Wind's Breath (BM 981) vs Pale Oak (BM OC-20)

Living room with walls painted Benjamin Moore Wind's Breath 981 (simulated) — Wind's Breath BM 981#DFDBCD, LRV 69.6 Verified 2026-10-02

Living room with walls painted Benjamin Moore Pale Oak OC-20 (simulated) — Pale Oak BM OC-20#DDD9CE, LRV 68.6 Verified 2026-10-02

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

Quick decision

Lighter: About the same: LRV 69.6 vs 68.6.
Warmer: Wind's Breath, both greige (Lab b* 7.4 vs 5.9).
North rooms: About the same: both keep their brightness and color about equally (L* 83.5 vs 82.8 in north light).
Trim that works: Arbor White BM ES-01, #F2EDDF, LRV 85: 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

Wind's BreathBenjamin Moore, BM 981LRV 69.6, #DFDBCD

More comparisons with Wind's Breath

Pale OakBenjamin Moore, BM OC-20LRV 68.6, #DDD9CE

More comparisons with Pale Oak

Wind's Breath (BM 981) is about as light as Pale Oak (BM OC-20) and slightly warmer: LRV 69.6 vs 68.6, deltaE 1.4 (very close).

Side by side

Measure	Wind's Breath	Pale Oak	Gap
Brand	Benjamin Moore	Benjamin Moore
Color code	981	OC-20
Hex	#DFDBCD	#DDD9CE
RGB	223, 219, 205	221, 217, 206
HSL	47°, 22%, 84%	44°, 18%, 84%
LRV (light reflectance value)	69.6	68.6	+1
Lab L*	87.4	86.7	+0.6
Lab a*	-1.0	-0.5	−0.5
Lab b*	7.4	5.9	+1.5
Undertone	Neutral	Warm Greige
Temperature	warm	warm
Color family	Greige	Greige

Same paint, two kinds of light

Wind's Breath (BM 981), published as #DFDBCD

North light (cool, indirect)
#CED1CB

South light (warm, direct)
#F1E5CD

Pale Oak (BM OC-20), published as #DDD9CE

North light (cool, indirect)
#CCCFCC

South light (warm, direct)
#EFE3CE

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 Wind's Breath (BM 981) for a small room or a north-facing room, because it is 1 LRV points lighter (69.6 vs 68.6), so it bounces back more of the limited light
Pick Pale Oak (BM OC-20) for a south-facing room, because its Lab b* is 5.9 against 7.4, so it is the cooler of the two and offsets warm direct sun
Pick Wind's Breath (BM 981) to warm a north-facing room, because it is the warmer of the two (Lab b* 7.4), which counters cool indirect light

Closest matches to Wind's Breath in other brands

Closest matches to Pale Oak in other brands

Common questions

Is Wind's Breath the same color as Pale Oak?: They are very close: a CIEDE2000 difference of 1.4. Side by side you may see a slight difference between Wind's Breath and Pale Oak.
Which is lighter, Wind's Breath or Pale Oak?: Wind's Breath, with an LRV of 69.6 against 68.6.

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.