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1) Determine the undertone. All beige colors have either a red/pink, yellow, green or orange undertone. Period. That’s all you have to understand and learn. The color examples I have chosen below have very obvious undertones to help you ‘see’ the color underneath.
stonehouse 1039 red undertones shelburne buff hc-28 yellow undertones
orange undertones manchester tan hc-81 green undertones
2) Remember to Compare. The easiest way to see the undertones in beige is by comparing the color to another beige that you know the undertone is either red, yellow, green or orange. Illustrated above are good examples of the undertones. Pick up a sample of each and carry them with you to help you compare to each other.
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3) Understand the color red. The most difficult beige undertone to work with is:
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Red. Those red undertones just do not play well with others! Especially pinky beige with yellow beige because the yellow beige ends up looking ‘dirty’ next to the pinky beige. I have found the best colors to work with a red/pink beige are browns, cream and dark blues.
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4) Know which undertones to mix to create a unified room. To create the best put together, coordinated look when mixing undertones is to keep the red undertones with red undertones, yellow with yellow, green with green and orange with orange undertones.
5) Practice makes perfect! The good news is that after you learn what is not working in a room with the undertones, you will be able to correct the mistake. Take a look at your carpet (is it a pinky beige?) and compare it to the beautiful Powell Buff that you painted your walls. Now that you have learned that pinky beige and yellow beige do not work together you can easily ‘fix’ the whole rooms looks by changing the wall color to a pinky beige also, such as shaker beige hc-45.
So I hope this helped you understand beige colors and their undertones better. If you want to be a color superstar like me, 
you have to take Maria’s True Color Expert workshop!
Comments?
Other topics you might enjoy:
Are Greige & Taupe the Same Color?
Understanding Beige Undertones
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Kelly Bernier Designs
Thanks Anne! Pick up the color samples I listed and compare them with each other. The undertones should pop right out at you. Cedar key is a beautiful color- I love it! It has RED undertones, slight, but the red is the undertone not green. Hope this helps! Thanks for writing!
Kelly, I’ve been following all your beige, greige, taupe, neutral paint color posts and I have to admit, I am totally confused. It’s not your fault! You have given great information about undertones; I’m still trying to train my eye to discern red, green, yellow undertones! I saw BM Cedar Key mentioned once as a taupe, but is it a warm (red) or cool (green) taupe? I happen to have Cedar Key walls with a white trim just about all over our house which we are about to put on the market. I think it looks fine and it’s a nice neutral that makes selling the house appealing, but when we get around to a new home, I’m hoping to make good use of all your wonderful information on your blog. I have a few green rooms with white trim mixed in with the Cedar Key rooms and hallways. Just wondering: is Cedar Key green or red??!! Thanks, Anne