Sturdy Brown (SW 6097)
Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.
Sturdy Brown (SW 6097) is a very deep, warm brown from Sherwin-Williams: LRV 8, so it reflects about 8 percent of the light that hits it.
Colors that go with Sturdy Brown
Four Sherwin-Williams colors picked for Sturdy Brown by this site's color math: a trim white, a deeper brown, a quiet contrast from another family, a dark accent. Sherwin-Williams did not choose these pairings.
Closest match in every other brand
Each brand's closest color to Sturdy 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Moore | Charleston Brown | HC-186 | 10.5 | 3.8 | noticeably different |
| Behr | Ancient Root | PPU4-20 | 10.3 | 4.8 | noticeably different |
| Valspar | Dark Earth | 3011-8 | 11 | 6.3 | clearly different |
| PPG Paints | Molasses | 1079-7 | 11 | 4.9 | noticeably different |
Lighter and darker in Sherwin-Williams
The Sherwin-Williams brown colors nearest to Sturdy Brown (LRV 8) by LRV.
Lighter than Sturdy Brown
Darker than Sturdy Brown
Color data
| Brand | Sherwin-Williams |
|---|---|
| Color code | SW 6097 |
| Hex | #69482C |
| RGB | 105, 72, 44 |
| HSL | 28°, 41%, 29% |
| LRV (light reflectance value) | 8 |
| Lab L*, a*, b* | 33.6, 10.6, 22.3 |
| Undertone | Warm Yellow-Red |
| Temperature | warm |
| Color family | Brown |
Same paint, two kinds of light
Sturdy Brown (SW 6097), published as #69482C
#5C402B
#76512B
These swatches and the rooms above are a simulation, not a measurement. How the visualizer works
Similar shades from Sherwin-Williams
More from Sherwin-Williams
Common questions
- What is the LRV of Sturdy Brown (SW 6097)?
- Sturdy Brown has an LRV of 8. LRV runs from 0 (black) to 100 (pure white) and measures the share of light a surface reflects, so Sturdy Brown is a very deep color.
- What is the closest match to Sturdy Brown in another brand?
- Charleston Brown (BM HC-186) from Benjamin Moore, at a deltaE of 3.8 (noticeably different).
- Is Sturdy Brown warm or cool?
- Sherwin-Williams lists Sturdy Brown as warm, with a Warm Yellow-Red undertone. Its Lab b* value is 22.3; 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.