White Down (BM 970) vs Ballet White (BM OC-9)

Living room with walls painted Benjamin Moore White Down 970 (simulated) — White Down BM 970#EBE6D7, LRV 76.7 Verified 2026-10-02

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: White Down, LRV 76.7 vs 72.
Warmer: About the same, both warm white (Lab b* 7.9 vs 8.4).
North rooms: White Down keeps more brightness (L* 87.4 vs 85.3 in north light); both drift gray about equally.
Trim that works: White Down BM CC-50, #EBE6D7, LRV 76.7: the Benjamin Moore white closest in hue to both.
Closeness: deltaE 1.4, very close. At 1.4, test both side by side if the room is dim or north-facing.

See each color

White DownBenjamin Moore, BM 970LRV 76.7, #EBE6D7

More comparisons with White Down

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

More comparisons with Ballet White

White Down (BM 970) is slightly lighter than Ballet White (BM OC-9) and about as warm: LRV 76.7 vs 72, deltaE 1.4 (very close).

Side by side

Measure	White Down	Ballet White	Gap
Brand	Benjamin Moore	Benjamin Moore
Color code	970	OC-9
Hex	#EBE6D7	#E5E0D0
RGB	235, 230, 215	229, 224, 208
HSL	45°, 33%, 88%	46°, 29%, 86%
LRV (light reflectance value)	76.7	72	+4.7
Lab L*	91.3	89.2	+2.1
Lab a*	-0.9	-1.0	+0.2
Lab b*	7.9	8.4	−0.5
Undertone	Neutral	Neutral
Temperature	warm	warm
Color family	Off-white	Off-white

Same paint, two kinds of light

White Down (BM 970), published as #EBE6D7

North light (cool, indirect)
#DADCD5

South light (warm, direct)
#FDF0D7

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 White Down (BM 970) for a small room or a north-facing room, because it is 4.7 LRV points lighter (76.7 vs 72), so it bounces back more of the limited light

Closest matches to White Down in other brands

Closest matches to Ballet White in other brands

Common questions

Is White Down the same color as Ballet White?: They are very close: a CIEDE2000 difference of 1.4. Side by side you may see a slight difference between White Down and Ballet White.
Which is lighter, White Down or Ballet White?: White Down, with an LRV of 76.7 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: 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.