Key Takeaways
- Sherwin-Williams named Celery SW 6421, a muted green with yellow undertones, its 2027 Color of the Year for its calming, uplifting sense of “wellness, balance and connection.”
- Social media users compared the shade to hospital walls, vomit and “backrooms colours,” while others questioned who gets to choose each year’s defining color.
- Several brands have competing 2027 picks, including Behr’s olive Grounded, Valspar’s blue Cottage Door and Graham & Brown’s dusty pink Rose Earth, with Benjamin Moore and Pantone still to announce theirs.
In case you missed it, celery has officially been dubbed a 2027 “Color of the Year.”
Sherwin-Williams announced on Sept. 15 that Celery SW 6421, a soft, muted green with subtle yellow undertones, will carry the title into 2027. The company describes it as an “airy, herbal green” meant to bring “fresh perspectives and elegance” into a space.
According to Sherwin-Williams color marketing manager Ashley Banbury, the shade was chosen because it reflects three things people increasingly want from their homes: “wellness, balance and connection.” Banbury has also described Celery as “calming yet uplifting,” while the brand says the shade works alongside everything from natural wood tones to deeper jewel tones.
And yes, it looks pretty much how you’d expect a paint color named Celery to look.
Word of the unusual pick quickly made its way beyond the design world. FOX29’s Good Day Philadelphia hosts Alex Holley and Mike Jerrick discussed the announcement during an on-air segment that Holley later shared on TikTok, where viewers had plenty to say about the prospect of celery green defining 2027.
“Hospital green,” one viewer wrote. Another went with “You're describing VOMIT.” Others were simply over the muted-color era, with one declaring, “I'm so sick of muted colors,” while someone else said the shade was “giving the backrooms colours.” One commenter, meanwhile, had déjà vu: “I painted my kitchen this color back in 2007. I guess it's on a 20 year cycle.”
The choice has also sparked another pretty reasonable question: Who exactly gets to decide the Color of the Year? “I thought it was the Pantone people that did all that,” one host said while discussing the news on Johnjay & Rich.
Turns out, there can be plenty of Colors of the Year.
Sherwin-Williams is just one of several major paint and design companies already making predictions for 2027. Behr chose Grounded, an earthy olive green, while Valspar went with the muted blue Cottage Door. Glidden selected the smoky blue Artifact, Dutch Boy picked the warm terracotta Deep Rooted and Graham & Brown chose the dusty pink Rose Earth.
A few of the biggest selections are still to come. Benjamin Moore is expected to reveal its 2027 pick in October, while Pantone has yet to announce the successor to Cloud Dancer, the soft white it named its 2026 Color of the Year.
That choice went over about as peacefully as telling the internet that white was the hottest new color.
Cloud Dancer prompted plenty of online backlash after its December reveal, with critics calling the nearly white shade everything from boring to sterile. Glamour even questioned whether the choice was designed to be rage bait.
Sherwin-Williams went a little darker for 2026, choosing Universal Khaki, a warm beige neutral. So in the span of a year, we’ve gone from khaki to celery.
At this rate, 2028 better bring dessert.
