Warm Greige Paint Colours UK 2026: F&B and Dulux Shades

Warm greige paint is a grey-beige with a slightly red, pink or yellow undertone, and in British homes the shades people shortlist most are Farrow & Ball's Skimming Stone No. 241 (light), Elephant's Breath No. 229 (mid, with a hint of magenta) and Drop Cloth No. 283 (a mid grey-beige that is neither yellow nor grey), with Jitney No. 293, Stony Ground No. 211 and Oxford Stone No. 264 on the browner, warmer side. From Dulux, Perfectly Taupe, Pressed Putty, Shaded Stone and Natural Hessian sit in the brand's warm neutral family. Choose by light before you choose by name: a north-facing room needs the yellow- or red-based shades, because cool northern light pulls every greige towards grey; a south-facing room will carry almost any of them; and in a west-facing room test Elephant's Breath first, because Farrow & Ball warns it can turn almost lilac there.

Names, descriptions, suggested whites and prices come from the makers' websites, read on 27 October 2026. Neither Farrow & Ball nor Dulux prints a light reflectance value (LRV) on its colour pages, so the lightness figure below is our own calculation, not an official LRV. Little Greene's website could not be checked, so its shades are left out.

What makes a greige "warm"?

Greige is grey mixed with beige. A touch of red, pink or yellow makes it warm; a touch of green or blue makes it cool. Across four walls in grey British daylight, that touch decides whether a room feels cosy or flat.

Farrow & Ball's own groupings are a useful map. Its Contemporary Neutrals run from Strong White through Skimming Stone to Elephant's Breath, with the deeper Charleston Gray as their accent. Its Warm Neutrals end with Oxford Stone, the darkest of the group. Its Relaxed Neutrals (Wevet, Ammonite, Cornforth White, Purbeck Stone) are balanced greys: Ammonite and Cornforth White are both described as neither too warm nor too cool. Its Traditional Neutrals lean green: Old White, the maker says, can read as a subdued green in north-facing rooms. Warm greige lives in the first two groups, plus stone colours such as Drop Cloth, Stony Ground and Jitney.

We checked those descriptions by converting each on-screen swatch to CIELAB, whose red-green axis shows the lean. Elephant's Breath comes out slightly red, matching its "hint of magenta"; Jitney and Pressed Putty sit further towards red; Drop Cloth sits on the neutral line, which is why it reads beige rather than pink; Old White sits on the green side.

The warm greige shortlist, light to deep

"Lightness index" is the relative luminance of the maker's on-screen swatch, from 0 (black) to 100 (white). It is not an LRV, which is measured on a painted sample, but it ranks shades reliably: for the three Dulux colours whose Trade code is published, it lands within two points of the LRV in the code (Shaded Stone 55.6 against 56, Stone Sensation 59.7 against 61, Pale Taupe 61.4 against 63).

Swatch colours are a digital rendering: your screen, the sheen and your light all change what you see on the wall.

The Farrow & Ball warm greiges, one by one

Skimming Stone No. 241: the light one

Named after a 19th-century plaster colour, Skimming Stone is the palest Farrow & Ball greige here, light enough for every wall of a small room. The maker singles it out for soothing bedroom schemes and pairs it with the lighter Strong White and the darker Elephant's Breath, so the three can run through a house as one family: Skimming Stone in bedrooms and landings, Elephant's Breath in the living room, Strong White on ceilings and woodwork. More bedroom shades in our bedroom paint colours guide.

Elephant's Breath No. 229: the famous one

The name goes back to John Fowler, the English interior designer who coined it. Elephant's Breath is a mid tone with a pink-mauve lean, which makes it feel warm in a sunny room. The same lean is its weakness: Farrow & Ball notes that in the cooler light of west-facing rooms it can become almost lilac. In the swatch maths it has the same lightness as Stony Ground and Old White: what separates them is the undertone (pink, red-beige, green), not depth.

