Settled, side by side

Faded Terracotta is exactly what the name promises: a clay orange that has been left in the light until the red drained out, leaving a soft, sandy peach. It comes from Farrow & Ball's California Collection, made with Kelly Wearstler, and it carries that West Coast ease — warm, dusty, never brash.

Creekbed is a true taupe — grey and brown balanced so evenly that it reads as neither, with a faint pink warmth underneath. At LRV 33 it is a mid-tone, dark enough to feel like a color and light enough to keep a small room from closing in. It is the shade of wet river stone.