North Woods
Behr's dark cabinet-and-trim pine green, reviewed honestly: the doors and islands where it glows, the small dim room where it goes black, and what to pick instead.
Jessica has spec'd whites and neutrals for more than 300 rooms and keeps a sample wall of painted drawdowns in her studio. Every color review is checked against real reader rooms in the comments and re-tested when a formula changes. About the testing process →
- 1Fired Bronze5
- 2North Woods10
- 3Kendall Charcoal15
- 4Retreat21
The Fast Verdict
North Woods is a deep, cool-toned pine green with a gray backbone — the kind of color that reads "green-black" more than "green." Behr doesn't sell it as a flagship wall color: it lives in Behr's own Cabinet, Door & Trim enamel line and in the full exterior paint-and-primer lines, and that positioning tells you exactly how to use it. On a door, an island, or a shutter it reads confident and grounded. Across four walls of a dim room it reads like the lights are off.
Front doors · kitchen islands and perimeter cabinets in good light · exterior shutters and trim · a den or office with real daylight that wants a cabin-like mood
You're painting all four walls of a small or dim room · you want it to read green at night under warm bulbs · you actually want a true black · your room has one small window and no lamps
- A genuinely grounded, cool pine-green-black that reads intentional on doors and trim
- Sold in Behr's own Cabinet, Door & Trim enamel line — built to hold up on high-touch surfaces
- Full exterior paint-and-primer lines mean the same color works door, shutters and trim together
- Low-saturation, cool undertone avoids reading kelly-green or cartoonish
- LRV 10 hides scuffs and fingerprints on a front door better than a lighter color would
- At LRV 10 it reads closer to black than green in anything but strong daylight
- Not sold or intended as a whole-wall interior color, so there's little guidance for using it that way
- Warm 2700K bulbs pull it toward yellow-green at night, which surprises some owners
- Almost no real owner reviews exist online — you're testing on your own light, not crowd wisdom
What Color Is North Woods, Really?
Behr sells North Woods specifically inside its Cabinet, Door & Trim Enamel collection — semi-gloss and satin — and across its full exterior paint-and-primer lines (Behr Ultra, Behr Premium Plus), not as a promoted interior wall shade. That positioning is the whole story: this is a color built to be brushed onto raised-panel doors, trim profiles and shutters, where a satin or semi-gloss sheen and a small vertical surface let a dark, saturated green read as intentional instead of cave-like. The undertone is cool-to-neutral: a low-saturation green with a gray backbone, closer to "stand of pines at dusk" than "kelly green."
At deck LRV 10 it is a genuine near-black. On the paint chip it reads as a rich forest green; brushed across a full wall in anything short of strong daylight, it goes so dark it reads charcoal or black before it reads green at all. That behavior lines up with how Behr actually sells the color — as cabinet, door, trim and exterior paint, not a walls-everywhere hue — and it is the single most useful fact for deciding where to use it.
Undertone in one line: cool green-gray, not warm or yellow — except under warm 2700K bulbs at night, where color-matching sites note it can drift toward yellow-green. If your sample reads flat charcoal in your room, that is the light doing its job, not a bad can of paint.
Where It Shines
Give it a small vertical surface and real daylight and it does exactly what Behr built it to do: a front door, a kitchen island, exterior shutters and trim. In that role the depth reads deliberate — a confident, grounded pine green rather than a black hole in the room. It is genuinely one of the few dark colors that looks better the smaller its surface gets.
Where It Fails
Because Behr never really marketed this as a whole-wall interior color, most disappointment stories share the same root cause: someone treats North Woods like a normal dark green for four walls, and a small or dim room punishes that assumption fast.
At LRV 10 this is a near-black by the numbers. In a small guest room or a windowless powder room it reads as flat charcoal instead of forest green, and it shrinks the room rather than giving it mood. Reserve it for a large, well-lit room, or keep it to one surface — a door, an island, trim — instead of every wall.
This is a green-black, not a neutral black — the gray backbone still carries a green cast in daylight. If you want a door or trim that reads genuinely black rather than dark-green, Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron (LRV 6, the softest near-black in the BM deck) or a true black from the deck will read truer to that intent.
Under warm lamplight and nothing else, the green shifts toward yellow-green rather than staying the cool, grounded pine it reads in daylight. On a front door that mostly gets seen at night under a porch light, sample it under the actual bulb before committing.
