#514538 is a muted, temperate lime green. On the Color Lab it reads quietly premium, restrained and easy to live with. It reproduces cleanly in print.
Not just a swatch — here's how #514538 works with other colors. Named schemes with #514538 in its natural role, and a note on why the supporting colors balance it.
Taupe anchors this café scheme as the warm mid-tone, lifted by latte cream and a muted sage accent and grounded by espresso brown and a warm charcoal.
Taupe plays the worn-leather lead, deepened by saddle brown and an oxblood anchor, softened by aged cream and cooled by a muted forest green.
This palette keeps Taupe as the dominant warm neutral, balanced by muted terracotta and olive earth tones and grounded by a deep espresso anchor.
Taupe sets a calm, sun-bleached base here, wrapped in bone and paper off-whites and a soft greige, with a single ink accent for wabi-sabi restraint.
Taupe is the single accent in this high-contrast editorial system — set on near-white paper against near-black ink, with a warm grey and a desaturated tint of Taupe carrying the quiet middle.
How #514538 actually behaves in design work — read from its OKLCH lightness, chroma and hue, not just its raw numbers. Ten signals to help you decide where this color earns its place.
Not a swatch to memorise — a color to build with. Here is #514538 at work across the surfaces designers actually ship.
:root {
--color-base: #514538;
--color-base-rgb: 81 69 56;
--color-base-oklch: oklch(39.9% 0.027 69.2);
--color-50: #F9F7F6;
--color-100: #EEEBE7;
--color-200: #DED6CF;
--color-300: #C3B8AC;
--color-400: #A8998A;
--color-500: #8A7B6B;
--color-600: #6C6156;
--color-700: #4F4840;
--color-800: #35312C;
--color-900: #211F1C;
--color-on-base: #FFFFFF;
}
// tailwind.config.js
colors: {
taupe: {
50: '#F9F7F6',
100: '#EEEBE7',
200: '#DED6CF',
300: '#C3B8AC',
400: '#A8998A',
500: '#8A7B6B',
600: '#6C6156',
700: '#4F4840',
800: '#35312C',
900: '#211F1C',
},
}
$base: #514538; $base-ink: #FFFFFF; $base-50: #F9F7F6; $base-100: #EEEBE7; $base-200: #DED6CF; $base-300: #C3B8AC; $base-400: #A8998A; $base-500: #8A7B6B; $base-600: #6C6156; $base-700: #4F4840; $base-800: #35312C; $base-900: #211F1C; $base-hover: #41372D; $base-subtle: #CFC7C0;
{
"color": {
"base": {
"value": "#514538",
"type": "color"
},
"onBase": {
"value": "#FFFFFF",
"type": "color"
},
"scale": {
"50": {
"value": "#F9F7F6",
"type": "color"
},
"100": {
"value": "#EEEBE7",
"type": "color"
},
"200": {
"value": "#DED6CF",
"type": "color"
},
"300": {
"value": "#C3B8AC",
"type": "color"
},
"400": {
"value": "#A8998A",
"type": "color"
},
"500": {
"value": "#8A7B6B",
"type": "color"
},
"600": {
"value": "#6C6156",
"type": "color"
},
"700": {
"value": "#4F4840",
"type": "color"
},
"800": {
"value": "#35312C",
"type": "color"
},
"900": {
"value": "#211F1C",
"type": "color"
}
}
}
}