Soft Fern

2144-40 · Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore

Soft Fern

2144-40

Hex code

#C8CAB2

Light reflectance value (LRV)

56.7Light, brightens without washing out

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 Soft Fern 2144-40 is a light yellow-green, closer to a young fern frond than to the gray sages it sits beside in the deck. Its LRV of 57 is the range where a color brightens a room and still reads clearly against white trim. Our method reads it as a noticeable yellow-leaning green, and it holds more color than most greens at this lightness. It is used on bedroom, bathroom and dining room walls.

Is Soft Fern warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

leans yellow-green

Undertone

Noticeable yellow-leaning green

graysaturated

A visible lean you see in daylight.

What separates Soft Fern from the sage family is how much pigment is in it: the yellow-green lean is strong enough that the wall announces itself as green, not as a neutral with a tint. White trim makes that plain, and a cool white makes it plainer still, since the contrast pushes the yellow forward. Against warm oak, rattan and cream the color settles down and looks softer, almost like a light olive. Cool gray tile and chrome fight it, because there is nothing gray in the color to meet them halfway. Grecian Green 507 is its nearest Benjamin Moore match and reads a shade duller; Wind Chime AF-465 is the same lightness with the yellow pulled back.

Soft Fern in north, south, east and west light

North-facing rooms suit Soft Fern better than they suit most greens, because there is enough yellow in it to survive cool light instead of going gray, though the wall reads greener and less golden there than on the chip. South light does the opposite and can push it toward a bright, almost lime green by mid-afternoon, which is the exposure to sample carefully. East rooms show it warm and yellow early, then greener and calmer later; west rooms turn olive as the sun drops. Bulbs at 2700K to 3000K keep it in fern territory, and cooler bulbs make it look sharper and greener.

Watch for

Can go lime on a sunlit south wall in the middle of the afternoon
Clashes with pink-beige or peachy tile, which turns it acid
Reads much yellower next to a cool blue-white than beside a cream white

Best rooms and surfaces for Soft Fern

This is a wall color before anything else. Bedrooms, dining rooms and a bathroom with white tile take it well, and it does good work in a room with a lot of white joinery, where the green has something to press against. It is a poor whole-house color because it has too much color to run past a hallway without becoming the theme of the house. On kitchen cabinets it is a harder sell than the gray sages: at this lightness the doors lose their shadow lines, and under warm downlights a full run of them can read yellow. If you want the green on cabinets, one of the darker colors in its group does it better and leaves Soft Fern for the walls.

Soft Fern on an exterior

Benjamin Moore rates Soft Fern for exterior use, and it is more of a cottage, garage or garden-room color than a whole-house one. Sun takes it several shades lighter and toward yellow, so a south-facing wall can look nothing like the shaded side of the same house. Under trees or on a north elevation it keeps the fern green intact. A white trim keeps it crisp; a warm white trim will tip the whole scheme yellow, which is worth testing before the whole house is painted.

Try Soft Fern on your own walls

Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Soft Fern 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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Soft Fern vs October Mist, Saybrook Sage, Softened Green and Clary Sage

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore October Mist 1495, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Soft Fern vs October Mist 1495

Soft Fern is much lighter; both have a noticeable yellow-leaning green undertone.

October Mist 1495 is ten points darker at an LRV of 47 and holds far less color, which is the whole difference between them. Soft Fern is a green you name from the doorway; October Mist is a gray you notice is green once you stand in the room. Anyone comparing the two is really choosing how much green they want on the wall, not which green.

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

Soft Fern vs Saybrook Sage HC-114

Soft Fern is much lighter; both have a noticeable yellow-leaning green undertone.

Saybrook Sage HC-114 is eleven points darker at an LRV of 46, greener in its lean and much grayer overall. Put them side by side and Soft Fern looks sunny while Saybrook Sage looks shaded. A room with cool light and cool finishes usually wants Saybrook Sage; a room with warm wood and white trim can carry Soft Fern without it turning acid.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Softened Green SW 6177, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Soft Fern vs Softened Green SW 6177

Soft Fern is noticeably lighter; both have a noticeable yellow-leaning green undertone.

Softened Green SW 6177 is the closest Sherwin-Williams color at this depth, eight points darker at an LRV of 49 with the same yellow-leaning green classification. The difference on a wall is quantity, not direction: Softened Green is the muted version, Soft Fern the fresher one. Pick Softened Green if the sample of Soft Fern came back brighter than you wanted.

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

Soft Fern vs Clary Sage SW 6178

Soft Fern is much lighter; both have a noticeable yellow-leaning green undertone.

Clary Sage SW 6178 lands sixteen points darker at an LRV of 41, which turns the same warm green into a color with weight behind it. Clary Sage can hold a whole bedroom or a run of cabinets; Soft Fern would look thin doing either job at that scale. Where they meet is a kitchen with Clary Sage cabinets and Soft Fern walls, one family in two depths.

Questions about Soft Fern

Does Soft Fern look yellow?

It can, and more readily than the gray sages. The yellow is a real part of the measurement, so afternoon sun, warm bulbs and cream finishes all bring it forward, and a south-facing wall can read close to lime. In north and east light the green leads instead. Sample it on the brightest wall you have before buying a gallon.

Is Soft Fern too green for a bedroom or bathroom?

Not for most people, but it is a decision rather than a background. In a bedroom it reads fresh and light on four walls and takes white bedding and oak well. In a bathroom it sits happily with white tile and warm metals. If you want the room to feel calm rather than green, a grayer color at the same lightness will do that and this one will not.

Can Soft Fern go on kitchen cabinets?

It can, but it is not what the color does best. Light cabinets lose their panel shadows, and a long run of doors under warm downlights reads yellower than the chip. Rosemary Sprig 2144-30, further down the same group, gives the same green with the depth cabinets need. Keep Soft Fern for the walls above them.

Which Sherwin-Williams color matches Soft Fern?

Acanthus SW 0029 is the nearest by measurement, close enough to pass for it on a wall. Liveable Green SW 6176 is next, slightly lighter and softer. Softened Green SW 6177 is the closest match with its own page here, a step darker and more muted. Farrow & Ball's Cooking Apple Green No. 32 is in the same territory.

What colors go with Soft Fern?

Benjamin Moore pairs it with the whites White Dove OC-17, Swiss Coffee OC-45 and Halo OC-46, plus Wolf Gray 2127-40 as a blue-gray anchor. That last one is the useful pick, since a cool gray keeps the scheme from going entirely warm. Oak, rattan, unglazed terracotta and aged brass all suit it; polished chrome and cool gray stone do not.

What is one shade lighter than Soft Fern?

Silken Pine 2144-50 is the next step up its own group at an LRV of 74, though that is a long jump and lands close to a tinted white. For a smaller move, Budding Green CSP-790 among its close matches is only a few points lighter and slightly cooler. Going down instead, Rosemary Sprig 2144-30 at 35 is the next rung.

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 Soft Fern, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.