Wythe Blue

HC-143 · Benjamin Moore

Benjamin Moore

Wythe Blue

HC-143

Hex code

#AABEB4

Light reflectance value (LRV)

48.1Light-medium, light with some depth

0 black100 white

Undertone

Noticeable green, a green color

Color family: Blue
Sold for: Interior and exterior

Try it on your walls Get a sample

Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue HC-143 is a mid-tone blue-green from the Historical Colors collection, with enough gray over it to read as an old color rather than a fresh one. Its LRV of 48 sits in the middle of the range: easy in a room with good windows, moodier in a small one. Our method reads it as a noticeable green, which is why most people who paint it report that it came out greener than they were expecting.

Is Wythe Blue warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

leans green

Undertone

Noticeable green

graysaturated

A visible lean you see in daylight.

Measured, Wythe Blue carries more green than any of the well known Benjamin Moore blues at this depth, with the blue sitting behind the green instead of leading it. Against white trim the green is unmistakable; against a cream or a tan the whole thing shifts toward a soft aqua. Warm brass and old wood suit it, and it is one of the few colors of this kind that does not turn sour beside antique furniture. Rhine River 689 is the nearest thing to it in the deck, a shade bluer, and Wedgewood Gray HC-146 is grayer and far less green at almost the same lightness.

Wythe Blue in north, south, east and west light

A north-facing room is where this color looks most like the historic thing it is: the warmth drains out, the green settles, and the walls read as an aged blue-green rather than anything new. That is right for a north dining room and can feel damp in a small north bathroom. South light warms it and pushes it toward sage, which is when people say it looks green. East rooms swing widely through the day, soft in the morning and gray by late afternoon. West light adds an olive edge at dusk. Bulbs of 2700K to 3000K hold it where the chip is.

Watch for

Reads closer to sage than to blue in a sunny south room
Can feel damp in a small north bathroom with cool white tile
Next to a true green such as Saybrook Sage HC-114 it flips back to reading blue

Best rooms and surfaces for Wythe Blue

Wythe Blue is a dining room and study color, deep enough to give a room weight and soft enough not to darken it. It is a strong cabinet color, and one of the few blues that sits comfortably in an old kitchen with wood counters and cream walls. In a bedroom it is calm without going cold. It struggles in a bathroom with cool white tile, where the green looks out of place against the glaze, and it is too much color for a low ceiling. As a single accent wall it usually looks pasted on; it is better on all four walls or on the joinery alone.

Wythe Blue on an exterior

Benjamin Moore sells Wythe Blue for exterior use and it is a well worn choice for shutters and a front door on a white or cream clapboard house. On siding in full sun it lifts a long way and reads as a pale sage-blue, so a whole house painted in it looks lighter than the sample led you to expect. The shaded elevations keep the true color. A bright white trim keeps the look historic; a gray trim drags the whole thing toward cold.

Try Wythe Blue on your own walls

Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Wythe Blue 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

Wythe Blue vs Palladian Blue, Quietude, Sea Salt and Saybrook Sage

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue HC-144, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Wythe Blue vs Palladian Blue HC-144

Wythe Blue is much darker; undertone noticeable green vs subtle green.

Palladian Blue HC-144 is the pairing people search for most, and the two are a step apart rather than rivals: Palladian Blue is twelve points lighter at 60 and much paler on a wall. Benjamin Moore lists Wythe Blue under a second number, where it appears as the next rung down Palladian Blue's own strip, so by the maker's own reckoning they are one step apart. Use Palladian Blue where the wall should stay light and Wythe Blue where it should hold its color.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Quietude SW 6212, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Wythe Blue vs Quietude SW 6212

Wythe Blue is a touch lighter; undertone noticeable green vs subtle green.

Quietude SW 6212 is the closest Sherwin-Williams color to Wythe Blue with a page here, half a point apart in lightness at 48. Quietude is the quieter of the two, with less green pushing forward, so it lands a touch more blue-gray on a wall. Wythe Blue has the older, softer character; Quietude is the easier one to live with in a modern room.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Sea Salt SW 6204, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

Wythe Blue vs Sea Salt SW 6204

Wythe Blue is much darker; undertone noticeable green vs subtle green.

Sea Salt SW 6204 is fifteen points lighter at 63 and does much the same blue-green job at a far lower volume. In a bathroom Sea Salt keeps the room open where Wythe Blue makes it feel wrapped. The other difference is stability: Sea Salt drifts toward gray on a dull day, while Wythe Blue keeps its green whatever the weather does.

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

Wythe Blue vs Saybrook Sage HC-114

Wythe Blue is a touch lighter; undertone noticeable green vs noticeable yellow-leaning green.

Saybrook Sage HC-114 is nearly the same lightness at 46 but a plain green, with the blue taken out of it. Hung together, Saybrook Sage looks like a garden color and Wythe Blue like a coastal one. In a room with warm oak and brass, Saybrook Sage settles in more easily; in a room with white marble and black metal, Wythe Blue is the better fit.

Questions about Wythe Blue

Does Wythe Blue look green?

Yes, more often than it looks blue. The measurement puts green well ahead, with blue sitting behind it, so in warm light and in a south room it reads as a soft sage-blue. Only cool north light and a bright white trim bring the blue side forward, and even then it stays muted.

Is Wythe Blue a good front door color?

It is one of its best uses. A door is small, usually shaded by a porch and read against the trim, so it keeps the depth that a full wall of siding loses in the sun. It suits white, cream and pale gray houses, and it does not sit well against orange-toned brick.

What is the Sherwin-Williams version of Wythe Blue?

Hazel SW 6471 is the closest at Sherwin-Williams by measurement, near enough that most people would accept it as the same color. Quietude SW 6212 is the closest match with its own page here, slightly quieter through the green. Farrow & Ball's Green Blue No. 84 is nearer still if you are matching across all three brands.

What colors go with Wythe Blue?

Benjamin Moore's own picks are White Dove OC-17 for the white, Silver Gray 2131-60 as a cool companion, and Whitall Brown HC-69 and Terra Cotta Tile 2090-30 as warm accents. In materials it takes brass, aged oak, painted furniture and unglazed terracotta, and it looks wrong beside chrome and cool gray stone.

What is one shade darker than Wythe Blue?

Wythe Blue has no strip of its own, so the steps come from the wider deck. Stratton Blue HC-142 at 38 is the darker relative most people move to, a clear step down. Kensington Green 710 at 45 is the smaller move, close in depth but bluer and cleaner through the green.

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 Wythe Blue, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.