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Wood color palettes: hex codes for oak, walnut, cherry and pine

Five wood palettes with hex codes: oak (#E3C79B, #A77F4A), walnut, cherry, pine cabin and driftwood. Each runs light to dark like grain and shadow, with contrast ratios for readable pairs and copy or PNG export.

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

Updated

Oak

  1. #E3C79BLight oak
  2. #C9A46BOak
  3. #A77F4AGrain
  4. #7A5A32Knot
  5. #F2E6D0Sanded
  • #E3C79BLight oak
  • #C9A46BOak
  • #A77F4AGrain
  • #7A5A32Knot
  • #F2E6D0Sanded

Preview

Oak

Body text in knot on sanded, with oak as the accent.

Button

Readable text pairs (WCAG AA, 4.5:1 or more): Knot on Sanded 5.09:1

Walnut

  1. #7B5A43Walnut
  2. #5C4033Dark walnut
  3. #3E2A20Heartwood
  4. #A47C5BSapwood
  5. #D9C2A7Oiled edge
  • #7B5A43Walnut
  • #5C4033Dark walnut
  • #3E2A20Heartwood
  • #A47C5BSapwood
  • #D9C2A7Oiled edge

Preview

Walnut

Body text in heartwood on oiled edge, with sapwood as the accent.

Button

Readable text pairs (WCAG AA, 4.5:1 or more): Heartwood on Oiled edge 7.85:1; Dark walnut on Oiled edge 5.46:1

Cherry

  1. #9B4A2FCherry
  2. #7A3420Aged cherry
  3. #C4744FFresh cut
  4. #4D2116Shadow
  5. #E8B796Highlight
  • #9B4A2FCherry
  • #7A3420Aged cherry
  • #C4744FFresh cut
  • #4D2116Shadow
  • #E8B796Highlight

Preview

Cherry

Body text in shadow on highlight, with cherry as the accent.

Button

Readable text pairs (WCAG AA, 4.5:1 or more): Shadow on Highlight 7.53:1; Aged cherry on Highlight 4.97:1

Pine cabin

  1. #F0D9A6Pine
  2. #D8B26EKnotty pine
  3. #A97C3FHoney stain
  4. #4F6F52Forest
  5. #2D2A26Iron
  • #F0D9A6Pine
  • #D8B26EKnotty pine
  • #A97C3FHoney stain
  • #4F6F52Forest
  • #2D2A26Iron

Preview

Pine cabin

Body text in iron on pine, with knotty pine as the accent.

Button

Readable text pairs (WCAG AA, 4.5:1 or more): Iron on Pine 10.32:1; Iron on Knotty pine 7.14:1

Driftwood

  1. #D8D2C4Bleached
  2. #B7AD9BDriftwood
  3. #8F8676Weathered
  4. #6B7F86Sea
  5. #F4F1EASand
  • #D8D2C4Bleached
  • #B7AD9BDriftwood
  • #8F8676Weathered
  • #6B7F86Sea
  • #F4F1EASand

Preview

Driftwood

Body text in black on sand, with driftwood as the accent.

Button

No two colors here reach 4.5:1, so use it for decoration and set text in black or white.

Every palette here in 3D color space

Lightness runs up the pole and hue goes around it, so palettes that share a mood sit in the same region. Drag to turn it.

The 25 colors on this page in OKLab
  • Light oak
  • Oak
  • Grain
  • Knot
  • Sanded
  • Walnut
  • Dark walnut
  • Heartwood
  • Sapwood
  • Oiled edge
  • Cherry
  • Aged cherry
  • Fresh cut
  • Shadow
  • Highlight
  • Pine
  • Knotty pine
  • Honey stain
  • Forest
  • Iron
  • Bleached
  • Driftwood
  • Weathered
  • Sea
  • Sand
On this page

Wood is never one color. A single oak board has pale early growth, darker lines of late growth, knots, and a cut edge that is lighter than the face. The palettes here capture that spread, so you can use them to paint a table, mock up a kitchen, or give a flat website a warm texture.

The five palettes

  • Oak has light oak (#E3C79B), oak (#C9A46B), grain (#A77F4A), knot (#7A5A32) and a very pale sanded tone (#F2E6D0).
  • Walnut is deep and brown-purple: walnut (#7B5A43), dark walnut (#5C4033), heartwood (#3E2A20), sapwood (#A47C5B) and an oiled edge (#D9C2A7). Real walnut does have pale sapwood next to its dark heartwood, which is why both appear.
  • Cherry is red-brown: cherry (#9B4A2F), aged cherry (#7A3420), fresh cut (#C4744F), a deep shadow and a pink-beige highlight (#E8B796).
  • Pine cabin is yellow and knotty, with a dark green and an iron black to ground it.
  • Driftwood is gray-beige and bleached, with a cool sea gray-blue (#6B7F86) in the mix.

Using the steps for grain and shadow

Within each palette, treat the lightest color as the face of a freshly sanded plank and the darkest as a knot, crack or the shaded gap between boards. To draw a plank, fill with the mid-tone, add long thin lines in the darker grain color following the board's length, then run a slim light line along the top edge of each board to show a bevel. For a table seen from the side, the edge usually reads lighter than the top where it was cut, so use the pale tone there. The "oiled edge" in walnut and the "fresh cut" in cherry are those lighter edge colors.

Readable text on wood tones

Wood browns are generally dark enough to hold text on their lighter siblings. In oak, knot on sanded is 5.09:1. Walnut gives heartwood on oiled edge at 7.85:1 and dark walnut on oiled edge 5.46:1. Cherry offers shadow on highlight at 7.53:1 and aged cherry on highlight at 4.97:1. Pine cabin is the strongest, with iron on pine at 10.32:1 and iron on knotty pine 7.14:1. Driftwood lists no passing pair, which fits a bleached, low-contrast material.

Worked example

You are planning a mood board for a small kitchen renovation, choosing between oak cabinets and walnut shelves. Put the two palettes side by side. Oak gives the cabinet door color (#C9A46B), walnut the open shelf (#7B5A43), and the sanded tone (#F2E6D0) the wall. Label each swatch with its name in heartwood (#3E2A20), which reads on the oiled edge at 7.85:1. The two woods are far enough apart in lightness that the shelf stands out from the cabinet, which is the thing you wanted to check before buying. Press Download PNG to save the swatch strip for the contractor.

See fall for leaf and bark browns, tan and bronze for single colors, and cottagecore for a softer home style.

Sources

  1. W3C, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2: contrast minimum (checked 2026-11-10) w3.org
  2. W3C, CSS Color Module Level 4: hex colors and color conversions (checked 2026-11-10) w3.org