Char Brown (BM 2137-20)
Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.
Char Brown (BM 2137-20) is a very deep, warm brown from Benjamin Moore: LRV 9.3, so it reflects about 9 percent of the light that hits it.
Colors that go with Char Brown
Three Benjamin Moore colors picked for Char Brown by this site's color math: a trim white, a quiet contrast from another family, a dark accent. Benjamin Moore did not choose these pairings.
Closest match in every other brand
Each brand's closest color to Char Brown, ranked by CIEDE2000 (deltaE): under 1.0 is indistinguishable, 1.0 to 2.3 very close, 2.3 to 5 noticeably different, over 5 clearly different.
| Brand | Closest color | Code | LRV | deltaE | How close |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherwin-Williams | Tungsten | SW 9515 | 8 | 1.0 | very close |
| Behr | Eagle Rock | S-H-730 | 8.7 | 1.3 | very close |
| Valspar | Montana Moss | 6009-3 | 9 | 2.4 | noticeably different |
| PPG Paints | Afternoon Tea | 1023-7 | 8 | 0.6 | indistinguishable |
Lighter and darker in Benjamin Moore
The Benjamin Moore brown colors nearest to Char Brown (LRV 9.3) by LRV.
Lighter than Char Brown
Darker than Char Brown
Color data
| Brand | Benjamin Moore |
|---|---|
| Color code | 2137-20 |
| Hex | #5A4F40 |
| RGB | 90, 79, 64 |
| HSL | 35°, 17%, 30% |
| LRV (light reflectance value) | 9.3 |
| Lab L*, a*, b* | 34.3, 1.9, 10.6 |
| Undertone | Warm Yellow |
| Temperature | warm |
| Color family | Brown |
Same paint, two kinds of light
Char Brown (BM 2137-20), published as #5A4F40
#4C463F
#68583F
These swatches and the rooms above are a simulation, not a measurement. How the visualizer works
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Common questions
- What is the LRV of Char Brown (BM 2137-20)?
- Char Brown has an LRV of 9.3. LRV runs from 0 (black) to 100 (pure white) and measures the share of light a surface reflects, so Char Brown is a very deep color.
- What is the closest match to Char Brown in another brand?
- Afternoon Tea (PPG 1023-7) from PPG Paints, at a deltaE of 0.6 (indistinguishable).
- Is Char Brown warm or cool?
- Benjamin Moore lists Char Brown as warm, with a Warm Yellow undertone. Its Lab b* value is 10.6; a higher b* is warmer and yellower, a lower one cooler and bluer.
Sources: LRV and hex as published by the manufacturer, via PaintDB (CC BY 4.0). Color differences are CIEDE2000 values computed by this site from the hex values (data snapshot 2026-10-01). Color names and codes belong to their manufacturers.