Room by Room
This is the surface Behr built the color for, sold in the same Cabinet, Door & Trim enamel used here. Semi-gloss, brass or matte-black hardware, and real daylight on the porch give it exactly the confident, grounded read it's designed for.
On an island under white perimeter cabinets and real window light it reads as a deliberate dark green, not a hole in the kitchen. Satin or semi-gloss cabinet enamel; skip it on a kitchen with only one small, north-facing window.
The color's other built-for-it job. Against a lighter siding it reads as a confident, cabin-like accent, and Behr's exterior lines (Ultra, Premium Plus) exist specifically to put North Woods here.
In a room that gets genuine daylight for most of the day, one accent wall or a full room can work and feels grounded and cocooning. Without that daylight, it just goes dark.
A single headboard wall in a bright room can read moody in a good way. Four walls in a typical bedroom, especially one used mostly at night, is asking a lot of a color built for trim.
Small rooms with limited light are the exact situation the failsCallouts above describe. If you love the color, use it on a vanity or door instead of the walls.
Your Light Is the Risk
The cool green shows clearly against its gray backbone. Best on a door or exterior surface that gets real sun.
Reads as flat near-black; the forest green all but disappears. Sample here before trusting the paint chip.
Leans more black than green without direct sun, but still reads handsome and deliberate on trim and shutters.
The green drifts yellow-green under warm lamplight. Cooler LEDs keep it closer to the neutral gray-green it shows in daylight.
Most complaints about North Woods are a light mismatch. Upload a photo of your actual room and see it on your walls — then ask for the same wall in north light or evening lamps before you buy a single sample.
Need It From Another Brand?
Any paint counter can custom-tint Behr N410-7 directly. If you would rather stay in one brand's own deck, these are the closest stock matches, measured as ΔE2000. Under 2 is a difference you will not see on the wall.
| Brand | Closest color | ΔE | LRV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Moore | Ashwood Moss1484 · Benjamin Moore | 2.1 | 10 | Color page → |
| Valspar | Sable Evening5006-2C · Valspar | 2.9 | 9.9 | Color page → |
| PPG / Glidden | Evergreen BoughsPPG1129-7 · PPG / Glidden | 1.7 | 9 | Color page → |
| Glidden | Shaded Fern30GY 10/048 · Glidden | 0.9 | 10 | Color page → |
| Dunn-Edwards | Midnight SpruceDE6294 · Dunn-Edwards | 0.7 | 10 | Color page → |
| Magnolia Home | Locally GrownJG-126 · Magnolia Home | 1.1 | 10 | Color page → |
Similar Behr Colors
The nearest shades to North Woods within Behr's own range, ranked by perceptual color distance — useful when you want the same look a touch lighter, darker, or warmer.
WCAG 2.1: AA is 4.5 : 1 for normal text, 3 : 1 for large text, AAA is 7 : 1.
North Woods vs the Colors You're Also Considering
Every North Woods sample board has the same rivals on it. The numbers show the real lightness gap — then it comes down to which risk you would rather live with.
Pick this when you still want the color to work indoors, on a door or cabinets, not just outside.
Benjamin Moore PM-22 · LRV 4Essex GreenPick this if you want it even darker and purely exterior-minded — Essex Green is an exterior classic that reads flat black indoors.
Pick this when you want the same depth with an actual color underneath it, not straight charcoal.
Benjamin Moore 2124-10 · LRV 6Wrought IronPick this if the green is the problem, not the darkness — it's the softest true near-black in the BM deck.
Inside the Behr deck the differences are tiny. Evergreen Bough 700F-7 and Alpine Trail N420-7 share the hex #3B5646 and LRV 8, so both are a hair deeper and a touch bluer than North Woods at #3F5645. Secluded Woods S420-7 at #355745 leans further toward blue-green. Chard MQ6-49 at #485541 goes the other way and reads more olive, and Black Bamboo N380-7 at #475747 and LRV 9 is the grayest of the group.
Across brands, Sherwin-Williams Isle of Pines SW 6461, Dutch Boy Forestlawn 228-7DB, and HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams Wilderness Trail HGSW 2281 all sit at #3D5541 with LRV 8 and a deltaE of 1.34, which makes them visually identical to North Woods in normal room light. Farrow and Ball Duck Green No. W55 at LRV 8 is 2.43, very close but worth sampling. Benjamin Moore Chimichurri CSP-810 at LRV 8 is 4.97, close but visibly different side by side and more olive.
