The Color Digest · Compare
Settled, side by side
Spoonful of Sugar
Benjamin Moore · 041
Terracotta with the lights on
Dead Salmon
Farrow & Ball · No. 28
Not dead, just resting
In real rooms
Every room, each colorThe difference
Read from the numbersDead Salmon is the lighter of the two at LRV 35, 14 points above Spoonful of Sugar at LRV 20.98. Both read warm. Spoonful of Sugar is a oranges, Dead Salmon a neutrals. For a whole room, Dead Salmon is the safer, more forgiving choice thanks to its higher LRV, while Spoonful of Sugar is the bolder pick.
How they read
In their own wordsDo not let the name fool you — Spoonful of Sugar is a deep, saturated caramel-terracotta, not a pastel. With an LRV of 21 it is a real color with real weight, and in a high-gloss lacquer it becomes something else entirely: a warm, glowing envelope that turns a library or dining room into a jewel box.
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.