• 32 sofa colors

What Color Sofa Should I Get

A neutral lasts longest; for anything bolder, start from your walls and from who sits on it.

What Color Sofa Should I Get

Show all 32
  1. Warm grayThe easy answer: hides everyday marks, and takes any cushion or wall color you change to later.

Next step Pick a wall color to go behind itDraw a color for the cushions

All 32 sofa colors

Whites, grays and neutrals, light to dark 13

  • Ivory white The lightest look there is. Best where shoes, snacks and pets stay off the sofa.
  • Cream Soft and bright against a deep wall. Every spill shows, so look for covers that come off.
  • Cream with a navy stripe A ticking stripe: fresher than plain cream, and the stripe breaks up small marks.
  • Natural linen The color of undyed linen: relaxed, a little rumpled, and easy beside wood and white.
  • Oatmeal fleck A beige weave with darker flecks, which hide crumbs and pale pet hair between cleans.
  • Sand beige A warm tan that hardly shows dust, pale hair or a little fade from the sun.
  • Greige Gray and beige in one, so it sits with cool walls and warm wood floors alike.
  • Light gray Airy and calm. Pale enough for a small room, with just enough depth to forgive a little.
  • Warm gray The easy answer: hides everyday marks, and takes any cushion or wall color you change to later.
  • Taupe Brown-gray, a step darker than beige: still a neutral, and kinder to muddy paws.
  • Gray tweed Two grays woven together. A mixed weave hides hair, crumbs and wear better than a plain color.
  • Charcoal Anchors a pale room and hides dark marks. Pale hair and lint show.
  • Black Sharp against white walls and good with black fur. Dust, lint and pale hair all show.

Blues and greens 8

  • Dusty blue A grayed pale blue, soft enough to live with for years.
  • Blue-gray More gray than blue: a neutral with a hint of color, for a room that feels flat.
  • Denim blue A mid blue that takes wear the way jeans do, and looks better a little lived in.
  • Navy blue The deep color that behaves like a neutral: good with white, wood and most cushions.
  • Deep teal Blue-green with depth: a statement that still sits well with gray, cream and wood.
  • Sage green A grayed green that acts like a neutral, easy beside wood, cream and white.
  • Olive green Earthy and forgiving of marks; warm beside tan leather, wood and cream walls.
  • Forest green velvet A jewel color for the one bold piece in the room. Velvet shows pale hair and every stroke of a hand.

Browns, leathers and warm colors 11

  • Tan leather Light brown leather that wipes clean. Scuffs and years only add to it.
  • Caramel A golden brown in a plain weave or velvet: warm against white, gray or blue walls.
  • Chestnut leather A deep red-brown leather that wipes clean, hides dark marks and suits a room full of books.
  • Chocolate brown Hides spills and dark fur well. Heavy in a small room, so give it pale walls.
  • Brown and tan check A check in two browns. A pattern is the best cover there is for marks and for hair of any color.
  • Blush pink A dusty pale pink, gentle with gray and white. It marks as easily as any pale color.
  • Mustard yellow A golden yellow that lifts a gray or white room. One mustard piece is plenty.
  • Terracotta The color of a clay pot: earthy, warm, and at home with cream walls and plants.
  • Rust A burnt orange-brown that warms white or gray walls and hides more than you would expect.
  • Burgundy A dark red that looks rich against cream walls and dark wood, and hides a red spill.
  • Plum velvet A dark purple that reads almost neutral in low light and glows beside a lamp.

How it works

A sofa outlasts the cushions, the rug and usually the paint, so its color is the one to get right. These are sorted by the walls they suit and by what lands on them, from crumbs to dog hair.

Read the full guide

Neutral first

Gray, greige, oatmeal and sand go with any wall you repaint later, and color can come from cushions and throws that are cheap to change. A mid-tone hides the most: very pale shows spills, very dark shows lint and pale hair.

Or one deep color

If the sofa is to be the color in the room, let it be the only one: navy, olive, rust or forest green against plain walls and a quiet rug.

Plan for what lands on it

Match a pet that sheds: pale hair vanishes on oatmeal, dark hair on charcoal. Flecks, tweeds and checks hide crumbs. Sunlight fades dyed fabric, so by a bright window choose a pale or mid color, where a fade shows least.

  • Get a fabric sample and look at it against your wall in daylight and by lamplight before you order.

Questions and answers

What color couch should I get with gray walls?

Ivory or cream keeps the room calm. For color, navy blue, mustard yellow, blush pink and rust all stand out against gray. A gray couch on gray walls works when it is clearly darker, like charcoal, or a tweed.

What color sofa goes with everything?

A mid neutral: warm gray, greige or an oatmeal fleck. None of them fights a wall color, a wood floor or a patterned rug.

What color sofa is best with kids and pets?

A mid-tone with some texture: gray tweed, an oatmeal fleck, denim blue, olive green or a brown and tan check. Leather wipes clean. Plain ivory and plain black show the most.

Should a sofa be lighter or darker than the walls?

Either, with a clear step between the two. A sofa darker than the walls anchors the room, and a pale one stands out against a deep wall. Close to the wall color, it takes up less of a small room.

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