Manchester Tan

HC-81 · Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore

Manchester Tan

HC-81

Hex code

#DBD2BC

Light reflectance value (LRV)

63.2Light, brightens without washing out

0 black100 white

Undertone

Noticeable yellow-beige, a warm color

Color family: Neutral
Sold for: Interior and exterior

Try it on your walls Get a sample

Benjamin Moore Manchester Tan HC-81 is a light tan with a clear yellow cast and no red in it, one of the Historical Colors people still ask for by name. Its LRV of 63 keeps it in the light band, bright enough for a whole floor while still reading as a color rather than an off-white. Our method calls it a noticeable yellow-beige, warmer and more saturated than the greiges it usually gets shortlisted against.

Is Manchester Tan warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

leans yellow

Undertone

Noticeable yellow-beige

graysaturated

A visible lean you see in daylight.

Measured, Manchester Tan holds clearly more yellow than the greiges it sits beside, and it leans very slightly toward the green side of neutral, which is what stops the tan turning peach or pink. Against white trim it reads plainly as a color, never as a warm white. Set against honey oak it can look like more of the same, and the two surfaces stop separating. Set against cool gray tile it looks yellow and a little sharp. Its own family is where it makes sense: cream, wicker, brass, unbleached linen and stone with some gold in it.

Manchester Tan in north, south, east and west light

North light suits Manchester Tan better than it suits most tans, because the cool cast takes the edge off the yellow and leaves an even beige, which is why it turns up so often in north-facing living rooms. South rooms are the harder case, since sunlight lands on an already yellow color and a large wall can read close to butter by early afternoon. East rooms hold the warm version through the morning. West rooms go gold in the last hour. Keep bulbs between 2700K and 3000K; cooler light strips the yellow and leaves it looking flat.

Watch for

Reads close to butter on a large south-facing wall in the middle of the day
Sits too near honey oak floors and trim, so the two blur into a single tone
Loses its yellow entirely and goes flat under 4000K bulbs

Best rooms and surfaces for Manchester Tan

Manchester Tan is a whole-house tan in the traditional sense: living rooms, dining rooms, halls and bedrooms in older houses with wood trim and warm floors. It is a good backdrop for cream millwork and it holds up in rooms with big windows, where the yellow keeps the space from feeling cold. It is not the color for a kitchen with white cabinets and cool quartz, where it will look yellow against everything around it. Bathrooms with travertine or beige stone take it; bathrooms with gray tile do not. As a cabinet color it is too light to give a kitchen structure, so it does better on the walls above painted cabinets.

Manchester Tan on an exterior

Manchester Tan is rated for exterior use and is a common body color on traditional houses. Outdoors the yellow reads stronger than it does inside: a south-facing wall runs a clear step warmer than the sample while the north side looks nearly gray beside it, so a house that shows two elevations at once shows two versions of the color. White Ice OC-58 is Benjamin Moore's own light pick for the trim, Bleeker Beige HC-80 gives a deeper partner for a base or a garage, and Georgian Brick HC-50 is the red for a front door.

Try Manchester Tan on your own walls

Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Manchester Tan 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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Manchester Tan vs Accessible Beige, Edgecomb Gray, Shaker Beige and Elmira White

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Accessible Beige SW 7036, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Manchester Tan vs Accessible Beige SW 7036

Manchester Tan is noticeably lighter; both have a noticeable yellow-beige undertone.

Accessible Beige SW 7036 is about five points darker than Manchester Tan and reads grayer on a wall, a beige carrying gray where Manchester Tan is a tan carrying yellow. Both measure a noticeable yellow-beige, so neither is a quiet neutral. Accessible Beige is the safer pick beside gray-toned flooring and cool quartz. Manchester Tan needs warm wood, cream millwork and stone with gold in it to look right.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray HC-173, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Manchester Tan vs Edgecomb Gray HC-173

Manchester Tan is a touch lighter; both have a noticeable yellow-beige undertone.

Edgecomb Gray HC-173 and Manchester Tan sit at the same lightness, 63 apiece, so nothing separates them on a light meter. The whole split is in the yellow. Manchester Tan carries clearly more of it and reads as a tan; Edgecomb Gray keeps enough gray to pass as a greige. In a room with gray-toned floors or black hardware, Edgecomb Gray recedes politely and Manchester Tan announces itself.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Shaker Beige HC-45, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Manchester Tan vs Shaker Beige HC-45

Manchester Tan is noticeably lighter; undertone noticeable yellow-beige vs clear yellow.

Shaker Beige HC-45 is ten points darker and yellower still, roughly what Manchester Tan becomes a step down. Manchester Tan reads as a light tan; Shaker Beige reads as a full beige with gold in it and throws warm light back into the room. Use Manchester Tan where the walls should stay bright, and Shaker Beige where a dining room or a study is meant to feel closed in.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Elmira White HC-84, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Manchester Tan vs Elmira White HC-84

Manchester Tan is a touch darker; both have a noticeable yellow-beige undertone.

Elmira White HC-84 is barely lighter, 65 against 63, close enough to call level, and yet it is the quieter color by a distance. It holds noticeably less yellow, so it settles as a soft sand while Manchester Tan stays a tan. If white trim has to look white against the walls, Elmira White gives you less contrast to manage and Manchester Tan gives you more.

Questions about Manchester Tan

Does Manchester Tan look yellow or green?

Yellow, and the green is only there to keep the yellow honest. It measures a hair to the green side of neutral, which is why it does not go peach the way some tans do, but what people see on a wall is yellow. South light and warm bulbs push it further that way, and a cool white trim with a 3000K bulb pulls it back.

What colors go with Manchester Tan?

Benjamin Moore lists White Ice OC-58, Bleeker Beige HC-80, Constellation AF-540 and Georgian Brick HC-50 with it, which covers a bright white, a deeper partner, a soft blue and a red. Outside that list it works with cream, brass, wicker, warm limestone and oiled oak. Black hardware and cool gray tile are the two pairings that make it look yellow.

What is one shade darker than Manchester Tan?

Bleeker Beige HC-80, which Benjamin Moore names among its coordinating colors, is the usual step down at an LRV of 52: the same family, about ten points deeper. Natural Linen 966 at 60 is the smaller move if that is too much of a drop. Going the other way, Muslin OC-12 at 67 is a shade lighter and slightly creamier.

Is Manchester Tan good for exteriors?

Yes. It is a traditional siding and stucco color and it holds up well on a house with white trim and a dark roof. Expect the sunny side to run gold and the shaded side to look almost gray, so sample both before choosing the trim white. It pairs more easily with cream trim than with a blue-white.

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 Manchester Tan, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.