Café Au Lait
M118 · #DBC6A8 · LRV 58 — warm red-orange tone, light — bounces daylight without going clinical.
- 1Mindful Gray48
- 2Light French Gray53
- 3Café Au Lait58
- 4Pale Oak69
- 5Shoji White74
What Color Is Café Au Lait, Really?
Café Au Lait reads as a warm red-orange tone — light — bounces daylight without going clinical. The notes below cover how Valspar M118 behaves in different light and the closest matches at competing US brands.
Best Rooms and Uses for Café Au Lait
Café Au Lait 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.
How Lighting Changes Café Au Lait
At LRV 58, Café Au Lait 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.
Most complaints about Café Au Lait 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 Valspar M118 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherwin-Williams | CroissantSW 7716 · Sherwin-Williams | 0.5 | 58 | Color page → |
| Behr | New KhakiECC-54-1 · Behr | 1.2 | 59 | Color page → |
| Benjamin Moore | Richmond BisqueHC-177 · Benjamin Moore | 1.3 | 56 | Color page → |
| PPG / Glidden | Cookie DoughPPG1096-3 · PPG / Glidden | 2.0 | 60 | Color page → |
| Glidden | Classic Ivory20YY 57/178 · Glidden | 0.5 | 57 | Color page → |
| Dutch Boy | Hazelwood415-2DB · Dutch Boy | 0.7 | 59 | Color page → |
Similar Valspar Colors
The nearest shades to Café Au Lait within Valspar'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.
Coordinated palette
Generated by hue-rotating #DBC6A8 in HSL space. Pair Café Au Lait with one accent and one neutral — the swatches below are starting points, not final picks.
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