Pale Oak (BM OC-20) vs Ashwood (BM OC-47)

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

Living room with walls painted Benjamin Moore Ashwood OC-47 (simulated) — Ashwood BM OC-47#DBD8C9, LRV 67.2

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

Quick decision

Lighter: Pale Oak, LRV 68.6 vs 67.2.
Warmer: Ashwood, both greige (Lab b* 7.8 vs 5.9).
North rooms: About the same: both keep their brightness and color about equally (L* 82.8 vs 82.3 in north light).
Trim that works: Crisp Linen BM CSP-305, #F9F6E7, LRV 89.6: the Benjamin Moore white closest in hue to both.
Closeness: deltaE 1.9, very close. At 1.9, test both side by side if the room is dim or north-facing.

See each color

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

More comparisons with Pale Oak

AshwoodBenjamin Moore, BM OC-47LRV 67.2, #DBD8C9

Pale Oak (BM OC-20) is about as light as Ashwood (BM OC-47) and slightly cooler: LRV 68.6 vs 67.2, deltaE 1.9 (very close).

Side by side

Measure	Pale Oak	Ashwood	Gap
Brand	Benjamin Moore	Benjamin Moore
Color code	OC-20	OC-47
Hex	#DDD9CE	#DBD8C9
RGB	221, 217, 206	219, 216, 201
HSL	44°, 18%, 84%	50°, 20%, 82%
LRV (light reflectance value)	68.6	67.2	+1.4
Lab L*	86.7	86.2	+0.5
Lab a*	-0.5	-1.6	+1.0
Lab b*	5.9	7.8	−1.9
Undertone	Warm Greige	Neutral
Temperature	warm	warm
Color family	Greige	Greige

Same paint, two kinds of light

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

North light (cool, indirect)
#CCCFCC

South light (warm, direct)
#EFE3CE

Ashwood (BM OC-47), published as #DBD8C9

North light (cool, indirect)
#CACEC7

South light (warm, direct)
#EDE2C9

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 Pale Oak (BM OC-20) for a small room or a north-facing room, because it is 1.4 LRV points lighter (68.6 vs 67.2), 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 7.8, so it is the cooler of the two and offsets warm direct sun
Pick Ashwood (BM OC-47) to warm a north-facing room, because it is the warmer of the two (Lab b* 7.8), which counters cool indirect light

Closest matches to Pale Oak in other brands

Closest matches to Ashwood in other brands

Common questions

Is Pale Oak the same color as Ashwood?: They are very close: a CIEDE2000 difference of 1.9. Side by side you may see a slight difference between Pale Oak and Ashwood.
Which is lighter, Pale Oak or Ashwood?: Pale Oak, with an LRV of 68.6 against 67.2.

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: Pale Oak: LRV and hex from Benjamin Moore technical data (verified 2026-10-02); Ashwood: 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.