Green keeps winning the 2027 color forecasts. On October 14, Benjamin Moore named Webster Green (HC-130) its Color of the Year, joining Sherwin-Williams' Celery and Behr's Grounded on the green side of the fan deck. Trade magazines and design sites covered the news the same day, and it's the color people are asking about this week.
"For 2027, our focus centered on the green color family," said Andrea Magno, Benjamin Moore's vice president of brand, color and integrated marketing.
Here's what Webster Green actually looks like, where Benjamin Moore suggests using it, and how much paint to buy for three typical projects.
What Webster Green looks like
Benjamin Moore describes Webster Green as a classic, adaptable mid-tone green. It sits on the darker side: its light reflectance value (LRV) is 20.2 on Benjamin Moore's Canadian site, on a scale where 0 is black and 100 is white. Homes & Gardens describes it as a deep, forest-green jewel tone.
That LRV matters. A color around 20 reflects only about a fifth of the light that hits it, so it will look noticeably darker in a dim room than on a bright swatch card.
It comes from Benjamin Moore's Historical Collection, which is where the "HC" in the number comes from.
The rest of the 2027 palette
Webster Green sits at the center of an eight-color Color Trends 2027 palette:
| Color | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Webster Green HC-130 | The Color of the Year: a classic mid-tone green |
| White Down OC-131 | A soft, cozy off-white |
| Nelson Blue CW-635 | An airy, pale blue |
| Shakespeare Tan 228 | A golden neutral |
| Antique Copper 1169 | A warm, spiced brown |
| Wild Aster 1240 | A pink with hints of pale gray |
| Durango 2137-30 | A deep neutral with olive undertones |
| Townsend Harbor Brown HC-64 | A grounded burgundy |
Where Benjamin Moore says to use it
Benjamin Moore's own suggestions lean toward architecture rather than four plain walls:
- Front doors and exteriors, where it works as a focal point.
- Built-ins, trim and architectural details, especially next to neutral walls.
- Entryways and all-green color schemes.
Homes & Gardens adds a few interior ideas: kitchen cabinets, bedroom walls with warm white woodwork and a pale blue ceiling, and "color drenching" a study, where walls, trim and ceiling all go the same color. Pairing it with White Down on doors and trim is another combination from the palette.
How much paint you need
These examples use the same math as our paint calculator: two coats at 350 square feet per gallon, a standard door counted as 3 × 7 ft (21 sq ft) and a window as 3 × 5 ft (15 sq ft). Check the coverage on your can, since it varies by product.
1. A Webster Green front door
- One side of a 3 × 7 ft door: 21 sq ft
- Two coats: 42 sq ft ÷ 350 = 0.12 gallons
- Painting both sides: 84 sq ft ÷ 350 = 0.24 gallons
- Buy 1 quart of exterior paint. It covers both sides with some left for touch-ups. Panel doors have more surface than a flat slab, but a quart still has room to spare.
2. A drenched study, 11 × 10 ft with an 8 ft ceiling, one door and one window
- Walls: 2 × (11 + 10) × 8 = 336 sq ft
- Minus the door and window (36 sq ft): 300 sq ft
- Ceiling: 11 × 10 = 110 sq ft
- Two coats: walls 1.71 gallons + ceiling 0.63 gallons = 2.34 gallons
- Buy 3 gallons. Our calculator rounds up to a full gallon when you'd need more than a quart extra, because two quarts usually cost more than a gallon.
- Primer, if you're covering patches or a very different color: 410 sq ft ÷ 350 = 1.17 gallons, so 1 gallon plus 1 quart.
3. Trim only, with neutral walls
Baseboards, door casings and window casings in an average room take far less paint than the walls. A single quart in satin or semi-gloss covers the trim in most rooms.
Fun fact: Webster Green's collection is exactly 50 years old this year. Benjamin Moore's Historical Collection debuted alongside the 1976 American bicentennial, with buildings maintained by the National Park Service as a key inspiration, and it now holds 191 colors, from HC-1 to HC-191. These colors were designed for real houses, inside and out. Put your room's measurements into the paint calculator to see how many gallons yours will take.
Tips before you buy
- Test it in your light. With an LRV around 20, Webster Green can look almost black-green in a north-facing room at night. Paint a large swatch or use a peel-and-stick sample and check it morning and evening.
- Prime over pale or patched walls. A dark topcoat over light walls, fresh drywall mud or stains can take an extra coat to look even. Ask the store about a primer tinted toward your color.
- Pick the sheen for the job. Satin or semi-gloss for doors, trim and cabinets that get touched. Matte or eggshell for walls.
- Buy all your gallons at once. Tints can vary slightly between batches, so for a drenched room, buy everything together or mix the cans in one bucket before you start.
Measuring an odd-shaped room first? The square footage calculator handles L-shapes and alcoves, and the paint calculator turns your room into gallons, primer and a printable shopping list.
Sources
- Benjamin Moore: Color of the Year and Color Trends 2027
- Hardware Retailing: Benjamin Moore announces 2027 Color of the Year
- Homes & Gardens: Benjamin Moore unveils its 2027 Color of the Year
- Benjamin Moore Canada: Webster Green HC-130
- Benjamin Moore Canada: Historical Colour Collection
- Trend signal: news coverage of the Benjamin Moore announcement from October 14 to 16, 2026 (Google Trends could not be checked on this run)
