Tawny (BM 2161-20)
Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.
Tawny (BM 2161-20) is a very deep, warm brown from Benjamin Moore: LRV 19.3, so it reflects about 19 percent of the light that hits it.
Colors that go with Tawny
Four Benjamin Moore colors picked for Tawny by this site's color math: a trim white, a deeper brown, 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 Tawny, 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 | Renwick Golden Oak | SW 2824 | 19 | 2.8 | noticeably different |
| Behr | Olympic Bronze | PPU4-17 | 19.4 | 1.5 | very close |
| Valspar | Autumn Surprise | 3011-5 | 18 | 2.2 | very close |
| PPG Paints | Apple Butter | 15-02 | 19 | 1.7 | very close |
Lighter and darker in Benjamin Moore
The Benjamin Moore brown colors nearest to Tawny (LRV 19.3) by LRV.
Lighter than Tawny
Darker than Tawny
Color data
| Brand | Benjamin Moore |
|---|---|
| Color code | 2161-20 |
| Hex | #9F7247 |
| RGB | 159, 114, 71 |
| HSL | 29°, 38%, 45% |
| LRV (light reflectance value) | 19.3 |
| Lab L*, a*, b* | 51.7, 12.7, 30.7 |
| Undertone | Warm Yellow-Red |
| Temperature | warm |
| Color family | Brown |
Same paint, two kinds of light
Tawny (BM 2161-20), published as #9F7247
#916946
#AD7B46
These swatches and the rooms above are a simulation, not a measurement. How the visualizer works
Similar shades from Benjamin Moore
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Common questions
- What is the LRV of Tawny (BM 2161-20)?
- Tawny has an LRV of 19.3. LRV runs from 0 (black) to 100 (pure white) and measures the share of light a surface reflects, so Tawny is a very deep color.
- What is the closest match to Tawny in another brand?
- Olympic Bronze (Behr PPU4-17) from Behr, at a deltaE of 1.5 (very close).
- Is Tawny warm or cool?
- Benjamin Moore lists Tawny as warm, with a Warm Yellow-Red undertone. Its Lab b* value is 30.7; 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.