Behr Carbon N520-7

Contents

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What are Behr Carbon undertones?
Is Carbon N520-7 cool or warm?
How light temperature affects on Carbon
Monochromatic color scheme
Complementary color scheme
Color comparison and matching
LRV of Carbon N520-7
Color codes
Color equivalents

Code:	N520-7
Name:	Carbon
Brand:	Behr

What color is Behr Carbon?

Behr Carbon N520-7 is a deep charcoal gray with an almost neutral cast and a faint cool edge. Its low-light value gives walls a dense, grounded look, while brighter daylight can reveal the subtle separation between its gray and near-black character. Use Carbon for an accent wall, built-in cabinetry, interior doors, or a dramatic exterior detail where a strong dark finish is wanted without reading as pure black. It pairs cleanly with crisp white trim, pale concrete tones, light oak, brushed nickel, and natural black metal. In smaller rooms, balance this shade with ample lighting and lighter flooring or furnishings to keep the overall effect from feeling too heavy.

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What are Behr Carbon undertones?

Carbon is a deep, near-neutral near-black. Its chroma is so low that assigning a specific hue-based undertone would be misleading. Because it is close to neutral, nearby surfaces and the color of the light can noticeably change how warm or cool it appears.

HEX value:

#3D3E3E

RGB code:

61, 62, 62

Is Behr Carbon cool or warm?

warm

cool

With a hue of 180°, this black leans cool, but it is near the neutral line and may feel warmer in certain lighting.

N520-7 Carbon HSL code: 180, 1%, 24%

Hue - degree on a color wheel from 0 to 360. 0 is red, 120 is green, and 240 is blue.
Saturation is expressed as a percentage. At 0%, it appears as a shade of grey, and at 100%, it is in full color.
Lightness is also a percentage value. 0% is black, and 100% is white.

How light temperature affects Carbon

Natural Lighting. During the day, natural light shifts from about 2000 K at sunrise/sunset to 5500–6500 K at noon.

Sunrise

Morning

Noon

Afternoon

Sunset

In addition, natural-light temperature depends on its direction:

Direction of sunlight	Visible temp.	Hue	Duration
North	Cool	Bluish	All day
East	Warm	Yellow	Before noon
West	Warm	Orange-red	After noon
South	Warm	Orange-yellow	All day

Artificial Lighting. When choosing bulbs, pay attention to their color temperature in Kelvins.
Use the slider to see how this black shade looks under different lighting:

4000K

2000K

3000K

4000K

5000K

6000K

7000K

Coordinating colors.
Colors that go with Behr Carbon:

Monochromatic color scheme

This scheme consists of various shades, tints, and tones of a single color. While it offers a perfect combination of hues, without accent décor it may become monotonous.

Lighter shades

N520-7
Carbon

Complementary color scheme

This color scheme is a combination of two shades that are opposite each other on the color wheel. The high contrast between these colors creates a vibrant and dynamic visual effect. For the color Carbon with a green hue, complementary colors are those with a red hue close to 0, such as Behr Autumn Ashes and Piano Brown.

N520-7
Carbon

Compare
Behr
Carbon N520-7
to any other colors

Behr
Carbon N520-7
color equivalents

LRV of Carbon

Carbon has an LRV of 5.44% and refers to Dark colors which means that this color almost does not reflect light. Why LRV is important?

Light Reflectance Value scale illustration

Light Reflectance Value measures the amount of visible and usable light that reflects from a painted surface.
Simply put, the higher the LRV of a paint color, the brighter the room you will get.
The scale goes from 0% (absolute black, absorbing all light) to 100% (pure white, reflecting all light).

Act like a pro: When choosing paint with an LRV of 5.44%, pay attention to your bulbs' brightness. Light brightness is measured in lumens. The lower the paint's LRV, the higher lumen level you need. Every square foot of room needs at least 40 lumens. That means for a 200 ft² living room you'll need about 8000 lumens of light – e.g., eight 1000 lm bulbs.

Color codes

We have collected almost every possible color code you could ever need.
Not sure what the difference between HEX and RGB is? We break down color models in plain language. Understanding color models

Format	Code
HEX	#3d3e3e
RGB Decimal	61, 62, 62
RGB Percent	23.92%, 24.31%, 24.31%
HSV	Hue: 180° Saturation: 1.61% Value: 24.31%
HSL	hsl(180, 1, 24)
CMYK	Cyan: 1.61 Magenta: 0.0 Yellow: 0.0 Key: 75.69
YIQ	Y: 61.701 I: -0.596 Q: -0.212
XYZ	X: 4.516 Y: 4.785 Z: 5.242
CIE Lab	L:26.114 a:-0.423 b:-0.147
CIE Luv	L:26.114 u:-0.515 v:-0.109
Decimal	4013630
Hunter Lab	21.875, -1.427, 1.105