Benjamin Moore Hollingsworth Green HC-141: Sage Review

The name suggests a forest or hunter green, but Benjamin Moore Hollingsworth Green (HC-141) is a pale, dusty gray-green: Benjamin Moore itself calls it a feather-light green, and its published numbers agree. It is one of those quietly clever Historical Colors that does more than its swatch suggests: a light, softly grayed sage that reads as a clear tint of green in daylight and can drift toward a green-tinged off-white in strong sun. The questions people ask are whether it is too pale to read as green, whether it goes gray or flat under poor light, and how it stacks up against the deeper historic greens it gets confused with. Here is how HC-141 behaves on interior walls.

Quick orientation before the deep dive. Hollingsworth Green HC-141 sits in the Benjamin Moore Historical Colors collection with a published LRV of 63.25 and a hex value of #CCD4C4 (RGB 204, 212, 196) on Benjamin Moore's color page. That places it in light territory: well above the middle of the scale, it reflects more light than it absorbs, so it behaves like a pale tint rather than a committed mid-tone, and it is nowhere near an almost-black like Charleston Green. On those RGB values the green channel leads, red sits slightly above blue, and the three stay close together: the signature of a soft, grayed green with a faint warm lean, which is what keeps it from going icy or clinical. This profile is one stop in our wider Benjamin Moore interior paint colors guide, and it pairs naturally with our broader look at the best sage green interior shades and pairings: this page stays focused on HC-141 specifically, while those cover the wider family.

Hollingsworth Green at a glance: the numbers that matter

Before opinions, here are the verifiable specs straight from the Benjamin Moore color library. These are the values you can take to a paint counter:

The takeaway from those numbers: at LRV 63.25, Hollingsworth Green is a light color, not the moody mid-tone its name suggests. That single figure is the most important thing to understand before you commit. An LRV in the low 60s means the wall bounces back more light than it absorbs, so it keeps a room open and works as a softly colored backdrop rather than a dramatic wrap. The gray in the mix is what keeps it grounded and modern instead of minty or country-kitchen dated, while the faint warm lean stops it from sliding into cold institutional green. The trade-off runs the other way from a deep green: in a very bright room it can read almost like an off-white, so if you want the green to register clearly on every wall, you need a deeper sage. That tension is the whole decision.

Is Hollingsworth Green muddy? The undertone, decoded

The fear with any grayed sage is that it will go murky, flat, or vaguely institutional. Being light, Hollingsworth Green mostly sidesteps that, but its gray still shapes how it reads. Here is the breakdown.

The dominant note is a soft green that leans neither sharply yellow nor sharply blue; on the published RGB values the green channel leads, with red just above blue. Riding under that green is gray, which mutes the chroma, takes the candy out of the green, and gives HC-141 its slightly antique character. In strong, warm daylight the faint warmth surfaces and the wall reads as a pale, sunlit sage, sometimes close to a green-tinged off-white. In flat, cool, or low light the gray takes over and the color reads grayer and quieter, a soft stone-green rather than a clear sage. This is where the "muddy" worry comes from, but at this light value the realistic risk is a wall that looks gray-white and a little flat, not a dark or dirty one.

One caution about photos: screens and phone cameras shift pale greens a lot, so a styled photo can make HC-141 look deeper, bluer, or whiter than it will be on your wall. Judge it from a large sample under your own light, not from a picture.

Sources: Benjamin Moore HC-141 color data (LRV 63.25, hex CCD4C4); The Spruce green-paint undertone coverage.

Best rooms for Hollingsworth Green

Light, softly colored, and quietly historic, Hollingsworth Green is happiest where you want a hint of green without losing brightness. It is closer to a whole-room backdrop than a dramatic wrap: the color you choose when you want a space to feel calm and fresh. Here is where HC-141 fits best:

Living rooms, dining rooms and studies

In living spaces Hollingsworth Green works as a soft, colored neutral: enough green to feel deliberate against warm wood furniture, brass fixtures, and antique rugs, and light enough at LRV 63.25 to keep the room open in the evening under warm bulbs. If you want the enveloping, library-green look in a dining room or study, this is not that color: the deeper historic greens compared below, such as Cushing Green, are built for it.

