Setting Plaster
No. 231 · Farrow & Ball
Farrow & Ball
Setting Plaster
No. 231
Noticeable orange, a warm color
- Color family
- Pink
- Sold for
- Interior and exterior
Farrow & Ball Setting Plaster No. 231 is a warm plaster pink, a pink with enough orange in it to read as soft clay rather than a candy color. Its LRV of 56 puts it in the light band, bright enough for a whole room while still holding its color against white trim. Bedrooms and living rooms are where it turns up most, and it does more for a dim hallway than a gray of the same depth.
Is Setting Plaster warm or cool? Undertones by the numbers
leans orange
Undertone
Noticeable orange
A visible lean you see in daylight.
Measured, Setting Plaster carries a noticeable amount of orange with more yellow in it than red, so the pink arrives warm rather than cool. Against a chalky white such as Dimity No. 2008 the pink is obvious from the doorway. Against terracotta tile or a red-toned rug it flips and reads as a beige. Warm oak, cane and unbleached linen bring the yellow forward; cool marble and steel leave the pink exposed. Its measured neighbors mark the range: Scallop No. 311 is the same color with the pink pulled back, and Templeton Pink No. 303 carries the same lean a step deeper.
Setting Plaster in north, south, east and west light
In a north-facing room Setting Plaster gives up some of its warmth and settles toward a gray-pink, the version the sample card never shows, so paint a patch on the wall opposite the window before ordering. South light does the opposite and pushes it close to a warm off-white through the afternoon. East rooms hand you the pink at breakfast and a grayer wall by late day. Late west sun can tip it toward peach or gold. Bulbs at 2700K to 3000K hold it steady, while anything colder drains the pink straight out.
Watch for
- Settles into a plain gray-pink in a north room and can read as greige
- Tips toward peach in late west sun, most of all on a large wall
- Reads beige, not pink, beside terracotta tile or a red-toned floor
- Loses its color under 4000K bulbs, which leaves the wall looking flat
Best rooms and surfaces for Setting Plaster
Setting Plaster is a wall color first. It holds up in a living room with decent windows, and in a hallway with no window at all it beats a gray of the same depth, because the orange in it keeps the space from going dead. On kitchen cabinets it reads as a soft clay and wants a warm white above it rather than a cool one. It is the wrong color for a bathroom finished in gray tile, where the pink starts to look like an accident. Warm oak floors, brass, cane and cream linen sit with it easily, and black metal gives it enough edge that the room does not turn sweet.
Setting Plaster on an exterior
Farrow & Ball rates Setting Plaster for outside use, where daylight is stronger than any bulb and the color reads a step lighter and cleaner than it does indoors. On a whole facade it comes across as a warm pale stone, with the pink showing only at close range or in low sun. Stucco and old brick suit it better than crisp modern siding. On a front door it is a quieter choice than a saturated color, and an off-white frame such as Dimity No. 2008 keeps the edges clear.
Try Setting Plaster on your own walls
Upload a photo of your room, or the outside of your house, and TryMyHome renders Setting Plaster 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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Setting Plaster vs Intimate White, First Light, Accessible Beige and Bungalow Beige
Intimate WhiteSetting PlasterSetting Plaster vs Intimate White SW 6322
Setting Plaster is much darker; undertone noticeable orange vs subtle orange.
Intimate White SW 6322 shares the same warm orange lean but sits far lighter, an LRV of 77 against 56, so it reads as a pink-tinted off-white rather than a color. A room painted in it looks white until the light drops. Intimate White suits walls that should stay quiet and let the pink show only in the corners, while Setting Plaster is meant to be seen from the doorway.
First LightSetting PlasterSetting Plaster vs First Light 2102-70
Setting Plaster is much darker; undertone noticeable orange vs subtle peach.
First Light 2102-70 was Benjamin Moore's Color of the Year in 2020 and is the pale pink most often weighed against this one. It measures a subtle peach at an LRV of 76, lighter and carrying less color than Setting Plaster at 56. First Light keeps a room reading white with a blush in it. Setting Plaster commits to the color and keeps hold of it when the light goes weak.
Accessible BeigeSetting PlasterSetting Plaster vs Accessible Beige SW 7036
Setting Plaster is a touch darker; undertone noticeable orange vs noticeable yellow-beige.
Accessible Beige SW 7036 sits about two points above it, 58 to 56, but its lean is yellow-beige where this one is orange-pink. Put them side by side and the difference is not subtle: Accessible Beige looks like a tan, Setting Plaster looks like a color. In a room of oak floors and cream cabinets, Accessible Beige disappears into the woodwork while Setting Plaster stays on the wall.
Bungalow BeigeSetting PlasterSetting Plaster vs Bungalow Beige SW 7511
Setting Plaster is a touch lighter; both have a noticeable orange undertone.
Bungalow Beige SW 7511 shares the orange lean and runs slightly darker, an LRV of 53 to 56, with the pink buried under more brown. In a room full of heavy oak trim, Bungalow Beige is the quieter wall, because Setting Plaster's pink has to compete with wood that warm. Where the trim is painted white and the floor is pale, Setting Plaster is the one that gives the room a color.
Questions about Setting Plaster
Is there a dupe for Farrow & Ball Setting Plaster?
Classic Sand SW 0056 is the nearest by measurement, near enough that the two are hard to separate once they are on a wall. Boudoir AF-190 and Milk Shake 1165 at Benjamin Moore come next, both within a shade of it, then Burlap 2163-50 and Georgetown Pink Beige HC-56. None is an exact copy, so buy a sample of the match rather than trusting a screen.
Does Setting Plaster look pink or beige?
It reads pink in most rooms and beige beside anything with stronger red or orange in it. The measurement puts it in the orange band with enough color to be seen, so the pink is real rather than a trick of the light. Terracotta, warm brick and red-toned oak are what push it the other way.
Is Setting Plaster a good bedroom color?
Yes, and bedrooms are where people use it most. Under warm lamps it keeps its color instead of going gray, and at this lightness it does not close a room down the way a mid-tone would. Run a warm off-white on the ceiling and trim, and watch cool white bedding, which makes the pink look stronger than it is.
What colors go with Setting Plaster?
The scheme Farrow & Ball prints alongside it starts with Dimity No. 2008 on the trim, then Tallow No. 203 and School House White No. 291 as the soft partners, and Charleston Gray No. 243 or London Clay No. 244 when the room needs weight. Skimming Stone No. 241 is the neutral for the next room along. Brass, cane, oak and cream linen suit it; cool gray tile does not.
What is one shade darker than Setting Plaster?
Templeton Pink No. 303 is the next step down, deeper and a little more red, at an LRV of 47 against 56. Pink Ground No. 202 is the step up if the room has to stay light. Among its measured neighbors, Scallop No. 311 is a touch lighter and quieter, which is the one to try when the pink is too much.
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 Setting Plaster, checked in morning and evening light, is the last step before a gallon.
- Made with real paint
- Delivered next day
- Peels off clean
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