GREYS

Café Blue

#8A9B98

RGB 138, 155, 152 · HSL 169°, 8%, 57% · CMYK 11, 0, 2, 39

Café Blue is #8A9B98 in HEX — rgb(138, 155, 152), hsl(169°, 8%, 57%), cmyk(11%, 0%, 2%, 39%).

Café Blue pulls into the mid-tone end of the greys spectrum — HSL 169°, 8%, 57%. The neutral saturation makes it near-neutral and forgiving, and the hue reads cool. In interior projects it shines on walls, soft furniture, hard surfaces — as the project's quiet backbone. Reads best alongside white trim, natural wood, brass, soft black accents.

Color Codes

HEX#8A9B98

RGB138, 155, 152

HSL169°, 8%, 57%

HSV169°, 11%, 61%

CMYK11, 0, 2, 39

Decimal9083800

CSS RGBrgb(138, 155, 152)

CSS HSLhsl(169, 8%, 57%)

Paint Matches — this color across 16 brands

Farrow & Ball

Oval Room Blue 85

ΔE 1 · #8B9D9B

Valspar

Café Blue 5001-4A

ΔE 1.2 · #8B9C9B

Behr

Provence Blue HDC-AC-23

ΔE 1.2 · #8B9C9B

Hallman-Lindsay

Singing In The Rain 478

ΔE 1.3 · #8E9C98

Vista Paint

Singing in the Rain C-477

ΔE 1.5 · #8C9A95

Kilz

June Gloom TB-67

ΔE 1.6 · #869B97

Benjamin Moore

Atmospheric AF-500

ΔE 1.7 · #899E9B

Sherwin-Williams

Jasper Stone SW9133

ΔE 2.5 · #8D9E97

PPG

Aqua Smoke 1034-5

ΔE 2.7 · #8C9FA0

Dulux

Falkland SG5H4

ΔE 2.8 · #839791

Dunn-Edwards

Dusty Dream DE6312

ΔE 3.9 · #97A2A0

RAL

Silver Grey 7001

ΔE 4 · #8A9597

IKEA

IKEA182 182

ΔE 5 · #9AA1A0

Colorhouse

Water .05 Water-05

ΔE 5.4 · #82979D

Dutch Boy

Smoky Gray VS-9305

ΔE 7 · #95958D

Kobra

Grey 42

ΔE 8.3 · #889099

Light Reflectance & Undertone

Light Reflectance Value (LRV)

31/100

Medium

0 · DarkLight · 100

Balanced reflectance — holds colour without washing out. Versatile for most rooms and the most forgiving range for true-to-chip results.

Undertone

TemperatureCool MasstoneTeal UndertoneGreen

A near-neutral with a subtle cool green undertone — it will pick up colour from surrounding surfaces and shift noticeably under different light.

Color Theory

Complementary

#8A9B98

#9A898C

Analogous

#899A8E

#8A9B98

#89959A

Triadic

#8A9B98

#97899A

#9A9789

Split-Complementary

#8A9B98

#9A8995

#9A8E89

Tetradic

#8A9B98

#8E899A

#9A898C

#959A89

Monochromatic

#3F4A48

#637471

#8A9B98

#B2BDBB

#DBE1E0

Rectangle

#8A9B98

#898C9A

#9A898C

#9A9789

Compound

#8A9B98

#89959A

#9A898C

#9A8E89

Variations

Lighter

#A0AEAC

#B9C2C0

#D6DBDA

Darker

#6B7E7A

#495754

#2A3331

Saturation

#8F9493

#899A97

#56CDB7

Interior Use

Best Rooms

living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms

Best Uses

walls, soft furniture, hard surfaces

Pairs With

white trim, natural wood, brass, soft black accents

Accessibility (WCAG)

vs White

2.91:1

Fail

vs Black

7.22:1

AAA

Deuteranopia

#8A9B98

#949599

Original → Simulated

Protanopia

#8A9B98

#989898

Original → Simulated

Tritanopia

#8A9B98

#8B9A9A

Original → Simulated

Color Psychology

Quiet · Versatile

Café Blue gets out of the way so the architecture and the people in the room do the work. The right neutral is never a default — it reads warm or cool, dusty or sharp depending on its undertone, and that undertone is what makes or breaks the room.

