Colors that go with Maroon for walls
Maroon · #800000
Maroon (#800000) — a dark, brownish red — pairs best with teal, slate & blue, muted red, and green. On walls, use teal, drawn from 4 historically-grounded combinations below.
Wall color has to live with a room all day, so the partners that work are the ones with enough contrast to frame furniture without fighting the light.
About maroon
Maroon is a dark, brownish red — a saturated, 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 serene in walls.
- HEX
- #800000
- RGB
- 128, 0, 0
- HSL
- 0°, 100%, 25%
- CMYK
- 0, 100, 100, 50
Accessibility: put light text on maroon for AAA legibility (contrast 10.5:1 against off-white).
Why maroon pairs with teal, slate & blue, muted red, and green
Across the 4 historical combinations below, maroon sits most often beside teal, slate & blue, muted red, and green. 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. Wall color has to live with a room all day, so the partners that work are the ones with enough contrast to frame furniture without fighting the light.
- teal
- slate & blue
- muted red
- green
Using maroon in walls
On walls, use teal and slate & blue. Because maroon is deep and grounding, keep it to anchor pieces or a single feature area and let teal carry the larger surfaces.
4 combinations with maroon, from the 1933 Dictionary
Spinel Red & Vandyke Red +1
Plate 147 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Spinel Red, Vandyke Red, Turquoise Green.
#82241f #f27291 #b5decc
Vandyke Red & Citrine +1
Plate 133 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Vandyke Red, Citrine, Sea Green.
#82241f #b09f36 #00b49b
Vandyke Red & Yellow Orange +2
Plate 335 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Vandyke Red, Yellow Orange, Violet, Slate Color.
#82241f #f99d1b #4f4086 #34454c
Vandyke Red & Dull Viridian Green +2
Plate 316 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Vandyke Red, Dull Viridian Green, Violet, Red Violet.
#82241f #009465 #4f4086 #59256a
Maroon in other settings
Other colors
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