Paint colors · Behr, as published by the brand

Behr Natural Gray (PPU18-10): hex #C4C0BB, LRV and undertone

Natural Gray (PPU18-10) from Behr is #C4C0BB with an LRV of 53. It measures as true neutral; black text on it reaches 11.60:1.

By Paul Gunder. Every value is computed from published standards; see how ColorPlum works.

Updated November 11, 2026

BehrNatural GrayPPU18-10

Hex: #C4C0BB
RGB: 196, 192, 187
LRV: 53
Undertone: True neutral

LRV 53. Mid-tone: noticeably colored; best in rooms with good daylight.

Almost no undertone (chroma 0.008): it reads as a clean gray in most light.

Coordinating colors Behr suggests

Fig PreservesN110-3
TeatimePPU4-06
Swiss Coffee12
RainmasterMQ5-22
MasterpieceMQ5-08
Stone WallsPPU8-19

Closest colors from other brands

ΔE is the CIEDE2000 difference between the published values: under 2 is hard to tell apart on a wall, 2 to 5 is a visible but related shade. Always compare real chips before you buy.

Name, code, LRV and color value as published by Behr on its color page (checked 2026-11-11). A screen can only approximate paint: sheen, lighting and the screen itself all change it, so check a physical sample. ColorPlum is not affiliated with Behr.

ColorPlum swatchNatural Graylight gray

HEX: #C4C0BB
RGB: rgb(196, 192, 187)
HSL: hsl(33, 7%, 75%)

Best text on it: black at 11.60:1

Build a palette Make a gradient Check contrast Wallpaper

Natural Gray#C4C0BB

Every code for Natural Gray

HEX#C4C0BB
RGBrgb(196, 192, 187)
HSLhsl(33, 7%, 75%)
HSV33°, 5%, 77%
CMYK0%, 2%, 5%, 23%
Lablab(77.9% 0.8 3)
OKLCHoklch(81% 0.008 73.7)
Decimal12894395

Tints, shades and tones

From white to black in 10% steps, with Natural Gray in the middle. Tap a code to copy it.

90%#F9F9F8
80%#F3F2F1
70%#EDECEB
60%#E7E6E4
50%#E2E0DD
40%#DCD9D6
30%#D6D3CF
20%#D0CDC9
10%#CAC6C2
Base#C4C0BB
10%#B0ADA8
20%#9D9A96
30%#898683
40%#767370
50%#62605E
60%#4E4D4B
70%#3B3A38
80%#272625
90%#141313

Tones (mixed with gray)

10%#BDBAB5
20%#B6B3AF
30%#B0ADA9
40%#A9A6A3
50%#A2A09E
60%#9B9A98
70%#949392
80%#8E8D8C
90%#878686

Matching colors

Complementary

#C4C0BB
#BBBFC4

Analogous

#C4BBBB
#C4C0BB
#C4C4BB

Triadic

#C4C0BB
#BBC4C0
#C0BBC4

Split complementary

#C4C0BB
#BBC4C4
#BBBBC4

Tetradic (square)

#C4C0BB
#BBC4BB
#BBBFC4
#C4BBC4

Monochromatic

#7B746B
#A09A92
#C4C0BB
#E8E6E4
#F6F5F4

Natural Gray in 3D color space

OKLab, the space ColorPlum does its math in: lightness runs up the pole, hue goes around it and saturation grows outward. The faint shell is every color a screen can show (saturation is drawn wider than lightness so hues separate). Drag to turn it.

Natural Gray with its complement, its triad and its tint and shade

Natural Gray
Triad #BBC4C0
Triad #C0BBC4
Complement
50% tint
50% shade

Natural Gray in use

New collectionAutumn edit

Card body text stays dark for reading; natural gray carries the header and the button.

Shop nowTag

Headline in Natural Gray

A paragraph with a link in dark text, because this color is too light for text on white; use it for fills instead.

How it looks with color-vision deficiency

A simulation (Machado and colleagues, 2009) of how the color and its complement read without one type of cone.

Typical color vision#C4C0BB
Protanopia (no red cones)#C2C0BB
Deuteranopia (no green cones)#C3C1BB
Tritanopia (no blue cones)#C6BFBF

Contrast and readability

Pairing	Ratio	WCAG 2.2
as text on white	1.80:1	AA AA large AAA
as text on black	11.60:1	AA AA large AAA
white text on it	1.80:1	AA AA large AAA
black text on it	11.60:1	AA AA large AAA
on your background	1.58:1	AA AA large AAA

Try a background

Export

:root {
  --natural-gray: #c4c0bb;
  --natural-gray-rgb: 196 192 187;
  --natural-gray-on: #000000;
}

On this page

Natural Gray is Behr PPU18-10, a light-to-mid gray with hex #C4C0BB and RGB 196, 192, 187. The channels step down by only a few units, which keeps it close to neutral.

Reading the values

LRV is 53, a mid-tone value that looks more like a color than a pale wash and does its best work where daylight is plentiful. HSL is hsl(33, 7%, 75%) and OKLCH is oklch(81% 0.008 73.7). The chroma of 0.008 is low enough that the undertone measures as neutral, with no clear warm or cool push. Even so, the hue sits around 74 degrees, so you might catch a trace of warmth beside a cool white.

One more thing to keep in mind about mid-tones: a gray at 53 changes more between a sunny wall and a shaded one than a very light or very dark gray does. Paint a large patch on the wall that gets the least light, and judge it at morning, noon and evening before rolling the whole room.

Worked example

Take a hallway with a window at the far end facing south and a long run of white doors. Natural Gray on the walls at LRV 53 gives the corridor some weight so the doors stand out, and the daylight at the end keeps it from feeling dim. Behr lists Swiss Coffee (12) as a coordinating color, which would work on the doors or baseboards. Lighting matters here: a hallway lit only by a ceiling fixture at night will look flatter than the sample did in daylight.

Behr's coordinating list

Six colors accompany PPU18-10: Fig Preserves (N110-3), Teatime (PPU4-06), Swiss Coffee (12), Rainmaster (MQ5-22), Masterpiece (MQ5-08) and Stone Walls (PPU8-19). Only Swiss Coffee has a page on this site. The rest appear by name and code, so look them up on the brand site if one catches your eye.

Close and not-so-close

Behr Silver Bullet (N520-2) is ΔE 2.6, related but visible. Graceful Gray (PPU18-12) is 3.7 and Wheat Bread (720C-3) is 4.0.

Across brands, Sherwin-Williams Light French Gray (SW 0055) and Benjamin Moore Smoke Embers (1466) are both ΔE 1.1, a pair of matches your eye would struggle to separate across a room. Benjamin Moore Wish (AF-680) is 2.9 and Sherwin-Williams Repose Gray (SW 7015) is 3.0. The two 1.1 matches are a real option if one brand's store is more convenient, though a sample card is still worth the small cost.

Text on #C4C0BB

Black text measures 11.60:1 and white text 1.80:1. Use black or another dark color for any copy on this gray.