Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore, two of the largest paint brands sold in the United States, have each named a green as their Color of the Year for 2027. Sherwin-Williams picked Celery (SW 6421), which it describes as an airy, herbal green. Benjamin Moore, in an announcement dated October 14, 2026, picked Webster Green (HC-130), a dark green from its Historical Colors collection. The two sit at opposite ends of the green family, and the gap between them shows up in a number every paint maker publishes for its colors: the light reflectance value.
What Sherwin-Williams chose
Sherwin-Williams says its Trendsight Team, the company's color forecasting group, chose Celery after tracking recurring themes across industries, including a pull toward calm and restoration and the appearance of green in both fashion and interiors. Celery heads a coordinating palette of nine other paint colors: Potentially Purple, Artichoke, Cocoon, Kirsch Red, Cosmos, Georgian Bay, Plum Brown, White Flour and Woven Wicker. The company lists uses that run from interior walls, trim and kitchen cabinetry to bathrooms, laundry rooms, mudrooms and home offices.
Celery is the first single green Sherwin-Williams has named since Evergreen Fog for 2022, according to the company's own archive. Its picks in between were Redend Point for 2023, Upward for 2024, a nine-color capsule in place of a single color for 2025, and Universal Khaki for 2026. Sherwin-Williams also published a separate 2027 trend forecast for designers, which it calls Rewild.
What Benjamin Moore chose
Benjamin Moore says its Color Marketing Team made the selection after reviewing past, present and projected color trends, and that it settled on the green family for 2027 because variations on green kept recurring across that review. Webster Green anchors an eight-color Color Trends 2027 palette: Webster Green HC-130, White Down OC-131, Nelson Blue CW-635, Shakespeare Tan 228, Antique Copper 1169, Wild Aster 1240, Durango 2137-30 and Townsend Harbor Brown HC-64. The company sells through more than 8,500 locally owned retailers and takes sample orders on its website.
What the light reflectance value tells you
Light reflectance value, or LRV, measures how much visible light a painted surface reflects, on a scale from 0 (absolute black) to 100 (a perfectly reflective white). Benjamin Moore's technical training material puts the darkest real-world blacks at about 5 and the brightest whites at about 90. It also notes that darker colors absorb more light and heat, so a room painted in one may need more artificial light, while lighter colors reflect more.
Benjamin Moore lists Webster Green at an LRV of 20.2, which places it toward the dark end of the scale. Sherwin-Williams' Color of the Year pages for Celery did not show an LRV when HomeLife Wave checked them on November 14, 2026; the figure is printed on Sherwin-Williams color chips and fan decks, and a paint counter can read it off the chip. For anyone choosing between the two for the same room, the pair of LRV numbers is the quickest way to compare how much light each will give back.
What a Color of the Year is, and is not
A Color of the Year is a selection made by each company's own color team. It is not a measure of what homeowners bought, and neither company published sales figures with its pick. Each brand names its color on its own schedule, so one company's choice says nothing about another's line. Neither color is new to its maker's catalog: Celery already carries a Sherwin-Williams color number, SW 6421, and Webster Green comes from Benjamin Moore's existing Historical Colors collection.
How to try either one at home
Both companies sell samples. For Celery, Sherwin-Williams offers a free color chip, peel-and-stick samples and its Color To Go sample paint. For Webster Green, Benjamin Moore takes sample orders at benjaminmoore.com and through its retailers. A peel-and-stick sheet or a painted sample board can be moved between walls and looked at in morning, afternoon and evening light, which shows how the color behaves in a specific room before any wall is painted.
The full Celery palette and its suggested uses are on Sherwin-Williams' 2027 Color of the Year page. All eight Color Trends 2027 colors are listed in Benjamin Moore's October 14 announcement, and each color's LRV is on its own product page.
Sources
- Sherwin-Williams: Color of the Year 2027
- Sherwin-Williams: Freshness, Balance and Belonging: Our 2027 Color of the Year
- Sherwin-Williams: Color of the Year Archive
- Benjamin Moore: Benjamin Moore Names Webster Green HC-130 Color of the Year 2027
- Benjamin Moore: Webster Green HC-130
- Benjamin Moore (continuing education course): The Science of Visible Light and Its Impact on Paint Specification

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