Kitchen cabinetry and built-ins

Sage greens have become a default for cabinetry, and Hollingsworth Green suits the lighter end of that trend: its gray base keeps it modern rather than country-cute. Because it is light, it can run across a full wall of cabinetry or the uppers without closing in a kitchen, and it sits easily next to white counters and a wood top. If you want cabinets that read clearly green against white walls, pair it with a deeper sage on the island. If cabinets are your project, our roundup of the best sage green kitchen cabinet paint colors shows where it sits among the favorites.

Bedrooms and bathrooms

In a bedroom, Hollingsworth Green keeps the room bright while adding a restful tint of green, and it pairs well with white linen, natural wood, and warm metals. In a bathroom with white tile, the gray keeps it from looking minty. Because it is light, it can go on all four walls without making a small room feel smaller. For a sense of how it sits next to other quiet, restful picks, our guide to calming master bedroom paint colors is a helpful map.

Where to think twice

A very bright, sun-flooded room can wash Hollingsworth Green out until it reads as an off-white with a green cast, which disappoints if you wanted visible color. At the other end, a dim, strictly north-facing room lit only by cool LED pushes the gray forward and can make it look flat. In the first case, step down to a deeper sage such as Wythe Blue or Louisburg Green; in the second, switch to warm 2700K bulbs and test a large sample before committing.

Trim, ceiling, and decor pairings

A pale green lives or dies on what frames it. Get the trim right and Hollingsworth Green looks intentional; get it wrong and it can read either washed out or oddly chalky.

• Warm soft white trim (most balanced): BM White Dove (OC-17, LRV 83.16) is the balanced choice: about 20 LRV points above the wall, enough to frame it, and its gentle cream bias echoes Hollingsworth's own warmth, so the trim and wall feel like one family rather than a stark cut-line. This is the safe, cohesive pick for most homes.
• Creamy off-white (cozier, more historic): BM Mascarpone (AF-20) or Cloud White (OC-130) lean a touch creamier and push the room toward an antique, English-country feel that flatters the sage.
• Avoid: a stark, blue-cool white like a bright modern bath white next to Hollingsworth. The cool-warm clash can make the green look slightly dingy and the trim look icy by comparison.
• Ceilings: a warm white, often the trim color. A cool flat builder white over a warm green can read slightly blue, so favor a creamy white above.
• Floors and decor: warm oak, walnut, terracotta, brass, aged leather, and natural linen all flatter the sage and reinforce its historic warmth. Cool gray flooring can fight the green and pull it toward a flat gray; temper it with warm textiles and wood tones.

For contrast, a soft cream or a warm tan grounds the green beautifully, while black hardware and warm brass both look tailored against it. If you want to see how green sits among warm neutrals and what pairs with it, our guide to colors that go with sage green covers the full palette of companions in detail.

Hollingsworth Green vs the historic greens people confuse it with

Almost every Hollingsworth Green search ends in a side-by-side with another Benjamin Moore historic green. These are the four that matter most indoors, and getting the distinction right is the difference between the room you pictured and a near-miss:

