Nine shades from seven paint houses, ranked and compared side by side — from Benjamin Moore's espresso-toned Silhouette to Dulux's three-shade Rhythm of Blues collection.
Every autumn, the major paint brands each name a single colour they expect to define the year ahead — and every year, the results say as much about the industry's mood as they do about any one shade. The 2026 crop leans hard into calm: six of the seven brands here picked a muted, nature-inspired neutral rather than a bold accent, and the one brand that didn't broke its own format entirely to do it.
Below is the full set — Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, Dulux, Behr, Valspar, Glidden and PPG — with real hex values, ranked, and linked straight into the visualiser so you can see any of them on your own walls before you commit to a single tester pot.
A tin of Colour of the Year paint is a bigger commitment than a swatch. One photograph of your room covers every shade on this page.
Open the visualiserRanked roughly by market reach and how widely each pick has been covered. Every shade links to its full colour page and into the visualiser.
Benjamin Moore's 2026 pick weaves rich espresso brown with soft charcoal for a tailored, almost menswear-inspired neutral. It reads as a considered dark neutral rather than a true black, with enough warmth to soften cabinetry, panelling and moody studies.
Sherwin-Williams calls this a return to "tailored and timeless" after several bolder years — a midtone neutral with soft beige-gray undertones and a touch of warmth that works as a whole-house colour rather than a single statement wall.
The deepest of Dulux's three-shade "Rhythm of Blues" collection — a meditative, near-navy indigo built to anchor a room rather than brighten it. Works especially well in snugs and bedrooms that want atmosphere over daylight brightness.
The lightest of the trio — an airy, grey-toned sky blue that Dulux positions as the calming anchor of its 2026 palette. A gentle, versatile blue for bathrooms and bedrooms that still want daylight brightness.
The boldest of the three — a vivid, energising indigo blue Dulux describes as designed to bring movement and personality into a space. Strong enough to work as a single statement wall or front door rather than an all-over scheme.
A muted, silver-tinted green that Valspar is positioning as a "new neutral" — vintage-inspired, calming, and designed to pair as easily with wood tones as with cooler greys. A restful choice for bedrooms craving a gentle connection to nature.
Glidden's 150th-anniversary pick is a warm, brown-toned red — bold enough to draw attention, restrained enough to still read timeless. The brand recommends it for dining rooms, libraries and other spaces built for entertaining.
PPG's global pick for 2026 is a midtone yellow-green with a lime undertone, chosen to represent resilience and optimism. Its botanical, energising quality makes it a strong option for a home office or any room that wants a jolt of nature indoors.
Look at the seven 2026 picks side by side and a pattern appears fast: six of them are muted, nature-adjacent neutrals — an espresso brown, a beige-taupe, a smoky jade, a silvery green, a brick-red brown, and a yellow-green. After several years of saturated statement shades leading the industry's colour-of-the-year picks, 2026 is a retreat toward calm, livable, whole-house colours that a homeowner can actually commit to on every wall.
Dulux is the outlier, and deliberately so — the first brand on this list to name a trio rather than a single shade. Rather than pick one blue, it's betting that 2026 buyers want the flexibility to choose their own intensity from a coordinated family, from the airy Mellow Flow through to the near-black Slow Swing.
Six brands, six neutrals, and one brand betting that a single "colour of the year" is no longer enough.
| Colour | Brand | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Silhouette AF-655 | Benjamin Moore | Tailored, espresso-toned studies and panelling |
| Universal Khaki SW 6150 | Sherwin-Williams | A calm, whole-house neutral |
| Slow Swing | Dulux | A near-navy anchor for snugs and bedrooms |
| Mellow Flow | Dulux | An airy blue for bathrooms |
| Free Groove | Dulux | A bold statement wall or front door |
| Hidden Gem N430-6A | Behr | Smoky jade kitchen cabinetry |
| Warm Eucalyptus | Valspar | A restorative, nature-led bedroom |
| Warm Mahogany | Glidden | Bold dining rooms and libraries |
| Secret Safari | PPG | An energising home office |
The same lineup split by paint house, with a note on what each brand is signalling with its 2026 pick.
Benjamin Moore's Silhouette leads a broader 2026 palette built around tailored, espresso-toned neutrals — a deliberate step back from the brighter, more saturated picks of recent years.
All Benjamin Moore coloursSherwin-Williams frames Universal Khaki as "tailored and timeless" — a shift toward calm, livable neutrals after several years of bolder colour-of-the-year picks.
All Sherwin-Williams coloursDulux broke its own format for 2026, naming a trio of blues — Mellow Flow, Slow Swing and Free Groove — rather than a single shade, so a room can be built around any point on the same family.
All Dulux coloursBehr's Hidden Gem continues the brand's run of muted, nature-inspired greens, positioned as understated elegance rather than a loud statement colour.
All Behr coloursValspar's Warm Eucalyptus leans into the same quiet, nature-inspired mood as several other 2026 picks — a soft, vintage-inspired green built to feel more like a neutral than an accent.
All Valspar coloursGlidden marked its 150th anniversary with its boldest colour-of-the-year pick in years — a warm, historic red-brown rather than another muted neutral.
All Glidden coloursPPG's Secret Safari is part of a wider global colour theme the brand calls "Parallels" — three palettes exploring authenticity, vision and self-expression across markets.
All PPG coloursEvery major paint brand names its own colour of the year, and they rarely overlap. There's no single industry-wide winner — which is exactly why a side-by-side roundup like this one exists.
One photograph of your room covers all 9 shades on this page. The first render is free, and no card is needed.