Burgess Green
What Burgess Green Actually Looks Like
Burgess Green is a soft, dusty sage that sits squarely in the middle of the value scale, neither light nor dark. It carries the quiet, unsaturated quality typical of Colonial Williamsburg palette colors, reading as a grayed green with an earthy quality rather than anything crisp or leafy. In bright daylight it can feel almost neutral, like a well-worn linen cloth laid over green. In dimmer light it deepens and leans more noticeably toward olive.
Burgess Green Undertones
The RGB values tell the story clearly: red and green channels are nearly equal, sitting close together with a noticeably lower blue channel. That balance produces a warm, slightly yellow-leaning green rather than a cool blue-green. Expect a quiet olive character that becomes more visible when the color is placed next to true neutrals or cool whites.
Where Burgess Green Works Best
Because this color comes from the Colonial Williamsburg collection, it suits period-inspired spaces most naturally, wood-paneled studies, entry halls with wainscoting, formal dining rooms, and library walls. Its mid-tone LRV means it can hold a room without feeling heavy, but smaller windowless spaces will feel enclosed, so reserve it for rooms with decent natural light or supplement with warm artificial light. It also works well on exterior shutters and doors where a restrained, historically accurate green is the goal.
Where to put Burgess Green
On all four walls of a formal dining room, Burgess Green creates a cocooning effect that suits candlelit evenings. Keep trim in a warm cream rather than a bright white, which would fight the color's earthy character.
Wood bookshelves, leather seating, and aged brass fixtures all read well against this color. The muted tone keeps the space focused rather than stimulating, which suits long work sessions.
An entry sees varied light throughout the day, and Burgess Green handles that range reasonably well. In morning sun it can look almost khaki; by evening it settles into a richer, more recognizably green tone.
Against brick or natural wood siding, Burgess Green reads as an authentic colonial accent. It avoids the brightness of modern greens and ages gracefully on exterior surfaces.
What to Pair With Burgess Green
No coordinating colors are listed in our database for Burgess Green at this time. As a general guide, pair it with warm off-whites that echo its yellow-olive base, aged wood tones, antique brass hardware, and deep tobacco or brick accents that colonial interiors favored.
Colors that clash with Burgess Green
A stark, blue-toned white on trim will pull against the warm olive base of Burgess Green and make both colors look slightly off.
Blue-gray upholstery or cool gray area rugs fight the color's yellow-green undertone, creating a muddy visual tension.
A high sheen on a mid-tone earthy color amplifies every imperfection in the wall surface and can make the color look inconsistent across the plane.
Common questions
The precise LRV is 49.42, which places it right at the midpoint of the scale. It is not a dark color by any strict measure, but it is not light either. In a small room with limited windows it will feel enclosed. In a room with good natural light or warm layered artificial lighting it holds up well without oppressing the space.
Yes. CW-485 is available in both interior and exterior formulations, so you can use it on walls, millwork, and exterior surfaces like shutters or doors.
North-facing rooms receive cool, indirect light that tends to suppress warm undertones. In that condition the yellow-olive quality in Burgess Green will quiet down and the gray component will come forward, pushing the color toward a cooler, more neutral sage. If you want to preserve the warmth, use warm-spectrum bulbs in the evening and keep trim in a cream rather than a cool white.
The Benjamin Moore code is CW-485 and the hex is #BABD99. Both are displayed in the color spec block on this page.