Colors that go with Brown for curtains
Brown · #7B5233
Brown (#7B5233) — a warm mid-brown — pairs best with terracotta & clay, ochre & gold, teal, and muted red. For curtains, choose terracotta & clay, drawn from 8 historically-grounded combinations below.
Curtains frame a room and filter its light, so the partners that work read cleanly against both the wall behind them and the daylight through them.
About brown
Brown is a warm mid-brown — a gently muted, warm colour that reads as deep and grounding. As a warm tone it looks most resolved next to cool and neutral partners that temper its warmth, and it needs lighter shades nearby for the value contrast the eye reads as finished. That balance is what makes it feel refined in curtains.
- HEX
- #7B5233
- RGB
- 123, 82, 51
- HSL
- 26°, 41%, 34%
- CMYK
- 0, 33, 59, 52
Accessibility: put light text on brown for AA legibility (contrast 6.5:1 against off-white).
Why brown pairs with terracotta & clay, ochre & gold, teal, and muted red
Across the 8 historical combinations below, brown sits most often beside terracotta & clay, ochre & gold, teal, and muted red. That tracks with colour theory: a warm, deep tone like this one wants cool and neutral partners that temper its warmth so the scheme feels intentional rather than flat, and lighter partners supply the light-to-dark range the eye needs. Curtains frame a room and filter its light, so the partners that work read cleanly against both the wall behind them and the daylight through them.
- terracotta & clay
- ochre & gold
- teal
- muted red
Using brown in curtains
For curtains, choose terracotta & clay and ochre & gold. Because brown is deep and grounding, keep it to anchor pieces or a single feature area and let terracotta & clay carry the larger surfaces.
8 combinations with brown, from the 1933 Dictionary
Sulphine Yellow & Pale Raw Umber +1
Plate 160 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Sulphine Yellow, Pale Raw Umber, Dark Medici Blue.
#71502f #c19f2c #547076
Cinnamon Buff & Pale Raw Umber +1
Plate 234 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Cinnamon Buff, Pale Raw Umber, Pale King's Blue.
#71502f #fdc57e #a7d4e4
Sulpher Yellow & Ochraceous Salmon +2
Plate 296 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Sulpher Yellow, Ochraceous Salmon, Pale Raw Umber, Slate Color.
#71502f #f5ecc2 #d8a37b #34454c
Light Pink & Tea
A whisper of pink against tea brown — the tone of an Edo-period lacquer sweet box.
#6C4F3B #E8A4A4 #F3EBDA
Kite Brown & Gold
The warm brown of a kite's wing lit by afternoon gold.
#8A5A3B #D4AF37 #2B2B2B
Brown & Ochraceous Salmon +1
Plate 121 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Brown, Ochraceous Salmon, Lincoln Green.
#7c4226 #d8a37b #555832
Brown & Pinkish Cinnamon +1
Plate 161 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Brown, Pinkish Cinnamon, Helvetia Blue.
#7c4226 #eeb480 #005b8d
Burnt Sienna & Ivory Buff +2
Plate 343 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Burnt Sienna, Ivory Buff, Deep Grayish Olive, Vandar Poel's Blue.
#635a3a #ae5224 #ebd3a2 #064f6e
Brown in other settings
Other colors
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