Chocolate Powder
Often used for its versatile qualities, Chocolate Powder remains a staple for Sherwin-Williams designers. It is widely considered one of the best colors in its class to add character and warmth to any space. We've gathered 10 real-home scenarios to help you visualize this color alongside our expert data.
Hex
#A58C7B
LRV
28.12
Chocolate Powder's Color Strip
Chocolate Powder is the fourth shade on this 7-color strip, sitting between Sand Trap and Mocha. The strip spans from Reticence at the lightest end to French Roast at the deepest. Color strip 196 groups these shades together so you can see how each reads next to its neighbors.
Chocolate Powder in Real Rooms
Chocolate Powder has a medium LRV of 28.12 — it adds real depth and will read noticeably darker as natural light fades. It's neutral in temperature and , making it adaptable across different lighting conditions and room orientations. Grouped in the Red family, the photos below show it applied in a bedroom, bathroom, home office, dining room, front door, kitchen, house, mudroom, patio and living room.
1 Bedroom Photo
Pairing Chocolate Powder with tonal textures—like a silk rug or a bouclé chair—creates a layered, monochromatic look that is the height of sophistication for a bedroom. It proves that you don't need high-contrast colors to create a room that feels high-design and deeply personal.
A scandinavian bedroom painted in Chocolate Powder
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1 Bathroom Photo
Using Chocolate Powder on a bathroom vanity is a clever way to introduce color without painting the walls. It creates a sophisticated anchor for the room, especially when topped with a thick white quartz or a contrasting dark stone.
Chocolate Powder — minimalist bathroom
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1 Home Office Photo
Chocolate Powder in an office encourages a "deep work" mindset. Its depth and maturity create an environment of gravitas, helping you take your own projects and ambitions more seriously through the sheer atmosphere of the room.
Sherwin-Williams Chocolate Powder in a art deco home office
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1 Dining Room Photo
Chocolate Powder in the dining room sets a tone of warmth and occasion. Whether used on all four walls or as a single statement wall behind a sideboard, it creates the kind of atmosphere that makes every dinner feel like a special event.
Chocolate Powder paint in a boho dining room
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1 Front Door Photo
A front door in Chocolate Powder changes the entire read of a facade without requiring a renovation. The color is strong enough to register from the street but refined enough not to feel like a statement for its own sake. It's the "handshake" of the home.
classy front door featuring Chocolate Powder by Sherwin-Williams
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1 Kitchen Photo
The challenge with kitchen color is longevity: it needs to look right at 7am under bright task lights and at dinner with the pendants dimmed low. Chocolate Powder manages to bridge all three lighting scenarios with ease, which is a rarer quality in a paint pigment than it sounds.
Chocolate Powder — organic modern kitchen
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1 House Photo
When choosing Chocolate Powder for an exterior, you are opting for a color that respects the landscape. It feels like it grew out of the earth rather than being dropped onto it, creating a harmonious relationship between the architecture and the garden.
Chocolate Powder color — traditional house inspiration
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1 Mudroom Photo
Painting mudroom cubbies and benches in Chocolate Powder creates a built-in look that feels like a deliberate part of the home's architecture. It turns a utilitarian storage area into a sophisticated "moment" in the house's layout.
Chocolate Powder paint in a coastal mudroom
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1 Patio Photo
Chocolate Powder is particularly effective when used on a garden wall as a backdrop for plants. The deep tone makes the bright greens of leaves and the vibrant colors of flowers look almost neon in their intensity, creating a high-design garden look.
warm patio featuring Chocolate Powder by Sherwin-Williams
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1 Living Room Photo
Chocolate Powder provides a subtle architectural "lift" to a living room, especially those with high ceilings or intricate crown molding. The way shadows settle into the corners with this particular shade adds a layer of history and gravity to the space, making even a new build feel like it has stories to tell.
A hollywood regency living room painted in Chocolate Powder
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Coordinating Colors
At LRV 73 vs 28, Nice White is decisively the brighter choice.
Touch of Sand reflects far more light (LRV 58 vs 28), opening up a space where Chocolate Powder encloses it.
Trim Color
At LRV 73 vs 28, Nice White is decisively the brighter choice.
Similar Colors
Their light reflectance is nearly identical (LRV 28 vs 28), so neither reads brighter in a room.
With LRVs of 29 and 28, the two reflect almost the same amount of light.
With LRVs of 29 and 28, the two reflect almost the same amount of light.
With LRVs of 28 and 28, the two reflect almost the same amount of light.
Chocolate Powder reads slightly lighter (LRV 28 vs 25), a gap that shows most in low-lit rooms.
Their light reflectance is nearly identical (LRV 30 vs 28), so neither reads brighter in a room.
With LRVs of 28 and 27, the two reflect almost the same amount of light.
Their light reflectance is nearly identical (LRV 28 vs 27), so neither reads brighter in a room.
With LRVs of 28 and 25, the two reflect almost the same amount of light.
Dormer Brown reads slightly lighter (LRV 32 vs 28), a gap that shows most in low-lit rooms.
Complementary Colors
At LRV 77 vs 28, Glass Bead is decisively the brighter choice.
With LRVs of 29 and 28, the two reflect almost the same amount of light.
Chocolate Powder reflects far more light (LRV 28 vs 6), opening up a space where Mount Etna encloses it.
Debonair reads slightly lighter (LRV 34 vs 28), a gap that shows most in low-lit rooms.
Chocolate Powder reflects far more light (LRV 28 vs 7), opening up a space where Tarragon encloses it.
Chocolate Powder reflects far more light (LRV 28 vs 11), opening up a space where Rain Cloud encloses it.
Chocolate Powder reflects far more light (LRV 28 vs 7), opening up a space where Sea Mariner encloses it.
Lighter Colors
Sticks & Stones reads slightly lighter (LRV 31 vs 28), a gap that shows most in low-lit rooms.
Mega Greige reads slightly lighter (LRV 37 vs 28), a gap that shows most in low-lit rooms.
Alpaca reflects far more light (LRV 57 vs 28), opening up a space where Chocolate Powder encloses it.
At LRV 42 vs 28, Perfect Greige is decisively the brighter choice.
Darker Colors
Chocolate Powder reflects far more light (LRV 28 vs 14), opening up a space where Cobble Brown encloses it.
A 10-point LRV gap (28 vs 19) makes Chocolate Powder the marginally brighter of the two.
Chocolate Powder reads slightly lighter (LRV 28 vs 25), a gap that shows most in low-lit rooms.
At LRV 28 vs 16, Chocolate Powder is decisively the brighter choice.
A 9-point LRV gap (28 vs 19) makes Chocolate Powder the marginally brighter of the two.