Behr Milk Thistle MQ6-26

Contents

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What are Behr Milk Thistle undertones?
Is Milk Thistle MQ6-26 cool or warm?
How light temperature affects on Milk Thistle
Monochromatic color scheme
Complementary color scheme
Color comparison and matching
LRV of Milk Thistle MQ6-26
Color codes
Color equivalents

Code:	MQ6-26
Name:	Milk Thistle
Brand:	Behr

What color is Behr Milk Thistle?

Behr Milk Thistle MQ6-26 is a muted gray-beige with a soft olive cast that keeps it from reading flat or overly warm. Its mid-tone depth gives walls a grounded look, especially in living rooms, bedrooms, or hallways with natural wood floors. In bright daylight, Milk Thistle can show more of its dusty khaki-beige side, while evening light tends to bring forward its gray undertone. Pair it with creamy off-whites, charcoal details, aged brass, and oak or walnut for a layered, natural-material palette. It is particularly well suited to full-room walls or cabinetry where a quiet, earth-toned neutral is wanted.

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What are Behr Milk Thistle undertones?

Milk Thistle is a mid-light, very muted khaki beige. The HEX sample has a subtle yellow bias, but its low chroma turns that hue into a neutral-looking color rather than a clear yellow. Warm bulbs can make it look creamier or more golden, while cool daylight may mute that warmth and pull it closer to beige or greige.

HEX value:

#9E9B88

RGB code:

158, 155, 136

Is Behr Milk Thistle cool or warm?

warm

cool

With a hue of 52°, this Grey leans warm, but it is close to neutral and can read cooler in some light.

MQ6-26 Milk Thistle HSL code: 52, 10%, 58%

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 Milk Thistle

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 Grey shade looks under different lighting:

4000K

2000K

3000K

4000K

5000K

6000K

7000K

Coordinating colors.
Colors that go with Behr Milk Thistle:

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

MQ6-26
Milk Thistle

Darker shades

MQ6-26
Milk Thistle

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 Milk Thistle with a orange hue, complementary colors are those with a blue hue close to 232, such as Behr Blue Aura and Camelot.

MQ6-26
Milk Thistle

Compare
Behr
Milk Thistle MQ6-26
to any other colors

Behr
Milk Thistle MQ6-26
color equivalents

LRV of Milk Thistle

Milk Thistle has an LRV of 32.36% and refers to Medium colors that reflect a lot of 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 32.36%, 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	#9e9b88
RGB Decimal	158, 155, 136
RGB Percent	61.96%, 60.78%, 53.33%
HSV	Hue: 52° Saturation: 13.92% Value: 61.96%
HSL	hsl(52, 10, 58)
CMYK	Cyan: 0.0 Magenta: 1.9 Yellow: 13.92 Key: 38.04
YIQ	Y: 153.731 I: 7.893 Q: -5.278
XYZ	X: 30.265 Y: 32.49 Z: 27.963
CIE Lab	L:63.746 a:-2.299 b:10.366
CIE Luv	L:63.746 u:2.838 v:14.747
Decimal	10394504
Hunter Lab	57.0, -4.972, 10.814