Curated palette · Warm earth

Garden Clay.

Terracotta, oat, and walnut. The palette of a courtyard at noon.

#2E2A24 · #7A5742 · #C4866C · #E5C9A6 · #F4EAD85 anchors · ratios 60 / 30 / 10
See the anchors →

The anchors.

Click any swatch to copy. Each anchor carries a fixed role — keep the proportions and the palette holds together.

  • Dark · 10%

    Walnut Shadow

    Hex
    #2E2A24
    RGB
    rgb(46, 42, 36)
    CMYK
    0 · 9 · 22 · 82
    HSL
    36° · 12% · 16%
  • Mid-dark · 20%

    Bark Brown

    Hex
    #7A5742
    RGB
    rgb(122, 87, 66)
    CMYK
    0 · 29 · 46 · 52
    HSL
    22° · 30% · 37%
  • Mid · 20%

    Terracotta

    Hex
    #C4866C
    RGB
    rgb(196, 134, 108)
    CMYK
    0 · 32 · 45 · 23
    HSL
    18° · 43% · 60%
  • Light · 30%

    Oat Sand

    Hex
    #E5C9A6
    RGB
    rgb(229, 201, 166)
    CMYK
    0 · 12 · 28 · 10
    HSL
    33° · 55% · 77%
  • Light · 20%

    Linen Cream

    Hex
    #F4EAD8
    RGB
    rgb(244, 234, 216)
    CMYK
    0 · 4 · 11 · 4
    HSL
    39° · 56% · 90%

What makes it Garden Clay.

Three measurable properties separate this palette from its neighbours.

  • Warm undertone

    Hue 26° – 35°

    Every tone sits inside the orange-yellow band. The palette has zero cool notes — every shadow is brown, never grey.

  • Medium chroma

    Saturation 18% – 45%

    Terracotta carries the saturation peak; the rest of the palette is muted enough to support it without fighting.

  • Even value ladder

    Lightness 15% – 92%

    Five evenly stepped tones, walnut to linen. The ladder is what lets Garden Clay scale from a label to a wall.

Where it works.

Three registers where the palette earns its place — not every brief wants this palette, and that's the point.

  • Hospitality & restaurant

    Wine bars, bakeries, Mediterranean concepts. The palette reads as natural light and clay without falling into rustic cliché.

  • Slow lifestyle e-commerce

    Ceramics, linen homeware, candles. Use Oat Sand as the surface and Terracotta as the action accent.

  • Editorial agriculture & food

    Magazines, cookbooks, packaging. The palette is photographic — it sits well behind images of bread, stone, and skin.

Pair with — avoid with.

Tones that extend the palette, and tones that break the contract it was built on.

Pair with

  • #6B7438

    Olive Field — the warm-green that fits

  • #9B5C3C

    Burnt Sienna — deeper sister to Terracotta

  • #D8C3A8

    Camel Wheat — softer second surface

  • #3E2C1C

    Coffee Bean — extends the dark ladder

Avoid with

  • #2962FF

    Action blue — wrong temperature, wrong language

  • #E91E63

    Cool pink — blue-pink breaks the warm contract

  • #7CB342

    Apple green — too cool, too saturated

  • #FFFFFF

    Pure white — kills Linen Cream's warmth

Garden Clay — frequently asked.

What is the Garden Clay palette?
Garden Clay is a five-tone warm-earth palette built around terracotta, oat, and walnut. Designed for hospitality, lifestyle, food, and photographic editorial work.
Which hex codes are in the Garden Clay palette?
Walnut Shadow #2E2A24, Bark Brown #7A5742, Terracotta #C4866C, Oat Sand #E5C9A6, Linen Cream #F4EAD8.
Is Garden Clay the same as the Soft Autumn palette?
Related but not identical. Soft Autumn is a wider, more muted system; Garden Clay sits at the more saturated end with terracotta as the centre of mass.
What pairs well with Garden Clay?
Olive Field, Burnt Sienna, and Camel Wheat extend the palette inside its warm contract. Avoid action blue and cool pinks.

Take it with you.

Copy Garden Clay in one click — or open the encyclopedia for the season palettes built around the same tones.

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