Dead Salmon

Dead Salmon takes its name from an eighteenth-century decorating bill at Kedleston Hall, where 'dead' meant matte rather than deceased. The color is a muddy pink-beige — salmon left in the sun until only the memory of pink remains. At LRV 35 it is a real mid-tone with unusual depth for a neutral.

It is quietly extraordinary in a bathroom, where it makes green marble and unlacquered brass look like they were made for it. In warm light it goes pink and cosy; in cool light it flattens toward putty. Never sweet, always grown-up.