Dark Olive
2140-30 · Benjamin Moore
Benjamin Moore
Dark Olive
2140-30
Noticeable yellow-leaning green, a green color
- Color family
- Neutral
- Sold for
- Interior and exterior
Benjamin Moore Dark Olive 2140-30 is a deep khaki green, filed by Benjamin Moore under its neutrals rather than its greens. Its LRV of 14 sits in the dark band, so it reads as a statement across a room and behaves easily on cabinets, doors and siding. Our method reads it as a noticeable yellow-leaning green, which is the measurement behind the olive in the name. Studies, exteriors and cabinet runs are its usual jobs.
Is Dark Olive warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers
leans yellow-green
Undertone
Noticeable yellow-leaning green
A visible lean you see in daylight.
Green and yellow are almost evenly matched in this color, and that balance is what makes it read as khaki instead of forest. There is less pigment in it than in most dark greens, so the wall keeps some gray under the color and never looks saturated. Warm bulbs and leather, walnut or aged brass push it toward brown; daylight and white trim pull the green back to the front. Cool gray tile leaves it looking muddy, which is the pairing to avoid. Mohegan Sage 2138-30 is its nearest neighbor in the deck and is a shade grayer, while Forest Floor 1498 is the same depth with more green in it.
Dark Olive in north, south, east and west light
A north-facing room takes the yellow out of Dark Olive and leaves the green and the gray, so the walls read colder and more like a slate green than the khaki on the chip; a warm white ceiling and warm lamps put the olive back. South and west sun does the reverse and can make a lit wall look almost brown by late afternoon, which is the widest swing this color has. East light gives a green morning and a duller afternoon. Keep the bulbs at 2700K to 3000K, because cooler ones drain the yellow and make it look like a dirty gray.
Watch for
- Turns brownish on a sunlit wall while the shaded walls stay green
- Reads muddy against cool gray porcelain or a blue-gray stone
- Under 4000K bulbs the yellow disappears and the color looks like dark gray
Best rooms and surfaces for Dark Olive
Cabinets and joinery suit it best, because the khaki lean sits naturally beside oak, walnut and brass, and a run of doors gives the color enough surface to be read as olive rather than as a dark neutral. A study, a den or a dining room with lamps can take it on all four walls, and it works well on a mudroom, a pantry or a wall of shelves. Bathrooms with only artificial light are the wrong room for it, since it goes flat and gray. It also holds up on interior doors and window sashes against a warm white wall, where the yellow in it keeps the contrast soft.
Dark Olive on an exterior
Benjamin Moore rates Dark Olive for exterior use, and outdoors is the setting where its lack of saturation is a strength, since it reads as a dark natural color rather than a painted green. Sun bleaches it toward brown-gray on the south face while the shaded elevations stay olive, so paint a board and look at both. It suits siding, shingles, shutters and window trim, a garage door, or a whole small building such as a shed or garden room.
Try Dark Olive on your own walls
Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Dark Olive 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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Dark Olive vs Pewter Green, Vintage Vogue, Rosemary and Backwoods
Pewter GreenDark OliveDark Olive vs Pewter Green SW 6208
Dark Olive is a touch lighter; undertone noticeable yellow-leaning green vs subtle yellow-leaning green.
Pewter Green SW 6208 is the nearest color at Sherwin-Williams with a page here, two points darker at an LRV of 12 and grayer, with a subtle lean against this one's noticeable lean. The practical difference is warmth: Pewter Green stays a gray-green in a warm room and Dark Olive goes khaki. Take Pewter Green for a cool kitchen with marble and steel, Dark Olive for one with wood and brass.
Vintage VogueDark OliveDark Olive vs Vintage Vogue 462
Dark Olive is a touch lighter; both have a noticeable yellow-leaning green undertone.
Vintage Vogue 462 is the deeper and greener of the pair, an LRV of 12 against 14, with the green clearly ahead of the yellow. On a cabinet door Vintage Vogue looks like a green you would call green and Dark Olive looks like a color between green and brown. Anyone weighing them is choosing whether the kitchen should read as a green kitchen or as a dark neutral one.
RosemaryDark OliveDark Olive vs Rosemary SW 6187
Dark Olive is a touch darker; both have a noticeable yellow-leaning green undertone.
Rosemary SW 6187 lands at the same lightness, an LRV of 14 for both, and holds more green in the same yellow-green family. In daylight they are close; in lamplight Rosemary keeps its green and this one drifts to brown. Rosemary is the choice for a room where the green should stay visible after dark, and Dark Olive where a quieter, more earthy result is wanted.
BackwoodsDark OliveDark Olive vs Backwoods 469
Dark Olive is a touch lighter; undertone noticeable yellow-leaning green vs noticeable green.
Backwoods 469 is a point darker at an LRV of 13 and much greener, with no yellow in its measurement at all. Together they show the two directions a dark green can take: Backwoods toward forest, Dark Olive toward khaki and army green. A room with cool light and white trim usually flatters Backwoods, while a room with warm wood flatters this one.
Questions about Dark Olive
Does Dark Olive look green or brown?
Both, and the room decides. Its measurement is green with nearly as much yellow behind it, so warm light and warm wood pull it toward brown while daylight and white trim keep the green in front. In a north room it can look almost slate. If you want it to stay green, keep the bulbs warm and the trim white rather than cream.
Does Dark Olive work for kitchen cabinets?
Yes, and cabinets are one of its better uses. The doors hold their shadow lines at this depth, and the khaki lean sits well with oak, walnut, brass and unpolished stone. Against a cool marble or a gray tile backsplash it can look muddy, so decide the counter and the backsplash before the cabinet color rather than after.
Can Dark Olive be used on a whole room?
It can, in a room you want enclosed and lit by lamps: a study, a den, a small dining room. On four walls it reads dark rather than colorful, so the trim, ceiling and floor carry most of the light in the room. In a room with a single window and no other lighting it will look gray by the afternoon.
Is there a Sherwin-Williams color like Dark Olive?
Cast Iron SW 6202 is the closest by measurement, near enough to be a close sibling. Pewter Green SW 6208 and Rosemary SW 6187 are the nearest colors with pages here, one grayer and one greener. Eclipse SW 6166 is another in the same range, slightly warmer, and Rookwood Dark Green SW 2816 sits further toward true green.
What colors go with Dark Olive?
Benjamin Moore pairs it with White Wisp OC-54 and Swiss Coffee OC-45 as whites, Sea Haze 2137-50 as a mid gray-green and Winter Orchard 1555 as a pale warm neutral. The mid gray-green is the pick that makes a scheme rather than a contrast, since it repeats the wall color three shades up. Oak, leather, brass and jute all suit it.
What is one shade lighter than Dark Olive?
Storm Cloud Gray 2140-40 is the next rung up its own group at an LRV of 29, which is a large jump and lands on a mid gray-green rather than a dark one. For a smaller step, Castle Peak Gray 1561 among its close matches is barely lighter and slightly warmer. Below it, Tuscany Green 2140-20 at 10 is nearly black.
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 Dark Olive, 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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