Drop Cloth No. 283: the balanced one

Named after the decorator's dust sheet, Drop Cloth is the one to try if Elephant's Breath looks too pink and the Relaxed Neutrals too grey. Farrow & Ball builds a trio around it with the slightly lighter Shaded White and Shadow White. With no pink in it, Drop Cloth is an easy choice next to oak floors and terracotta, where a pink-leaning grey can clash.

Jitney, Stony Ground and Oxford Stone: the warmer end

Stony Ground has a slight underlying red that gives it a soft beige finish. Oxford Stone, inspired by Cotswold cottages, is shown sweeping across woodwork and walls alike. Jitney sits, in the maker's words, between Oxford Stone and the greyer Elephant's Breath, with the strongest red lean of the Farrow & Ball shortlist.

Charleston Gray No. 243: the deep accent

Named after the Bloomsbury Group's house in East Sussex, Charleston Gray is a deep warm grey with brown undertones, which the maker calls very popular in modern living rooms. Use it below a dado rail, on a chimney breast or on joinery when the walls are Skimming Stone or Elephant's Breath. Our living room paint colours guide has more two-tone schemes.

Dulux warm greiges, and the closest matches to Farrow & Ball

Most Dulux greiges sit in its Warm Neutral family: Perfectly Taupe, Pressed Putty, Brushed Fossil, Shaded Stone, Stone Sensation, Natural Hessian and Dusted Cappuccino. Egyptian Cotton and River Bed are filed under Cool Neutral. Each colour page also names a "Perfect White" (see the table above).

A useful UK detail: Dulux Trade colours carry codes such as 30YY 56/060, and in Dulux's notation the middle number is the light reflectance value, between the hue and the chroma. So Shaded Stone, which Dulux Trade lists as 30YY 56/060, has an LRV of about 56. Named retail colours such as Perfectly Taupe have no published code.

If you like a Farrow & Ball colour but want Dulux paint, here are the closest Dulux shades on screen, measured with the CIEDE2000 colour-difference formula (smaller is closer; around 1 is a very close match). They are not official equivalents: compare sample pots side by side on your wall.

For ranges, finishes and prices side by side, see our Dulux Heritage vs Farrow & Ball comparison.

North, south, east or west: warm greige in British light

Because the undertone is so small, light can overpower it. Dulux's guide to the best shades for north, south, east or west-facing rooms says north-facing rooms get cooler natural light, and generally less of it, while south-facing rooms get strong, clear light in which every colour works; east-facing rooms get their light in the morning, west-facing ones in the early evening. For north-facing rooms it points to warm pink, gold and yellow tones, and greys and whites with hints of them, which is exactly how a warm greige is built. Natural Hessian and Summer Linen are on its north-facing list.

Farrow & Ball points the same way: Old White reads green in north-facing rooms and Mouse's Back greener in underlit ones. Dulux's advice on decorating a north-facing room calls that light blue-tinged and recommends warm neutrals to offset it.

In winter many rooms are used mostly under lamps, so test those too. Dulux warns that compact fluorescent bulbs cast a cool violet and pink light that can wash out subtle neutrals, while warm LED and halogen bulbs suit all colours. Our guide on how to test paint colours before buying explains how to read a sample through the day.

Room by room: where each warm greige works best

• Living rooms. Elephant's Breath with Strong White woodwork, Charleston Gray on the chimney breast; Stony Ground or Jitney if the room faces north.
• Bedrooms. Skimming Stone, or the beigier Dulux Natural Hessian. Small rooms suit the lighter end of the table, as our small bedroom colours guide explains.
• Hallways. Busy walls need a washable finish more than a particular shade; a mid greige such as Drop Cloth or Shaded Stone hides scuffs better than a pale one. See our hallway paint colours guide.
• Kitchens and bathrooms. Use a mould-protected finish such as Modern Emulsion, Dead Flat or Dulux Easycare Kitchen Matt. Our bathroom paint colours guide covers the rest.
• Period houses. Farrow & Ball says Hardwick White was first made to touch up old limewash at Hardwick Hall; stone greiges suit cornicing and panelling. More in our period property interior colours guide.

