Shaker Beige

HC-45 · Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore

Shaker Beige

HC-45

Hex code

#D1C2A7

Light reflectance value (LRV)

53.5Light-medium, light with some depth

0 black100 white

Undertone

Clear yellow, a warm color

Color family: Neutral
Sold for: Interior and exterior

Try it on your walls Get a sample

Benjamin Moore Shaker Beige HC-45 is a warm beige with a clear gold cast, one of the Historical Colors and a full step warmer than the greiges it gets shortlisted against. An LRV of 54 sets it mid range, light enough for a whole room and warm enough to throw gold light back onto the floor and the furniture. Our method reads the undertone as a clear yellow rather than a beige with a hint of yellow in it.

Is Shaker Beige warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

leans yellow

Undertone

Clear yellow

graysaturated

A clear color, not a neutral.

Measured, Shaker Beige is one of the few colors in this range where the undertone is not a hint but the color itself: a clear yellow with a small amount of red sitting under it. There is no gray hiding in the mix, which is why it cannot stand in for a greige no matter how the sample is lit. Against white trim the gap is obvious and warm. Beside honey oak it doubles up and a whole room can go gold, so it does better with darker wood, painted trim or a cooler floor. Beside blue-white marble or cool gray tile it looks yellow and out of place.

Shaker Beige in north, south, east and west light

North light is the exposure Shaker Beige is best in, since the cool cast takes the gold down to a plain warm beige and the room reads even. South rooms are the hard case: sun lands on top of an already yellow color and a big wall can go frankly gold by early afternoon. East rooms are warmest at breakfast and settle by lunch. West rooms turn amber for the last hour of daylight. Warm 2700K bulbs push it further into gold, so in a sunny room 3000K is the safer setting.

Watch for

Goes gold rather than beige on a large south-facing wall at midday
Doubles up with honey oak floors and trim until the room is a single tone
Looks out of place next to blue-white marble or cool gray tile

Best rooms and surfaces for Shaker Beige

Shaker Beige suits rooms with wood, brass and traditional millwork: dining rooms, studies, older living rooms and hallways with painted trim. It is a useful color in a north-facing room that needs warming and a difficult one in a bright south room, where the gold gets amplified instead of balanced. In a kitchen it works on the walls above white or cream cabinets and less well on the cabinets themselves, where the yellow reads heavy against modern stone. Bathrooms with travertine take it; bathrooms with white quartz and chrome do not. It is not the color for a room built around cool blue textiles.

Shaker Beige on an exterior

Shaker Beige is rated for exterior use and is a traditional body color for clapboard and shingle houses. Outdoors the gold is easier to live with than it is indoors, because sun spreads it across the whole wall instead of trapping it in one corner, and the shaded elevations read as a plain beige. White Dove OC-17 and Bone White OC-143 are both in its coordinating list and both work as trim, one soft and one creamier. Tate Olive HC-112 is the shutter and door color that fits it best.

Try Shaker Beige on your own walls

Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Shaker Beige 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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Shaker Beige vs Manchester Tan, Accessible Beige and Revere Pewter

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Manchester Tan HC-81, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Shaker Beige vs Manchester Tan HC-81

Shaker Beige is noticeably darker; undertone clear yellow vs noticeable yellow-beige.

Manchester Tan HC-81 is ten points lighter and the milder of the two, a light tan where Shaker Beige is a full beige. Both lean yellow, but Manchester Tan keeps a trace of green that holds it back while Shaker Beige has a trace of red that pushes it forward. In the same room Manchester Tan works as a background and Shaker Beige works as a color. Rooms with dark wood usually want Shaker Beige.

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

Shaker Beige vs Accessible Beige SW 7036

Shaker Beige is noticeably darker; undertone clear yellow vs noticeable yellow-beige.

Accessible Beige SW 7036 is four points lighter and measures a noticeable yellow-beige against Shaker Beige's clear yellow, so it is the quieter and grayer of the two. It is the beige people choose when they do not want gold, and there is no gray in Shaker Beige to soften anything. Cool stone, black hardware or gray flooring in the room points to Accessible Beige. Oak, brass and traditional trim point to Shaker Beige.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter HC-172, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Shaker Beige vs Revere Pewter HC-172

Shaker Beige is a touch darker; undertone clear yellow vs subtle yellow-beige.

Revere Pewter HC-172 sits at almost the same lightness, 55 against 54, so the pair is a clean demonstration of what undertone does on its own. Revere Pewter is a gray with beige in it; Shaker Beige is a beige with gold in it. On a chip they are two neutrals. On a wall next to white trim, one recedes and the other warms everything in the room. Depth is not the decision here.

Questions about Shaker Beige

Does Shaker Beige look yellow or gold?

Both, depending on the light. The measurement is a clear yellow rather than a subtle one, so nothing in the color hides it, and direct sun tips that yellow into gold. Under north light and 3000K bulbs it settles into a plain warm beige instead. If you want the color without the gold, put the sample on the wall furthest from the window.

What colors go with Shaker Beige?

Benjamin Moore pairs it with White Dove OC-17 and Mountain Peak White OC-121, Bone White OC-143 as the cream and Tate Olive HC-112 as the accent, which shows what it wants: greens and olives rather than blues. Antique brass, dark wood, wicker and terracotta all sit with it comfortably. Cool grays and polished chrome are what make it look tired.

What is one shade lighter than Shaker Beige?

White Sand OC-10 is the step up its own strip at an LRV of 67, a good deal lighter and creamier, and it is the usual answer when Shaker Beige comes back too strong. Hush AF-95 at 57 is the smaller move. Going down instead, Huntington Beige HC-21 at 40 is the next rung and reads as a proper tan.

What is the Sherwin-Williams equivalent of Shaker Beige?

Ramie SW 6156 is the nearest by measurement, close enough to pass for it on a wall, with Sand Beach SW 7529 and Threaded Loom SW 9512 just behind. None of them has a page here yet. Relaxed Khaki SW 6149 is the name people reach for in conversation and it sits about three points darker.

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 Shaker Beige, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.