The 2027 Colors of the Year, Read by a Painter

Every fall the paint makers name a color of the year, and every year some of those colors look different from the chip once they’re on a wall. A chip is a small square under store lights. A wall is a big one, lit by your own windows and bulbs, with whatever is under the paint showing through.

This year both colors are greens, one close to a white and one deep. That gap changes the primer, the wall prep and how you test the color. Sherwin-Williams announced Celery SW 6421 on September 15, 2026, and Benjamin Moore announced Webster Green HC-130 on October 14, 2026.

The number that tells them apart is LRV, light reflectance value. Black is near 0 and white is near 100, and a higher LRV bounces more light into the room.

Celery lands close to the whites. Webster Green’s 20.2 is about a quarter of White Dove’s 83.16. The same room can feel bright in one and enclosed in the other.

Under a deep color, the wall itself starts to show.

What Webster Green asks of a wall

Going from white to a deep green is a big jump in coverage. Benjamin Moore’s guidance is that certain custom colors may require a Deep Base Primer tinted to a special formula to reach the color. On our interior painting jobs, primer goes on where the topcoat needs it, then at least two finish coats.

The Gypsum Association’s GA-214 names Level 5 (a skim coat over the whole wall) as the recommended finish for dark paint, for paint with sheen or gloss, and for surfaces in severe light. A deep green in eggshell beside a window checks all three. We bring the wall to Level 5 where it needs it, and we choose the sheen along with the color.

Celery, morning and night

Sherwin-Williams describes Celery as a light green with a warm yellow undertone (the part of a color that shows in some light and hides in others). It can read fresh in the morning and quite different under warm bulbs at night. Sample it both ways.

A color this light shows patches and repairs, because they take paint differently from the wall around them. We prime them first. Sherwin-Williams pairs Celery with matte on walls, eggshell on bathroom walls, satin on cabinets and doors and semi-gloss on trim.

Try it on your own walls

A color of the year is a starting point. Our color consultation comes with our painting work, and it runs the same way for any color.

1. Consultation. We talk about your style and look at the light in each room.
2. Samples. Large patches of the color go up on your walls, in more than one room.
3. Light. We look at them at different times of day.
4. Selection. The palette is confirmed and written down before the project begins.

Our posts on choosing a paint finish and Level 5 drywall finish go further into sheen and prep. When you’re ready, request an estimate or call us at (650) 961-7415.