Colour Finder
Benjamin Moore makes over 3,500 colours, and every one of them can be mixed at either of our stores, in any line and any sheen we carry. Nobody decides between 3,500 options, though — so start with the family, and we will take it from there together.
The swatches below are as close as a screen gets, and a screen never gets close enough — brightness, colour profile and the light in your room all shift them. Use these to pick a direction, then look at the real fan deck in the store before you commit.
The families, and what we get asked for
Whites & off-whites
A white is never just white — every one leans warm, cool, green or pink, and you only see which once it is up next to your floor. A cool white beside warm oak looks grey and unfinished; a warm white beside grey tile looks yellow. Tell us what your floors and trim look like and the list gets short fast.
Greys & greiges
A true cool grey can go cold and blue in a north-facing room, which is why most of what we sell now is greige — grey with enough warmth in it to survive a Toronto winter afternoon. Warm floors and furniture? Go greige. Everything in the room already cool? A true grey will look deliberate rather than flat.
Beiges, tans & neutrals
Back in a big way, and far better resolved than the yellow beiges of twenty years ago. These earn their place in hallways, stairwells and open-plan rooms where you want warmth without making a colour statement. Best friend of oak floors and brass hardware.
Blues
Pale blues read cold in a north-facing room and lovely in a bathroom with a window. Deep navy is the safest way to do a dramatic room — it behaves like a neutral, and it is the most requested colour we get for kitchen islands, built-ins and front doors. Going navy on cabinetry? Ask us about ADVANCE; it levels out brush marks and cures hard.
Greens
The family that has changed most in the last few years. Sage and soft grey-greens have taken over from grey in bedrooms and kitchens, and deep forest greens are doing what navy did for cabinetry. Green is also the most light-sensitive family we sell — a sage that looks perfect at the counter can go grey or go minty in your room. Sample this one, always.
Blacks & charcoals
Rarely a whole room, constantly used on doors, window frames, railings, feature walls and exterior trim. A soft black with brown or blue in it looks expensive; a flat true black can look like a hole in the wall. For exterior metal and railings the product matters more than the shade — ask us before you buy.
Reds & pinks
Almost always a front door, a dining room, an accent wall or a piece of furniture. Reds are the hardest colours to get full coverage with — a strong red usually needs a tinted primer and three coats, and skipping the primer is how people end up with a patchy wall and a ruined weekend. Tell us the colour and we will set the primer up correctly. At the soft end, a blush with plenty of grey in it behaves like a warm neutral.
Yellows & golds
Used far more on the outside of a house than inside these days. Indoors, a soft buttery yellow warms up a dark kitchen or a basement stairwell better than any white will. Stay away from a strong yellow in a south-facing room — afternoon sun doubles it.
Rusts, browns & mauves
Rarely asked for by name, often exactly what someone means when they say they want the room to feel warm. Terracotta and rust work beautifully on one wall, in a hallway or on furniture, and they sit well with the wood tones in most Toronto houses. Greyed-off mauve is the surprise of this group — it reads as a warm neutral and only shows its purple at certain times of day. And if what you actually want is a brown floor, door or trim, that is a stain question rather than a paint question.
Then bring the shortlist to us
1. Narrow it to three
Any more than three and you will go round in circles. A screen is for narrowing down, never for deciding.
2. Look at the real fan deck
We have the full deck at both stores, and you can take one home: the Colour Preview deck or the Colour Collection deck. Not sure which one you want? See the collections guide.
3. Sample before you buy a gallon
Paint a patch of each big enough to stand back from and live with it for two days — morning light, evening light, your own bulbs. This one step prevents almost every repaint we hear about.
4. Tell us where it is going
Which room, which surface, how much traffic, what sheen, what state the wall is in. The colour is half the decision — the product and the sheen are the other half. A busy store hands you whatever can is closest; we would rather ask first.
Already have the colour — just not the name?
If what you need is the colour already on your wall, cabinet, floor or trim, bring the piece in: a chip off the wall, a cabinet door, an offcut of baseboard, a piece of tile, a cushion. Bring the real thing rather than a photo — cameras and screens shift colour badly — and for wood, bring a piece of the actual wood you will be staining, because the same stain looks nothing alike on oak and on pine. See colour and stain matching, often ready the same day.
Keep going
- Colour Families guide — the longer version of the notes above.
- Benjamin Moore Colour Collections — Affinity, Colour Preview, Classics, Historical, Off-White and the rest, and which deck to ask for.
- Sheen guide — matte, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, and where each belongs.
- All our in-store services — colour matching, stain matching, spray booth and more.
- Ready to buy: interior paint · exterior paint · stains · Fusion Mineral Paint
Come and see them in person
Richmond Hill — 11860 Yonge Street, Units 2 & 3, Richmond Hill, ON L4E 0W6 · 905-787-0707
North York — 6212 Yonge Street, Unit 103, North York, ON M2M 3X4 · 416-223-1780
Or message us on WhatsApp at (647) 227-1780 — tell us the room you are painting and what is already in it, and we will come back with three to look at.