SymbolismBalance, sophistication, calm

PersonalityAdaptable, considered, timeless

versatileneutraltimelessbackdroptrimwall

How it looks under different light

#A7A18D

Warm Bulb 2700K

Incandescent / soft white LED — pulls colour toward yellow/amber.

#8A9B98

Daylight 5500K

Midday natural light or daylight-spec LED — closest to the paint chip.

#94A6B1

Cool Bulb 6500K

Cool white LED / overcast daylight — pulls colour toward blue.

Pairs With

#EAEBEB

Trim

Matched off-white

Same hue at 92% lightness — trim reads coordinated, not stark.

#F7F7F7

Ceiling

Whisper tint

Near-white with a hint of the hero's undertone — ceiling feels intentional.

#9A5D68

Accent

Complementary punch

Hue +180°, slightly muted for paint vs. screen — use on a door, frame, or single piece.

#574738

Floor

Walnut neutral

Warm mid-brown grounds the scheme regardless of hero hue.

Paint Info

Brand · Product Line

Benjamin Moore / Regal Select Interior

Recommended Finishes

Eggshell (walls) · Pearl (trim) · Matte (ceiling)

Eggshell hides imperfections on main walls while keeping the color rich; pearl on trim adds subtle sheen and easier cleaning; flat matte on ceilings prevents glare.

Best Surfaces

Primary walls · Cabinetry · Trim · Soft furniture

Coverage & Dry Time

Typical coverage 350-400 sq ft per gallon over a primed surface.

Touch-dry in ~1 hour. Recoat after 4 hours. Full cure 7-14 days.

Primer

Standard primer is adequate.

Application Tip

Use a 9" microfiber roller on walls and a 2.5" angled sash brush for trim cuts. Two coats minimum for even depth.

Paint Calculator

Wall area (m²)

Coats

Coverage (m² / L)

You'll need

4.0 litres

1.06 US gallons · room for one touch-up coat. Buy slightly more to ensure single-batch match.

Code Snippets

CSS — color

color: #8A9B98;

CSS — background

background-color: #8A9B98;

CSS Variable

--color-café-blue: #8A9B98;

Tailwind v3 — config

colors: { 'café-blue': '#8A9B98' }

Tailwind — arbitrary

bg-[#8A9B98] text-[#8A9B98]

SCSS

$café-blue: #8A9B98;

Similar Colors

Atmospheric

#889D9A · ΔE 1.5

Mystic Lake

#8A9F9B · ΔE 2.0

Sea Star

#889E9E · ΔE 2.5

Cloudy Sky

#8F9D9E · ΔE 2.8

Brewster Gray

#8A9696 · ΔE 2.9

Sea Glass

#919E97 · ΔE 2.9

Gibraltar Cliffs

#8F9999 · ΔE 3.2

Sea Pine

#8B9490 · ΔE 3.6

Built by DSGN.HOUSE Updated 2026

Our color tools run on our own catalogue of 26,000+ real paint colors across 16 brands — Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, Behr, Dulux, RAL and more — with the color math (HSL and CIELAB matching) computed in-house, not scraped from summaries. Every color you pick maps to a real, buyable paint with its code, so what you see here you can actually take to the store. We review and update these tools and their data regularly.

Created by Denis Kataev, founder of DSGN.HOUSE — a software engineer and digital entrepreneur building professional color-design tools for everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What color is #8A9B98?

#8A9B98 is Café Blue, a mid-tone grey with a cool undertone.

Is #8A9B98 warm or cool?

Café Blue reads cool, which influences how it interacts with surrounding tones and natural light.

What rooms work best with Café Blue?

Café Blue works well in living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms. Designers typically use it for walls, soft furniture, hard surfaces.

What colors pair well with Café Blue?

Café Blue pairs naturally with white trim, natural wood, brass, soft black accents. Its complementary color is also a strong contrast option for accents.

Where can I download Café Blue?

You can download Café Blue on DSGN.HOUSE in 15 designer formats including CSS gradient, Figma, Procreate swatches, Tailwind config, Adobe ASE, SVG, and 4K wallpapers — all free.

What's the hex code for Café Blue?

The hex code is #8A9B98. In RGB it's 138, 155, 152, and in HSL it's 169°, 8%, 57%.

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