Feather Down (BM 953) vs Ballet White (BM OC-9)

Living room with walls painted Benjamin Moore Feather Down 953 (simulated) — Feather Down BM 953#E6E0CF, LRV 73.2

Living room with walls painted Benjamin Moore Ballet White OC-9 (simulated) — Ballet White BM OC-9#E5E0D0, LRV 72 Verified 2026-10-02

Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.

Quick decision

Lighter: Feather Down, LRV 73.2 vs 72.
Warmer: About the same, both warm white (Lab b* 9.1 vs 8.4).
North rooms: About the same: both keep their brightness and color about equally (L* 85.3 vs 85.3 in north light).
Trim that works: White Down BM 970, #EBE6D7, LRV 76.7: the Benjamin Moore white closest in hue to both.
Closeness: deltaE 0.5, indistinguishable. At 0.5, pick on price, finish or availability.

See each color

Feather DownBenjamin Moore, BM 953LRV 73.2, #E6E0CF

Ballet WhiteBenjamin Moore, BM OC-9LRV 72, #E5E0D0

More comparisons with Ballet White

Feather Down (BM 953) is about as light as Ballet White (BM OC-9) and about as warm: LRV 73.2 vs 72, deltaE 0.5 (indistinguishable).

Side by side

Measure	Feather Down	Ballet White	Gap
Brand	Benjamin Moore	Benjamin Moore
Color code	953	OC-9
Hex	#E6E0CF	#E5E0D0
RGB	230, 224, 207	229, 224, 208
HSL	44°, 32%, 86%	46°, 29%, 86%
LRV (light reflectance value)	73.2	72	+1.2
Lab L*	89.2	89.2	+0.0
Lab a*	-0.8	-1.0	+0.2
Lab b*	9.1	8.4	+0.6
Undertone	Neutral	Neutral
Temperature	warm	warm
Color family	Off-white	Off-white

Same paint, two kinds of light

Feather Down (BM 953), published as #E6E0CF

North light (cool, indirect)
#D5D6CD

South light (warm, direct)
#F8EACF

Ballet White (BM OC-9), published as #E5E0D0

North light (cool, indirect)
#D4D6CE

South light (warm, direct)
#F7EAD0

These swatches and the rooms above are a simulation, not a measurement. How the visualizer works

Which should you pick

Rules of thumb computed from the LRV and Lab values in the table above; no room test was done.

Pick Feather Down (BM 953) for a small room or a north-facing room, because it is 1.2 LRV points lighter (73.2 vs 72), so it bounces back more of the limited light

Closest matches to Feather Down in other brands

Closest matches to Ballet White in other brands

Common questions

Is Feather Down the same color as Ballet White?: They are indistinguishable: a CIEDE2000 difference of 0.5. Most people cannot tell Feather Down and Ballet White apart.
Which is lighter, Feather Down or Ballet White?: Feather Down, with an LRV of 73.2 against 72.

Full pages

Related comparisons

By Paint Pairs. Color data from manufacturer specifications, via PaintDB. The most-viewed colors are checked against each manufacturer's own color page.

Published 2026-10-01. Updated 2026-10-01.

Sources: Feather Down: LRV and hex as published by the manufacturer, via PaintDB (CC BY 4.0); Ballet White: LRV and hex from Benjamin Moore technical data (verified 2026-10-02). 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.