Color guide · PPG / Glidden · Neutral

Water Chestnut

1097-3 · #DBCEB8 · LRV 63 · warm red-orange tone

1097-3 · #DBCEB8 · LRV 63 — warm red-orange tone, light — bounces daylight without going clinical.

Water ChestnutPPG / Glidden · 1097-3
The color, edge to edge.Use your own photo →
Water Chestnut
PPG / GLIDDEN · 1097-3 · #DBCEB8
Brand · codePPG / Glidden1097-3 · all PPG / Glidden neutrals
LRV63Light — bounces daylight without going clinical.
Undertonewarm red-orange tone
FamilyNeutral
Hex · RGB · HSL#DBCEB8 · 219, 206, 184 · 38°, 33%, 79%Display values from the brand. Match it at another brand
Sheen we recommendEggshell on walls · satin on trim and cabinetsWhich sheen where, explained
Where it sits, light to dark
  1. 1Light French Gray53
  2. 2Accessible Beige58
  3. 3Water Chestnut63
  4. 4Pale Oak69
  5. 5Shoji White74
Undertone and depth

What Color Is Water Chestnut, Really?

Water Chestnut reads as a warm red-orange tone — light — bounces daylight without going clinical. The notes below cover how PPG / Glidden 1097-3 behaves in different light and the closest matches at competing US brands.

Room by room

Best Rooms and Uses for Water Chestnut

Water Chestnut is an easy whole-room color for living spaces and bedrooms, and light enough to carry onto trim or a ceiling if you want a soft, seamless look. Greige-leaning neutrals like this are the safe whole-home choice when you want warmth without committing to a color.

Light by light

How Lighting Changes Water Chestnut

At LRV 63, Water Chestnut is a light color that bounces daylight around a room without tipping into stark white. Its orange undertone is the part to watch: it gets picked up by whatever sits next to it, so test it against your trim, floor and the room's main light before committing. It holds its undertone in most exposures, which is what makes light shades like this so forgiving room to room.

Test it in your light, not a showroom's

Most complaints about Water Chestnut 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.

Upload a photoPainted in about a minuteFree, no account
Visualize in your room
Same color, different store

Need It From Another Brand?

Any paint counter can custom-tint PPG / Glidden 1097-3 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.

Same deck, next chip over

Similar PPG / Glidden Colors

The nearest shades to Water Chestnut within PPG / Glidden's own range, ranked by perceptual color distance — useful when you want the same look a touch lighter, darker, or warmer.

Contrast, for text and signage
Black text on Water Chestnut · 13.5 : 1 · passes AA and AAAWhite text on Water Chestnut · 1.6 : 1 · fails for text

WCAG 2.1: AA is 4.5 : 1 for normal text, 3 : 1 for large text, AAA is 7 : 1.

Coordinated palette

Generated by hue-rotating #DBCEB8 in HSL space. Pair Water Chestnut with one accent and one neutral — the swatches below are starting points, not final picks.

COMPLEMENTARY
#DBCEB8 + #B8C5DB
TRIADIC
#DBCEB8 · #B8DBCE · #CEB8DB
ANALOGOUS
#DBBDB8 · #DBCEB8 · #D6DBB8

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Jessica Williams

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