Optimistic Yellow (SW 6900)
Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.
Optimistic Yellow (SW 6900) is a light, warm yellow from Sherwin-Williams: LRV 76, so it reflects about 76 percent of the light that hits it.
Colors that go with Optimistic Yellow
Four Sherwin-Williams colors picked for Optimistic Yellow 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 Optimistic Yellow, 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 | Hawthorne Yellow | HC-4 | 71.3 | 0.4 | indistinguishable |
| Behr | Lily Bulb | P320-3 | 77.3 | 1.7 | very close |
| Valspar | Hazy Dawn | 3004-2B | 82 | 1.7 | very close |
| PPG Paints | Visionary | 1210-3 | 76 | 1.2 | very close |
Lighter and darker in Sherwin-Williams
The Sherwin-Williams yellow colors nearest to Optimistic Yellow (LRV 76) by LRV.
Lighter than Optimistic Yellow
Darker than Optimistic Yellow
Color data
| Brand | Sherwin-Williams |
|---|---|
| Color code | SW 6900 |
| Hex | #F5E1A6 |
| RGB | 245, 225, 166 |
| HSL | 45°, 80%, 81% |
| LRV (light reflectance value) | 76 |
| Lab L*, a*, b* | 89.9, -1.7, 31.4 |
| Undertone | Warm Yellow |
| Temperature | warm |
| Color family | Yellow |
Same paint, two kinds of light
Optimistic Yellow (SW 6900), published as #F5E1A6
#E5D7A5
#FFEBA5
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 Optimistic Yellow (SW 6900)?
- Optimistic Yellow has an LRV of 76. LRV runs from 0 (black) to 100 (pure white) and measures the share of light a surface reflects, so Optimistic Yellow is a light color.
- What is the closest match to Optimistic Yellow in another brand?
- Hawthorne Yellow (BM HC-4) from Benjamin Moore, at a deltaE of 0.4 (indistinguishable).
- Is Optimistic Yellow warm or cool?
- Sherwin-Williams lists Optimistic Yellow as warm, with a Warm Yellow undertone. Its Lab b* value is 31.4; 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.