Whole Wheat (SW 6121)
Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.
Whole Wheat (SW 6121) is a medium, warm yellow from Sherwin-Williams: LRV 48, so it reflects about 48 percent of the light that hits it.
Colors that go with Whole Wheat
Four Sherwin-Williams colors picked for Whole Wheat by this site's color math: a trim white, a deeper yellow, 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 Whole Wheat, 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 | Fairway Oaks | 1075 | 46.1 | 1.4 | very close |
| Behr | Tropical Tan | PWL-84 | 47 | 0.6 | indistinguishable |
| Valspar | Prairie Dance | 3006-10A | 48 | 1.1 | very close |
| PPG Paints | Real Simple | 1096-4 | 49 | 1.7 | very close |
Lighter and darker in Sherwin-Williams
The Sherwin-Williams yellow colors nearest to Whole Wheat (LRV 48) by LRV.
Lighter than Whole Wheat
Darker than Whole Wheat
Color data
| Brand | Sherwin-Williams |
|---|---|
| Color code | SW 6121 |
| Hex | #CDB592 |
| RGB | 205, 181, 146 |
| HSL | 36°, 37%, 69% |
| LRV (light reflectance value) | 48 |
| Lab L*, a*, b* | 74.9, 3.3, 21.0 |
| Undertone | Warm Yellow |
| Temperature | warm |
| Color family | Yellow |
Same paint, two kinds of light
Whole Wheat (SW 6121), published as #CDB592
#BDAB91
#DDBF91
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 Whole Wheat (SW 6121)?
- Whole Wheat has an LRV of 48. LRV runs from 0 (black) to 100 (pure white) and measures the share of light a surface reflects, so Whole Wheat is a medium color.
- What is the closest match to Whole Wheat in another brand?
- Tropical Tan (Behr PWL-84) from Behr, at a deltaE of 0.6 (indistinguishable).
- Is Whole Wheat warm or cool?
- Sherwin-Williams lists Whole Wheat as warm, with a Warm Yellow undertone. Its Lab b* value is 21.0; 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.