Whites, woodwork and accents that keep greige warm

A stark brilliant white beside a warm greige makes the wall read deeper and greyer; the makers' suggested whites stay closer in tone. Farrow & Ball pairs Skimming Stone and Elephant's Breath with Strong White, a cool, grey-based white with a contemporary feel; Drop Cloth and Stony Ground with School House White; Jitney and Oxford Stone with Dimity, the warmer route for a softer scheme.

Or drop the white: Farrow & Ball shows Oxford Stone carried over skirting, doors and walls alike. For accents, the makers suggest deep, earthy partners: Charleston Gray or London Clay with Elephant's Breath, Pelt with Skimming Stone, Mouse's Back with Stony Ground. Deep green also sits well against warm greige: see our guide to colours that go with dark green.

Finish, quantities and cost

Farrow & Ball notes that the same shade can look very different in gloss and in matt; on walls, the choice is mostly about wear. Makers' figures, prices checked on 27 October 2026:

Worked example: a 3.6 m by 3.0 m bedroom with a 2.4 m ceiling has 31.7 m² of wall, about 28.4 m² once a door and window are deducted, so 57 m² for two coats. That needs about 4.1 litres of Estate Emulsion (one 5 litre tin, £103) or Dulux Matt (5 litres, £45), or 4.75 litres of Modern Emulsion (5 litres, £111). Dulux prices are for standard tins; a colour mixed to order can cost more, and coverage figures are maximums on smooth, sound walls. Hiring a decorator instead? Our UK interior decorator cost guide covers day rates.

On solvents, interior matt wall and ceiling paints are capped at 30 grams of VOC per litre by the Volatile Organic Compounds in Paints, Varnishes and Vehicle Refinishing Products Regulations 2012, and Farrow & Ball states that all its finishes are water based and rated A+ for indoor air quality.

Testing warm greige before you commit

With differences this small, a test is not optional. Farrow & Ball sells a 100 ml sample pot for £5.95, Dulux an online tester for £2.90. A method that suits greige:

1. Shortlist three shades that differ in undertone, such as Elephant's Breath (pink), Drop Cloth (balanced) and Stony Ground (red-beige), not three versions of the same one.
2. Paint two coats on card or lining paper, at least A3, with a white border.
3. Move the samples around (opposite the window, in the darkest corner) and look morning, afternoon and evening.
4. Hold them against what stays: floor, sofa, curtains, worktop. A pink-leaning greige beside orange pine can look muddy.

Sources and references

• Farrow & Ball, colour pages, including Elephant's Breath No. 229, Skimming Stone No. 241, Drop Cloth No. 283 and Old White No. 4: descriptions, behaviour in north and west light, complementary whites, swatch colours, sample price.
• Farrow & Ball, finish pages for Estate Emulsion, Modern Emulsion and Dead Flat: sheen, coverage, washability, prices.
• Dulux UK, colour pages (Perfectly Taupe, Pressed Putty, Shaded Stone, Natural Hessian, Egyptian Cotton, Dusted Cappuccino): colour family, swatch colours, Perfect White pairings, tester price.
• Dulux UK, Best shades for north, south, east or west-facing rooms and How to decorate a north-facing room: light by orientation, recommended colours, effect of bulbs.
• Dulux UK, Dulux Matt and Easycare Washable & Tough Matt: coverage and prices.
• Dulux Trade Paint Expert, colour pages 30YY 56/060, 19YY 61/057, 00YY 63/024 and 40YY 51/084: Trade codes of Shaded Stone, Stone Sensation, Pale Taupe and River Bed.
• ICI Paints (Dulux Trade), The Colour Palette notation system: the middle number of a code is the LRV.
• legislation.gov.uk, VOC Regulations 2012, Schedule 2: VOC limit for interior matt wall paints.
• Lightness index and colour differences: FacadeColorizer calculation (relative luminance, CIEDE2000) from the hex values on the makers' colour pages, 27 October 2026.