Learn about Benjamin Moore (OC-45) one of America’s top white paint colors in this color review.
BENJAMIN MOORE SWISS COFFEE PAINT COLOR REVIEW (OC-45)
If you have ever researched popular white paint colors, then you have probably heard of Swiss Coffee by Benjamin Moore. It has been popular for decades and is sought after by Designers and homeowners alike all over the country.
People love Swiss coffee because it’s a creamy, warm off off-white paint color that pairs well with many finishes, which are otherwise difficult to work with, like darker wood tones but can also work well with modern finishes as long as they’re warm in tone.
Have you ever heard a paint color mentioned so often that when it’s time to begin looking for paint colors for your own home, without thinking you reach for a color that you’ve heard of before, mostly due to the popularity of the name rather than the actual color?
Choosing a paint color this way can be a recipe for disaster, just because a color looks great in someone else’s home does not mean it will look great in yours. Fear not, we are going to go over a few ways to make sure swiss coffee is the right paint color for you before you buy any paint.
Keynotes
- Please don’t choose a paint color on popularity alone, it rarely works out.
- Don’t choose a paint color standing in the store.
- Keep the surrounding elements in mind, these elements can influence paint colors, especially whites.
Is Swiss Coffee A Warm or Cool white paint color?
Swiss Coffee is a warm white paint color that can look different depending on its surrounding colors.
It tends to work best with warm finishes like those popular in the 90s and early 2000s, like the builder beige tile and laminate, or granite countertops.
Although Swiss Coffee has always been a popular white paint color, over the years it has taken a back seat to brighter, more modern white paint colors.
But with the surge of modern traditional design that we’ve been seeing over the past few years, it’s no surprise that Swiss Coffee has made a HUGE comeback.
Plus Shee Mcgee of Studio Mcgee used Swiss Coffee as the main wall color in her home, giving it a huge boost in popularity.
Shea McGee’s living room is painted in Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee.
There’s just one catch, she used it at 75% strength, which lightened the color up quite a bit and yes, it looks amazing but if you ran to Benjamin Moore and bought Swiss coffee without all of the information the paint color would look completely different once you got it on the wall, and not at all the way you envisioned.
Shea McGee’s entryway was painted in Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee. Here you can most definitely see a warm, almost yellow hue to the wall color.
What’s the LRV of Swiss Coffee?
Swiss Coffee OC-45 has an LRV of 81.91 which puts it in the soft white category and it’s very close to the off-white range.
If you’re wondering what LRV is, you can read more in-depth about it here.
Here’s the quick and dirty version: LRV is short for Light Reflective Value and it notes the amount of light a paint color reflects on a scale of 0-100. With 0 being black and 100 being the purest white. The LRV quantifies the amount of light the paint color will reflect or absorb. For example, Black will absorb all of the light and the purest white will reflect all of the light.
Every paint color has an LRV and mostly it tells you the depth of that color. The darkest paint color goes all the way down to 2 and the whitest white on the market only goes to 94.
82 LRV is where off-white stops and white starts to give you some insight on where Swiss Coffee lands.
How Light Affects BM Swiss Coffee
Let’s take a look at the difference in two spaces in Shea’s home, this will give you a good idea of how natural light can impact this paint color.
Swiss Coffee naturally has a slight green undertone which instantly makes me want to run for the hills…
Most of us aren’t going for green when looking for creamy white paint, but in some situations, it works.
Shea McGee’s entryway is painted in Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee.
As you can see above, the entryway is reading very bright white, but when you step into the living roo,m you can see the slight golden/green undertone of the walls and also how off-white the color is compared to the entryway area.
Now let’s compare the living room walls to the kitchen cabinets…
Do you see the creamy golden hue of the cabinets? Now compare that to the bright white look of the entryway. In this comparison, it is much easier to see that the paint used for the walls was at 50% vs the 100 Swiss Coffee of the kitchen cabinets.
Is Swiss Coffee Right For My Home?
If your home has a lot of warm beige tones, Swiss Coffee can look like a soft white paint color, but if you have cooler tones in your home, those cool tones can clash with Swiss Coffee and bring out a yucky yellow tone, which in my opinion nobody wants.
What Trim Color Is Best With Swiss Coffee Walls?
If using Swiss Coffee as the wall color, I recommend using Swiss Coffee for the trim as well, just in a different sheen. Go eggshell or satin on the walls and semi-gloss for trim.
Overall, white paint is the hardest to work with due to the endless undertone possibilities, when you add in Swiss Coffee’s undertone unpredictability, choosing the same color in a different sheen will make your life much easier. Trust me.
The paint will still appear different due to the difference in sheen, causing the light to reflect differently off of each, but it will remove the guesswork and leave less room for mistakes.
Colors that pair well with BM Swiss Coffee
Earthy colors: Terra cotta, brown, and Raintree Green 1496
Warm whites: Revere Pewter HC-172, Fairway Oaks 1075, and other warm off-whites
Blues and greens: Lush AF-475, Newburg Green HC-158, and Yarmouth Blue
Brass or gold: Complement the warm undertones of Swiss Coffee
Subdued beiges: Cedar Key OC-16 provides a subtle warm contrast
Rich dark browns: Dragon’s Breath 1547 creates a sophisticated and elegant look
If you made it this far, hopefully you learned what situations Swiss Coffee works best in and if it would be a good fit for your home, you can grab a sample here and try it out.
Doing this part BEFORE you buy any paint is going to save you so much time and sanity.
I am working on an E-book about paint colors and cannot wait to finish. Hopefully it ends up being very helpful for you, so look for that in the coming weeks.
PS. Don’t forget to show support by pinning the image below.
If you are interested in reading more about paint colors you can check out the posts below.
The Best White Paint Colors To Use In Your Home
The Best Dark Green Paint Colors To Use in Your Home.
5 Things You Should Know Before Painting Your Walls White
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