee also carries less yellow, so it stays whiter in a bright room instead of warming up. Choose Swiss Coffee for a house that should feel light and airy, and Ballet White where the walls should feel like a color and the trim should stand out from them.

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

Ballet White vs White Dove OC-17

Ballet White is much darker; undertone noticeable yellow-beige vs subtle yellow-leaning green.

White Dove OC-17 is eleven points lighter than Ballet White and its small dose of warmth is held in check by a trace of green, so it reads as a white in almost any room. Ballet White has roughly twice the yellow and never reads white at all. The two are often used together, White Dove on trim and ceilings over Ballet White walls, which gives a warm room a clear line without a cold white anywhere in it.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Shoji White SW 7042, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Ballet White vs Shoji White SW 7042

Ballet White is a touch darker; undertone noticeable yellow-beige vs subtle yellow-beige.

Shoji White SW 7042 sits about two points above Ballet White, so lightness is not what separates them. The difference is a trace of red in the Sherwin-Williams color that Ballet White does not have, which nudges Shoji White toward taupe while Ballet White stays a clean cream. Warm gray floors and greige tile suit Shoji White. Wood, rattan and cream stone suit Ballet White.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Wind's Breath OC-24, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Ballet White vs Wind's Breath OC-24

Ballet White is a touch lighter; undertone noticeable yellow-beige vs subtle yellow-beige.

Wind's Breath OC-24 measures about two points darker with noticeably less yellow, so where Ballet White is cream with a gray hold, Wind's Breath is greige with a warm hold. In north light the two are hard to separate. In a bright south room Ballet White goes buttery and Wind's Breath stays put, which is the reason to pick one over the other.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Pale Oak OC-20, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Ballet White vs Pale Oak OC-20

Ballet White is noticeably lighter; undertone noticeable yellow-beige vs subtle yellow-beige.

Pale Oak OC-20 runs about three points below Ballet White and holds a good deal less yellow, which makes it the safer choice next to cool finishes. It is the color people reach for when they want a neutral that does almost nothing. Ballet White is the choice when a room needs some warmth in the wall itself, not just in the lamps and the floor.

Questions about Ballet White

Does Ballet White look yellow or gray?

Both, depending on the light and the neighbor. Its yellow is clear enough to be called cream in south light, and the trace of green in it lets the same walls read as a warm gray under a north window or a cool bulb. There is no red in the measurement, so it will not go pink, and no blue, so it will not go cold.

Is Ballet White good for exteriors?

Yes, and it is sold for exterior use. Its advantage outdoors is that full sun bleaches out cream colors, and Ballet White has enough of it to survive that without looking gold. It reads warm white on the sunlit walls and cream in the shaded ones. Pair it with a dark roof and dark window frames, since a light trim with a light body makes a house look flat.

What colors go with Ballet White?

Benjamin Moore's palette for it starts with White Dove OC-17 as the light partner, then adds Pashmina AF-100, Puritan Gray HC-164 and Kendall Charcoal HC-166 for weight. The gray-greens in that group are what keep the scheme from turning entirely warm. Wood floors, aged brass and unbleached linen all sit with it easily.

Is Ballet White a good color for kitchen cabinets?

It works when the kitchen has warmth elsewhere: wood counters, brass or bronze hardware, a cream or beige stone. Cabinet doors read a shade lighter than a wall in the same color because they catch more light from more angles. Against a stark white quartz counter the cream in it becomes obvious, so test a door front against the actual counter sample.

What is one shade darker than Ballet White?

There is no fan-deck strip for it, so the step comes from its nearest neighbors. Wind's Breath OC-24 is the closest darker one, about two points down and a little less yellow. Going up instead, Feather Down OC-6 is roughly a point lighter and slightly more yellow, and Sail Cloth OC-142 sits almost level with it.

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 Ballet White, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.