Ochre

See it in context

No reviewed photograph is linked to this exact shade yet. A photograph would only ever approximate this HEX value — lighting, camera processing and display calibration all affect the colours a photo shows. In the meantime, these related pages give real context for where this colour family shows up.

Used in historical palettes

Ochre appears in the following curated historical/cultural palettes.

Uses & contexts

Nearest named colours, and how they differ

• Peru is the closest, at ΔE00 4.4 from ochre: 4 points lighter, 11 points less saturated and 2° round towards yellow. That is visibly different side by side, easily confused apart.

• Copper is next, at ΔE00 4.8 from ochre: 3 points darker and 13 points less saturated. That is visibly different side by side, easily confused apart.

• Burnt Orange is next, at ΔE00 10.5 from ochre: 7 points darker, 12 points more saturated and 10° round towards red. That is clearly different, though many people would use one name for both.

• Caramel is next, at ΔE00 11.5 from ochre: 5 points lighter, 2 points more saturated and 15° round towards yellow. That is clearly different, though many people would use one name for both.

Distances are CIEDE2000 between catalogue reference values; lightness and saturation are CIELAB L* and C*. How to read a ΔE figure · Measure any two colours

Often confused with

Using ochre in a real space

Worked out from this colour’s own measurements — its lightness, saturation and undertone — rather than written for it. That is why the guidance differs from one colour to the next even when the two look similar.

What role it can play

This is a small-scale colour. At chroma 63 it holds attention easily, which is a strength on a cushion or a door and a liability across four walls.

• Walls and large surfaces

  difficult

  At chroma 63 this is far above the level walls and large surfaces usually carry comfortably. It can be done deliberately, but it will be the room rather than part of it.

• Secondary surfaces

  workable

  Chroma 63 is above the usual comfort level for secondary surfaces, so expect it to take charge. That is a legitimate choice in a room that wants a subject. On panelling, a chimney breast or an alcove this is semi-permanent — repaintable, but not casually.

• Furniture

  workable

  Chroma 63 is above the usual comfort level for furniture, so expect it to take charge. That is a legitimate choice in a room that wants a subject. In a sofa or a cabinet this is one purchase you will live with, so it is worth seeing the piece in the actual room first.

• Rugs, curtains and bedding

  workable

  Chroma 63 is above the usual comfort level for rugs, curtains and bedding, so expect it to take charge. That is a legitimate choice in a room that wants a subject. In rugs, curtains and bedding it is the cheapest commitment in the room to reverse, which makes it the right place to test a strong colour.

• Trim and joinery

  strong

  Chroma 63 sits inside the range trim and joinery carry without taking over the room.

• Accents and small objects

  strong

  Chroma 63 is exactly what an accent is for. The saturation that makes this difficult across a wall is the reason it works on a cushion, a door or a single chair.

How it behaves under different lightresilient

Under warm bulbs

Warm light reinforces this colour's own bias, so it will read warmer and more saturated in the evening than it does at noon. At this chroma that can tip from rich into strident.

Under cool bulbs

Cool sources drain warm colours: expect this to lose some of its warmth and read greyer.

In daylight

A mid-tone reads most consistently across the day, which is why so much upholstery sits in this band.

In a dim room

Enough lightness and chroma to stay recognisable in a dim room, though it will lose some saturation.

Compared with the sample card

Expect a modest step darker than the chart, which is normal and is why sampling a large area matters.

What colour temperature actually means · Why two bulbs at the same rating can differ

With wood

• Walnut · Light wood (ash, birch, beech) · Dark wood · Reddish wood (mahogany, cherry, teak)

  works well

  Shares the warm bias of Walnut, Light wood (ash, birch, beech), Dark wood and Reddish wood (mahogany, cherry, teak), so they agree about the temperature of the room, and 28–36 points of lightness keep them readable as separate from this colour.

• Pine · Plywood

  needs care

  Shares the warm bias of Pine and Plywood, but at chroma 63 against materials that carry colour of their own, the two compete rather than combine. It works when this colour is confined to a small area and fails when both are large.

• Oak

  needs care

  Sits close to Oak without matching it (ΔE00 13) — near enough that the eye reads an attempted match and far enough that it fails. Either move decisively away or repeat the tone exactly.

The amount of timber matters as much as the tone: one piece is an accent, a floor plus joinery is the room’s dominant colour. More on working with wood tones

With metal fittings

• Chrome · Black metal

  works well

  Shares the warm bias of Chrome and Black metal, so they agree about the temperature of the room, and 22–51 points of lightness keep them readable as separate from this colour.

• Stainless steel

  works well

  Shares the warm bias of Stainless steel and sits within 18 points of it in lightness, so expect a quiet, tonal relationship rather than a contrast.

• Brass · Gold-tone · Copper

  needs care

  Shares the warm bias of Brass, Gold-tone and Copper, but at chroma 63 against materials that carry colour of their own, the two compete rather than combine. It works when this colour is confined to a small area and fails when both are large.

Metal carries more attention than its area suggests, so repetition matters more than the exact finish. More on metals and mixing them

Where it can go wrong

• No characteristic failure mode stands out from this colour's measurements — it sits in a comfortable range for lightness and chroma alike. The usual caution still applies: judge it from a large sample, in place, in the light the room actually gets.

Lighter, darker & directional variants

Calculated directional adjustments. Some directions converge on the same result from this starting colour — shown as one merged card with an explanation, not repeated duplicates. Generated shades link to a curated profile only when one is close enough.

In nature