October Mist

1495 · Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore

October Mist

1495

Hex code

#B6B8A5

Light reflectance value (LRV)

46.5Light-medium, light with some depth

0 black100 white

Undertone

Noticeable yellow-leaning green, a green color

Color family: Green
Sold for: Interior and exterior

Try it on your walls Get a sample

Benjamin Moore October Mist 1495 is a quiet gray-green, and it was the brand's Color of the Year for 2022. Its LRV of 47 puts it in the light-medium band, which keeps it comfortable in a room with good windows and turns it noticeably deeper in a dim one. Our method reads it as a noticeable yellow-leaning green, though the gray in it is what most people notice first. Kitchen cabinets, bedrooms and dining rooms are where it shows up most.

Is October Mist warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

leans yellow-green

Undertone

Noticeable yellow-leaning green

graysaturated

A visible lean you see in daylight.

The lean in October Mist runs to the yellow side of green, and there is less of it than in most sages, which is why the color reads as a soft gray with a green cast rather than a green with gray in it. On a wall beside white trim the green shows up only as a tint. Warm bulbs and oak floors bring the yellow forward and it turns sage; cool daylight and gray stone flatten it toward a mineral gray. Tree Moss 508 is its closest neighbor at Benjamin Moore, a little warmer and yellower, and Horizon Gray 2141-50 shows what the same color looks like with the green all but removed.

October Mist in north, south, east and west light

In a north-facing room October Mist loses the yellow that softens it and settles into a cool, flat gray-green, so this is the exposure where people are most likely to call it gray and mean it as a complaint; a warm white ceiling and 2700K bulbs pull the sage back. South rooms are the friendliest and show it at its softest, though a warm floor can tip it olive. An east room reads warm sage in the morning and grayer by mid-afternoon, and a west room runs that swing the other way, going more olive as the sun drops.

Watch for

Goes flat and mineral gray in a north room with cool bulbs
Loses most of its green against a strong sage like Springfield Sage 510
On cabinets under downlights it lightens and can read almost gray

Best rooms and surfaces for October Mist

Kitchens are what October Mist is best known for, both on the walls and on a full run of cabinets, where its low color keeps a sage kitchen from looking like a decorating decision. Bedrooms, dining rooms, nurseries and home offices all take it on four walls, and it is a fair whole-floor color in a house with good windows because it stands in for a neutral. It suits a bathroom with white or marble tile better than one with cool gray tile, which draws the last of the warmth out of it. On a ceiling it is too heavy for most rooms; on interior doors against a white wall it works well.

October Mist on an exterior

Benjamin Moore rates October Mist for exterior use, and outdoors it behaves like a light neutral with a green cast rather than a green house. Direct sun bleaches it toward a pale gray-sage, so a house that faces south all day will read lighter than the sample suggests, while north elevations and porch ceilings hold the color. It works on shingles and clapboard with white trim, and it makes a good field color under a darker green or black door.

Try October Mist on your own walls

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

Trusted by 19,897+ happy homeowners

October Mist vs Saybrook Sage, Evergreen Fog, Soft Fern, Clary Sage and Oilcloth

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Saybrook Sage HC-114, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

October Mist vs Saybrook Sage HC-114

October Mist is a touch lighter; both have a noticeable yellow-leaning green undertone.

Saybrook Sage HC-114 is the color most often searched against this one, and it is a point darker at an LRV of 46 with more green in it. October Mist is the grayer and quieter of the two, Saybrook Sage the one that reads as a green from across the room. If you want a sage that people notice, take Saybrook Sage. If you want a neutral that happens to be green, take October Mist.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Evergreen Fog SW 9130, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

October Mist vs Evergreen Fog SW 9130

October Mist is much lighter; undertone noticeable yellow-leaning green vs subtle yellow-leaning green.

Evergreen Fog SW 9130 sits seventeen points darker at an LRV of 30, deep enough to change a room where October Mist mostly tints one. Both keep their green muted, but Evergreen Fog has the weight for cabinets, a study or a small room you want enclosed. A common way to use them is Evergreen Fog on the lower cabinets with October Mist on the walls above.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Soft Fern 2144-40, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

October Mist vs Soft Fern 2144-40

October Mist is much darker; both have a noticeable yellow-leaning green undertone.

Soft Fern 2144-40 is ten points lighter at an LRV of 57 and carries clearly more color, so where October Mist looks like a gray with a green cast, Soft Fern looks like a light green. Rooms with weak light are the test: Soft Fern still reads green there and October Mist does not. Choose Soft Fern for a green you want to see, October Mist for one that stays in the background.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Clary Sage SW 6178, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

October Mist vs Clary Sage SW 6178

October Mist is noticeably lighter; both have a noticeable yellow-leaning green undertone.

Clary Sage SW 6178 runs six points darker at an LRV of 41 and much warmer, a sage with the yellow out in front. Under lamplight the gap widens, since Clary Sage goes golden and October Mist goes gray. Clary Sage belongs in a room with cream, honey oak and brass; October Mist belongs where the trim is white and the finishes are cool.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Oilcloth CSP-760, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

October Mist vs Oilcloth CSP-760

October Mist is much lighter; undertone noticeable yellow-leaning green vs subtle yellow-leaning green.

Oilcloth CSP-760 is eleven points darker at an LRV of 35 and holds the same quiet yellow-leaning green, which makes it the darker version of this color rather than a different one. Benjamin Moore sells it for interiors only, so it is not a siding choice. On a kitchen island or a built-in under October Mist walls it gives depth without changing the family.

Questions about October Mist

Is October Mist too gray to read as a green?

In a bright room, no: the green shows clearly against white trim. In a north room or under cool bulbs the green thins out and most people would call the wall gray. It holds less color than most sages, which is exactly why it works as a near-neutral, and why it disappoints anyone expecting a green they can name from the doorway.

Is October Mist a good kitchen cabinet color?

Yes. Kitchen cabinets draw more searches for October Mist than any room does. It is light enough that a full kitchen of it does not go dark, and quiet enough to sit beside white counters, brass and oak without competing. Downlights lift it, so cabinet doors under a run of lights read lighter than the sample chip; check the doors at the end of the run before deciding.

Does October Mist work in a bedroom or nursery?

It suits both. On four bedroom walls it stays restful and takes warm bedding and wood well, and in a nursery it reads as a soft neutral instead of a themed green. Keep the ceiling and trim in a warm white so the room does not turn cool at night, and use warm bulbs in the lamps.

What is the Sherwin-Williams match for October Mist?

Softened Green SW 6177 is the closest, near enough that the two are hard to tell apart on a wall, and it has its own page here. Soft Sage SW 9647 is next, a step lighter and grayer. Cascade Green SW 0066 sits close on the greener side. Outside Sherwin-Williams, Farrow & Ball's Vert de Terre No. 234 is the nearest of all.

What colors go with October Mist?

Benjamin Moore pairs it with Glacier White OC-37 and Steam AF-15 as whites, Springfield Sage 510 as the deeper green and Venetian Portico AF-185 as a warm clay accent. That last pairing is the useful one: a muted terracotta gives the room warmth the wall color will not supply on its own. Oak floors, brass and unpolished stone all suit it.

What is one shade lighter than October Mist?

Vale Mist 1494 is the next step up its own group at an LRV of 56, the same color with the depth taken out, and it is a common substitute when October Mist proves too heavy for a dim room. Morning Dew OC-140 is two steps up and close to an off-white. Aganthus Green 472 is a slightly lighter, greener alternative.

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 October Mist, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.