North Woods Coordinating Colors
The rule for coordinating with North Woods: stay cool and neutral, and let it be the one saturated dark note in the room rather than competing with another dark color. It pairs cleanly with true whites, sits comfortably next to a softer near-black, and has real cousins in the deck's other dark, light-hungry greens if you want to compare depth and undertone before committing.
Why Behr Sells This as a Trim-and-Cabinet Color, Not a Wall Paint
North Woods lives in two specific places in Behr's lineup: the Cabinet, Door & Trim Enamel collection (semi-gloss and satin) and the full exterior paint-and-primer lines — Behr Ultra, Behr Premium Plus. It is not promoted as a headline interior wall color, and there is no Color of the Year moment or viral design-blog room built around it. That's a deliberate, practical positioning: a small vertical surface — a door, a run of trim, an island — at semi-gloss sheen can carry an LRV-10 saturated green in a way four matte walls in an average-lit room cannot.
Treat that positioning as the actual instruction manual for the color. Use it where Behr sells it — doors, cabinets, trim, shutters, exterior surfaces — and it behaves exactly as advertised: grounded, deliberate, a little bit cabin-in-the-woods. Push it onto four walls of a room with average light and you're using a trim color as a wall color, and the room will tell you that within a day.
North Woods With Wood Tones and Floors
Light-to-mid wood is the easy pairing: white oak, ash and natural maple all give North Woods a floor or shelf to sit against without the whole area collapsing into one dark mass. Brass and matte-black hardware both read well against it — brass warms the cool green, matte black keeps the whole look monochrome and moody.
The pairing to watch is very dark or espresso-stained wood next to it. Two near-black surfaces side by side — a North Woods door or island next to espresso flooring or cabinetry — can blur into one undifferentiated dark shape instead of two intentional ones. Keep at least one light surface nearby (a pale floor, a white wall, a light countertop) so the color has something to stand out against.
Three Ready Palettes Built on North Woods
A color is never alone on the wall. These are complete combinations in the 60-30-10 pattern, with the reason each one holds together. Every one opens in the visualizer.
A warm off-white house keeps the exterior from feeling heavy, crisp Behr White trim frames the opening, and North Woods gets to be the one saturated, deliberate note on the door instead of competing with anything else.
Try this palette in your roomWhite Dove keeps the room's light source doing the work, the island carries the color as a single confident block, and Wrought Iron on frames or a hood gives the kitchen one softer near-black note so North Woods isn't the only dark thing in the room.
Try this palette in your roomSilver Drop's quiet greige reads differently in every light, which keeps the house from ever fighting the shutters; crisp white trim defines each window, and North Woods on shutters and door supplies the grounded, pine-forest note the whole scheme is built around.
Try this palette in your roomNorth Woods FAQ
Is North Woods a green or a black?
Both, depending on the light. At LRV 10 it is a genuine near-black, and Behr doesn't market it as a black paint — but in real daylight the cool, low-saturation green underneath is clearly there. In a dim room or at night, expect it to behave like a black.
Can I paint a whole room in North Woods?
Only with real daylight and a reasonably sized room. Behr sells this specifically as a Cabinet, Door & Trim enamel and in exterior lines rather than pushing it as a wall color, and that's the safest way to use it — a door, an island, trim, or one accent wall in a bright room, not four walls in a small or dim one.
Does North Woods work on a front door?
Yes — it's one of the color's two built-for-it jobs, alongside exterior trim and shutters. Semi-gloss sheen, brass or matte-black hardware, and a door that gets some direct daylight all play to its strengths.
What white trim pairs with a North Woods door?
A crisp white like Behr White gives the most contrast and the cleanest modern-farmhouse read. A warmer off-white like Swiss Coffee softens the contrast and suits an older or more traditional house.
Will it look yellow-green under warm light bulbs?
It can. Several color-matching sources note a shift toward yellow-green under warm 2700K artificial light, while daylight and cooler LEDs keep it reading as the cool gray-green it's sold as. If the surface is seen mostly at night, sample it under your actual bulb.
Is North Woods a Color of the Year or a trending color?
No — and that's an honest part of the review. It has no Color of the Year status and essentially no viral design-blog moment; it's a quiet color living inside Behr's Cabinet, Door & Trim and exterior lines. That's not a knock — it's a dependable, narrow-purpose color rather than a trend chasing attention.
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