De Nimes

No. 299 · Farrow & Ball

Farrow & Ball

De Nimes

No. 299

Hex code

#748284

Light reflectance value (LRV)

21.3Dark, a statement on four walls

0 black100 white

Undertone

Subtle blue-leaning green, a cool color

Color family: Blue
Sold for: Interior and exterior

Try it on your walls Get a sample

Farrow & Ball De Nimes No. 299 is a muted denim blue, a dark blue-gray with a trace of green in it that keeps it clear of navy. An LRV of 21 makes it a dark color on a wall, deep enough to set the mood of a room and still a long way short of black. Kitchen cabinets, paneling, doors and whole rooms are where it does its work.

Is De Nimes warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers

leans blue-green

Undertone

Subtle blue-leaning green

graysaturated

A gentle lean, quiet on the wall.

Measured, De Nimes leans blue with a little green folded in and holds very little pigment overall, so it behaves like a colored gray more than a blue. In a bright room the blue is what you see. In a dim one the color drops toward slate and the green comes up, which is why photographs of it disagree so widely. Brass and oak push the blue forward, while chrome and white marble leave it looking gray. Its nearest Farrow & Ball neighbor, Selvedge No. 306, is the same color a few points lighter, and Green Smoke No. 47 is the version with the green in charge.

De Nimes in north, south, east and west light

A north-facing room takes the green out of De Nimes and leaves a flat, cool slate that can feel cold across four walls, so put a sample on the wall farthest from the window before you commit the room. South light is where it looks most like the chip, the warmth balancing its cool lean. East rooms are soft in the morning and colder by evening, and west rooms do the reverse and peak in late afternoon sun. Keep the bulbs at 3000K: 2700K warms it toward gray-green, and 4000K sharpens it into a hard blue.

Watch for

Flattens into a cold slate in a north room with no warm finishes
Shows its green in low light and its blue in bright light
Reads as a plain dark gray under warm lamps at night

Best rooms and surfaces for De Nimes

De Nimes is dark enough to change a room and light enough to take all four walls, which is why it lands in studies, dining rooms and bedrooms that have a decent window. In a north-facing box room it can feel cold rather than quiet. It is a strong pick for paneling and a built-in bookcase, where the depth collects in the moldings and each face of the wood reads a slightly different color. On a bathroom vanity it holds up better than a black would. Brass, oak, cane and unlacquered nickel warm it, while cool marble and chrome leave it gray, which is the version most people never sampled for.

De Nimes on an exterior

Farrow & Ball sells De Nimes for exterior use, and outdoors it drops most of its gray, because daylight carries far more than a bulb and the blue reads clearly on a door or a window frame. Full sun lightens it toward a chalky slate blue, and shade takes it deep and quiet again. It suits a front door set against pale stucco or brick, and an off-white frame stops it from merging with the shadow around it.

Try De Nimes on your own walls

Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders De Nimes 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

De Nimes vs Slate Tile, Smoky Blue, Van Courtland Blue and Charcoal Blue

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Slate Tile SW 7624, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

De Nimes vs Slate Tile SW 7624

De Nimes is noticeably lighter; undertone subtle blue-leaning green vs subtle blue.

Slate Tile SW 7624 is the nearest thing to this color in the Sherwin-Williams deck and runs clearly darker, an LRV of 15 against 21. Both are cool colors with the blue held back, but Slate Tile carries more gray and less green. On cabinets that extra depth takes Slate Tile close to charcoal, while De Nimes keeps enough light to show its color right across a room.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Smoky Blue SW 7604, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

De Nimes vs Smoky Blue SW 7604

De Nimes is noticeably lighter; undertone subtle blue-leaning green vs noticeable blue.

Smoky Blue SW 7604 has more blue in it and sits roughly seven points darker. Where De Nimes can pass for a gray in weak light, Smoky Blue stays a blue in every exposure, so it is the safer bet when blue is the whole point. De Nimes is the better neighbor for stone, oak and brass, since the green in it stops the color turning cold beside warm materials.

Living room walls rendered in Benjamin Moore Van Courtland Blue HC-145, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

De Nimes vs Van Courtland Blue HC-145

De Nimes is much darker; undertone subtle blue-leaning green vs subtle blue.

Van Courtland Blue HC-145 is ten points lighter, an LRV of 32 to 21, and reads as a mid-tone blue-gray instead of a dark. It suits a room that wants color without losing light, and it photographs bluer than it looks in person. De Nimes is the one to use when the walls should read close to dark and the blue should stay quiet about it.

Living room walls rendered in Sherwin-Williams Charcoal Blue SW 2739, white trim, ceiling and wood floor unchanged

De Nimes vs Charcoal Blue SW 2739

De Nimes is much lighter; undertone subtle blue-leaning green vs noticeable blue.

Charcoal Blue SW 2739 is much darker, an LRV of 6 against 21, near enough to black that its blue only turns up in direct light. Set the two side by side and De Nimes looks like the daylight version of the same idea. A room with little natural light can carry De Nimes but not Charcoal Blue, which needs sun or lamps to show anything except a dark wall.

Questions about De Nimes

Is there a dupe for Farrow & Ball De Nimes?

Smokestack Gray 2131-40 at Benjamin Moore is the closest by measurement, near enough to pass for it on a wall, with Templeton Gray HC-161 and Gray Pinstripe 1588 not far behind. Portsmouth SW 9644 is the nearest from Sherwin-Williams. Match a physical sample rather than a screen, since colors this muted move a long way once the room's light gets at them.

Does De Nimes look blue or gray?

Both, and the light decides which. Its measurement is a small blue lean with a trace of green, so there is not much pigment to hold the blue when the light is weak. Bright daylight and warm materials bring the blue out, while a dim north room or cool tile leaves a slate gray. Sample the darkest wall first to see the gray version.

Is De Nimes a good kitchen cabinet color?

Yes, and it is one of the uses it is best known for. At this depth the doors keep their panel shadows instead of flattening out, and the muted blue sits well beside white or veined stone. Keep the walls above the cabinets light, and pick warm metal for the handles if you want the blue to show, because chrome pulls the whole run toward gray.

What colors go with De Nimes?

The scheme Farrow & Ball publishes for it leans on warm off-whites, Shaded White No. 201 for the joinery and School House White No. 291 for anything above it. Where the room should stay dark it offers the near-blacks Hopper Head No. 305 and Railings No. 31. Whirlybird No. 309 is its green partner and Sulking Room Pink No. 295 the warm one. Brass, oak and cane keep the blue from going cold.

What is one shade lighter than De Nimes?

Selvedge No. 306 is the step up, about five points lighter and a little bluer, and it is the one to try when a whole room in De Nimes looks too heavy. Oval Room Blue No. 85 is the rung above that and reads plainly as a mid-tone. Downward, Inchyra Blue No. 289 and Stiffkey Blue No. 281 are the darker members of the same family.

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 De Nimes, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.