Sandstone #C9AE74

About this color

#C9AE74 is a medium-light, moderately saturated orange. In OKLCH its lightness is 76%, its chroma 0.082 and its hue 86°. Its hue sits on the warm side of the wheel. It is the named color Sandstone. Black text reads best on it, at 9.79:1.

Colors that go with Sandstone

Matches found by rotating Sandstone around the OKLCH hue wheel, each labelled with the closest name in our list.

Color palettes with Sandstone

Curated color palettes that contain a color within ΔE 0.06 (OKLab) of Sandstone, closest first.

• Almanac Wallpaper
• Terracotta Garden
• Onyx and Brass
• Cranberry Morning
• Sienna Patio
• Terracotta Wall
• Mulch Walk
• Acorn and Bark

Similar named colors

The eight named colors closest to Sandstone, with their ΔE distance.

• Fawn #CFAF7B ΔE 0.013
• Toupe #C7AC7D ΔE 0.014
• Desert #CCAD60 ΔE 0.021
• Sand Brown #CBA560 ΔE 0.026
• Very Light Brown #D3B683 ΔE 0.030
• Putty #BEAE8A ΔE 0.030
• Tan #D2B48C ΔE 0.034
• Dark Khaki #BDB76B ΔE 0.034

More about Sandstone

• Shades of yellow
• What yellow means

How to make Sandstone

A starting recipe from common paint colors, found with a spectral paint model (the color mixer’s paint mode). Real pigments vary, so mix a small test batch and adjust.

• 4 parts white
• 3 parts brown
• 1 part yellow

Recipe result: #CFA972, a difference of ΔE 0.015 from Sandstone. That is very close: most people will not see the difference.

What colors make yellow? | Color mixing chart

Codes for Sandstone in every format

Contrast

WCAG 2 contrast ratios are the conformance target: AA needs 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text, AAA needs 7:1. APCA Lc values are supplementary guidance from the WCAG 3 drafts.

Shades and tints of Sandstone

A 50–950 scale built in OKLCH: the hue is held, lightness follows a Tailwind v4-like curve, and every step is kept inside the sRGB gamut. This color sits at step 300.

1. Step 50

   50

   #F9F5ED

   oklch(97.1% 0.011 84.6)

2. Step 100

   100

   #F1E9D8

   oklch(93.6% 0.024 85.8)

3. Step 200

   200

   #E7D8B8

   oklch(88.6% 0.046 85.9)

4. Step 300

   300 (this color)

   #C9AE74

   oklch(76.1% 0.082 85.6)

5. Step 400

   400

   #C5992B

   oklch(70.6% 0.131 85.4)

6. Step 500

   500

   #AC8200

   oklch(63% 0.129 85.7)

7. Step 600

   600

   #916D00

   oklch(55.6% 0.114 85.6)

8. Step 700

   700

   #7A5B00

   oklch(49% 0.1 85.4)

9. Step 800

   800

   #644A00

   oklch(42.5% 0.087 85.4)

10. Step 900

    900

    #543E00

    oklch(37.8% 0.077 85.9)

11. Step 950

    950

    #332400

    oklch(27.1% 0.056 85)

Export this scale for Tailwind in the Tailwind colors tool

Sandstone with color blindness

Simulated with the Machado et al. (2009) model. ΔE is how far the color moves: below about 0.02 you would not notice a change.