• vs BM Narragansett Green (HC-157): the most common mix-up, and the easiest to get wrong. Benjamin Moore calls Narragansett a blackened teal, and at LRV 9.14 it is about 54 points darker than Hollingsworth (LRV 63.25), with a cooler, bluer cast. Choose Narragansett for a bold, enveloping green statement on cabinets or in a powder room; choose Hollingsworth when you want a pale, daylight-friendly sage that keeps the room bright.
• vs BM Cushing Green (HC-125): the deep sibling. Benjamin Moore describes Cushing as a balanced dark green, and at LRV 17.98 it sits about 45 points below Hollingsworth. The two share a grayed, historic character, but Cushing reads as committed, deep color while Hollingsworth reads as a tint. Pick Cushing for a dining room or study you want to wrap in green; pick Hollingsworth when the green should stay in the background.
• vs BM Louisburg Green (HC-113): the mid-tone of the group. Benjamin Moore describes Louisburg as a medium green whose gray undertones give it a cool, muted quality, and at LRV 33.79 it is about 29 points darker than Hollingsworth. Choose Louisburg when you want sage that clearly registers as color on four walls; choose Hollingsworth when you want the lighter, airier version. Twenty-nine LRV points is a wide gap for two colors people treat as interchangeable, and our Louisburg Green HC-113 review walks through how that deeper version behaves room by room.
• vs BM Wythe Blue (HC-143): the neighbor on the fan deck that tips over the line. Wythe Blue (LRV 48.11) sits two chips away in the Historical Collection and is about 15 points darker. Benjamin Moore describes it as a blue-green with a subtle gray cast, so blue and green sit closer to level than in Hollingsworth, where the green clearly leads. Choose Wythe Blue when you want a soft historic blue-green with a little more depth; choose Hollingsworth when you want a paler, greener tint. Our Wythe Blue HC-143 profile shows how that blue-green balance moves with the hour.

The short version: Hollingsworth is the lightest of this group by a wide margin. If you have been agonizing over these five chips on a wall, the LRV ladder on Benjamin Moore's color pages, 9.14 for Narragansett, 17.98 for Cushing, 33.79 for Louisburg, 48.11 for Wythe Blue and 63.25 for Hollingsworth, is the cleanest way to tell them apart. If HC-141 looks too pale on your wall, Wythe Blue and Louisburg are the next steps down in depth. For where Hollingsworth lands among the year's other muted, gray-leaning options, our complete gray paint shade guide is a useful cross-reference, since this green borrows so much of its character from gray.

Spelling note: hollingsworth green, BM Hollingsworth Green, and Hollingsworth Green Benjamin Moore all point to this same HC-141. It is also occasionally cross-referenced with the closely related Benjamin Moore October Mist 1495 review, though October Mist is a deeper, gently shaded sage (LRV 46.54 against 63.25) and serves a different role.

How to test Hollingsworth Green before you commit

A 2-inch fan-deck chip is a poor guide to a pale green: it cannot show you how an LRV in the 60s behaves across an entire wall, where the color can look lighter and grayer than on the chip. Two better methods:

• Paint a large swatch: roll a 12-by-12-inch sample (or a peel-and-stick sample) on two different walls and check it mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and at night under your normal bulbs. Watch both ends: how washed out it looks in your brightest spot and how gray it goes in your darkest corner. Those two spots are the honest test of whether HC-141 still reads as green in your room.
• Preview it digitally first: upload a real photo of your room and apply Hollingsworth Green, plus deeper alternatives such as Louisburg Green or Cushing Green, before you buy any samples. That narrows three or four contenders to the one worth painting. Pricing context for the full repaint is in our interior house painting cost guide for 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Disclaimer: Benjamin Moore, Hollingsworth Green (HC-141), Narragansett Green (HC-157), Cushing Green (HC-125), Louisburg Green (HC-113), White Dove (OC-17), Mascarpone (AF-20), Cloud White (OC-130), and October Mist (1495) are trademarks of Benjamin Moore & Co. FacadeColorizer is an independent paint visualization service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Benjamin Moore. Color reproduction on screens approximates the manufacturer's chip; always confirm with a manufacturer sample under your own light before purchase. Sources: Benjamin Moore HC-141 Hollingsworth Green color data 2026, Benjamin Moore HC-157, HC-125, HC-113, HC-143, OC-17 and 1495 color data 2026, The Spruce green-paint undertone coverage.