Black Forest Green
HC-187 · Benjamin Moore
Benjamin Moore
Black Forest Green
HC-187
Subtle blue-leaning green, a cool color
- Color family
- Neutral
- Sold for
- Interior and exterior
Benjamin Moore Black Forest Green HC-187 is a green dark enough to do the work of a black, with a cool cast that only appears in strong light. Its LRV of 5 is near the floor of the fan, low enough that it hides texture and shows every drip. Our method reads it as a subtle blue-leaning green, cooler than the bottle greens it sits beside. Shutters, sash, cabinets and paneled walls are its territory.
Source: Benjamin Moore's color data. Undertone labels describe our calculation, not the paint formula or a test in your room. How we assess colors.
Is Black Forest Green warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers
leans blue-green
Undertone
Subtle blue-leaning green
A gentle lean, quiet on the wall.
Black Forest Green has a restrained blue-green swatch, giving it a cooler character than a yellow-leaning olive. That absence is what makes it read cold, and why it lands nearer black than green in most rooms. Beside a warm cream it looks like ink; beside a cool white the green separates out and becomes legible. Among its digital neighbors, Black Knight 2136-10 is closer to neutral and Regent Green 2136-20 has a stronger blue lean; Black Satin 2131-10 is another near-black to sample. This is the green for people who would rather the green stayed a secret.
Black Forest Green in different lighting
A north room is where the green is hardest to find: cool light and a cool color cancel each other out and what is left reads as a soft black, so keep warm wood, a cream trim or lamplight in the scheme if the green is meant to show. South light is the one exposure that makes it legible from morning to evening. An east room offers the green at breakfast and takes it away by mid afternoon. A west room stays inert until the last hour of sun, which is when it looks best. Hold the bulbs at 3000K, because 4000K tips it toward blue.
Watch for
- The green disappears altogether in a north room and the wall reads as a soft black
- Shows drips, roller marks and touch-ups more clearly than any lighter green does
- Next to a warm cream it can look like ink rather than like a green at all
Best rooms and surfaces for Black Forest Green
Black Forest Green suits the places where a black would be too blunt: kitchen cabinets, mudroom lockers and benches, a wall of library shelves, a paneled dining room. For cabinets, compare Black Forest Green with both the countertop and wood finishes; its cool character may suit either, depending on the other colors nearby. On walls the room needs a purpose, since a bedroom or a living room painted in it reads as a dark room rather than a green one. A bathroom is the wrong place for it: a small windowless space at this depth loses the color completely and gains every water mark.
Black Forest Green on an exterior
Benjamin Moore sells Black Forest Green for exterior use, and it is chosen when shutters, sash or a door should look almost black without the hardness of a real black. Full sun makes the green clear enough to see from the street, while shade takes the surface to ink. On a whole house it works with white or gray trim, where the cool lean agrees rather than argues, and it is a quieter partner for gray stone than a warm bottle green would be.
Try Black Forest Green on your own walls
Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Black Forest Green onto the walls for an illustrative preview beside your floors and furniture. Confirm the color with a physical sample. Your first 3 renders are free.
Black Forest Green vs Essex Green, Salamander, Tricorn Black and Iron Ore
Essex GreenBlack Forest GreenBlack Forest Green vs Essex Green HC-188
Black Forest Green is a touch darker; undertone subtle blue-leaning green vs noticeable green. Based on published LRV and our swatch classification.
Essex Green HC-188 is the warmer half of this pair and about a point lighter at an LRV of 6, carrying roughly twice the green plus a trace of yellow that Black Forest Green has none of. Paint them on the same shutter and Essex Green looks like a green while this one looks like a black that happens to be green. Old brick and cream trim call for Essex Green. Gray stone and white trim call for Black Forest Green.
SalamanderBlack Forest GreenBlack Forest Green vs Salamander 2050-10
Black Forest Green is a touch darker; both fall in our subtle blue-leaning green category. Based on published LRV and our swatch classification.
Salamander 2050-10 leans the same way, toward blue, and sits a point lighter at an LRV of 6 with slightly more color in it. What that buys is visibility: Salamander gets close enough to teal for people to notice it, while Black Forest Green stays on the black side of the line. Cabinets meant to announce a color go to Salamander. Cabinets meant to read dark and quiet stay here.
Tricorn BlackBlack Forest GreenBlack Forest Green vs Tricorn Black SW 6258
Black Forest Green is a touch lighter; undertone subtle blue-leaning green vs no distinct lean. Based on published LRV and our swatch classification.
Tricorn Black SW 6258 is the actual black in this comparison, a near-neutral at an LRV of 3 and about two points deeper. Black Forest Green is barely lighter, but the green changes what the surface does with a room: it picks up the garden through the window and the greens in a rug, where Tricorn Black picks up nothing. Take Tricorn Black for a flat graphic black, and this for a black with a temperature.
Iron OreBlack Forest GreenBlack Forest Green vs Iron Ore SW 7069
Black Forest Green is a touch darker; undertone subtle blue-leaning green vs no distinct lean. Based on published LRV and our swatch classification.
Iron Ore SW 7069 is the near-black everything gets measured against, a point lighter at an LRV of 6 and a near-neutral. On siding the two part company in sun: Iron Ore stays a soft black through the afternoon, while Black Forest Green shows its green wherever the light strikes square. A house that should simply look dark is an Iron Ore house. A house whose dark should turn out to be a color at close range is this one.
Questions about Black Forest Green
Does Black Forest Green read as green or as black?
Black from across a room, green up close and in strong light. The measurement finds a modest green with a cool lean, not enough to carry any distance but plain on a sunlit shutter or a cabinet door beside a window. Anyone who wants the green to be obvious usually ends up a shade lighter, and anyone who wants a black with a temperature stops here.
What colors go with Black Forest Green?
Benjamin Moore's own picks beside it are Ashwood OC-47, November Rain OC-50, Clarksville Gray HC-102 and Creekside Green 2141-40: two soft off-whites, a mid greige and a muted green. The greige is the useful one, because a cool near-black wants a mid neutral standing between it and the white. Gray stone, nickel, blackened metal and pale oak all sit well with it.
Is Black Forest Green a good cabinet color?
Yes, and cabinets are where it does its most useful work. It is dark enough to hide the marks that show on a mid green, and cool enough to live with white marble, gray quartz and nickel without a fight. Keep it to the base cabinets or an island in a small kitchen, and specify a satin or semi-gloss enamel so the doors wipe down.
Is there a Sherwin-Williams equivalent to Black Forest Green?
Night Watch SW 9680 and Rookwood Shutter Green SW 2809 are the two closest in our swatch comparison, both a shade darker and both clearly relatives. Jasper SW 6216 is the nearest with a page here and reads a little greener. At this depth two colors a point apart can still look different on a door, so order samples rather than trusting the distances.
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 Black Forest Green, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.
- Made with real paint
- Delivered next day
- Peels off clean
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Trim, ceiling and coordinating colors for Black Forest Green
Benjamin Moore's own picks beside Black Forest Green are Ashwood OC-47, November Rain OC-50 and Clarksville Gray HC-102: two soft off-whites and a mid greige, none of them stark. Indoors Decorator's White OC-149 keeps the cool lean intact and White Dove OC-17 softens it. Chantilly Lace OC-65 makes the hardest contrast and is the right call when the green should read as a deliberate dark rather than as a shadow in the corner.
Colors similar to Black Forest Green
Closest matches for Black Forest Green in other brands
These are the closest digital colors in our catalog, not equivalent paint formulas or touch-up substitutes. Compare physical samples in the same finish before choosing. See the comparison method.