Hay vs Dusted Olive
Hay (Farrow & Ball) and Dusted Olive (Sherwin-Williams) come from different manufacturers. Both sit in the beige family, which is useful context if you're narrowing within a single hue direction. The 18-point LRV gap — 58 for Hay vs 40 for Dusted Olive — means Hay will open up a space more effectively. Both share a warm character, which means they'll respond to light and surrounding materials in similar ways. A ΔE of 11.8 puts these firmly in different territory — two distinct design choices rather than close alternatives. Below you'll find 2 real-room photo comparisons where both colors appear side by side, plus 5 simulated room previews.
Hay vs Dusted Olive in Real Spaces
2 real rooms side by side. Seeing Hay and Dusted Olive in actual rooms makes the difference concrete; browse the spaces below to get a feel for how each color lives on a wall.
Living Room
A living room wall sees more varied light than almost any other surface in the house, which makes the choice between these two more nuanced than a chip suggests. Hay reflects noticeably more light off the walls, making the space read more open than Dusted Olive.
Bedroom
Bedrooms are typically lit with warmer, lower light than the rest of the house — a condition that flatters warm tones and deepens cool ones. Hay returns significantly more light to the room — in a smaller or darker space, that difference in perceived brightness is hard to miss.
Color Details
Hay vs Dusted Olive Simulated Comparison
5 simulated room previews — drag the slider on each to see Hay on one side and Dusted Olive on the other.
Digital color is approximate. These simulations are generated from the manufacturer's hex values and overlaid on grayscale room photos — your screen's calibration, brightness, and viewing angle all affect how they render. Before committing to either color, test physical samples in your own space under the light you actually live with.
More Hay comparisons
See how Hay stacks up against other well-photographed colors across different brands and tones.
At LRV 83 vs 58, White Dove is decisively the brighter choice.
Hay reads slightly lighter (LRV 58 vs 52), a gap that shows most in low-lit rooms.
Hay reflects far more light (LRV 58 vs 30), opening up a space where Evergreen Fog encloses it.
With LRVs of 60 and 58, the two reflect almost the same amount of light.
Their light reflectance is nearly identical (LRV 58 vs 58), so neither reads brighter in a room.
Hay reflects far more light (LRV 58 vs 43), opening up a space where French Gray encloses it.
Their light reflectance is nearly identical (LRV 58 vs 55), so neither reads brighter in a room.
Pure White reflects far more light (LRV 84 vs 58), opening up a space where Hay encloses it.
A 8-point LRV gap (66 vs 58) makes Balboa Mist the marginally brighter of the two.
At LRV 74 vs 58, Shoji White is decisively the brighter choice.
A 10-point LRV gap (68 vs 58) makes Skimming Stone the marginally brighter of the two.
Hay reflects far more light (LRV 58 vs 31), opening up a space where Pale Green encloses it.