Benjamin Moore Cinnamon Slate: The Chameleonic Plum That Needs Real Sun

In our last house—a 1990s colonial with oversized baseboards and far too many recessed ceiling cans—I spent six months trying to convince myself that every dark room needed to be navy or charcoal. That was the rule of the era, and like most people who like a tidy home, I followed it right into a dining room that felt like the bottom of an iron kettle. It was dramatic, certainly, but nobody ever wanted to linger there after dessert. It lacked blood. It had no warmth under dinner plates, no softness when the table lamps were dimmed, and by year three, I was tired of sitting inside a steel box.

When Benjamin Moore named Cinnamon Slate (2113-40) their Color of the Year, I immediately recognized what they were trying to solve. It is an LRV 19 shade that sits squarely in the red family, though you wouldn't know it from a casual glance in the store aisle. It isn't burgundy, it isn't chocolate brown, and it certainly isn't an outright purple. Instead, it is a deeply grayed-out mauve that behaves like an old velvet armchair. When the light hits it right, it gives off a cinnamon-dusted warmth that makes woodwork look richer and rooms feel quiet and settled. But because its saturation is held so low, it has a stubborn, shape-shifting streak that can catch a homeowner completely off guard.

I have lived with color long enough to know that colors with an identity crisis demand careful handling. If you paint a whole room in Cinnamon Slate without understanding your exposure and your bulbs, you might think you bought a warm, enveloping cocoa-plum, only to wake up to a cold, chalky lilac bedroom on a rainy Tuesday morning. Here is what thirty years of paint rollers, family messes, and light shifts have taught me about living with this tricky shade.

How Daylight and Bulbs Alter Cinnamon Slate

The single most important fact about this paint is its light reflectance value. At LRV 19, it absorbs eighty-one percent of the light entering a space. That means it cannot bounce brightness across a dim room; whatever light you give it is what it will reflect back into your eyes. In a room flooded with direct southern exposure, the sunlight hits that muted red foundation and coaxes out the spice. You get the cinnamon: a dusky, comforting, red-tinged brown that feels grounded and genuinely expensive.

Turn that same room north, however, or look at it on an overcast morning before the lamps are switched on, and the warm red tones disappear. Cool, blue-tinted skylight exposes the violet underneath. Suddenly, you aren't looking at a cozy spice shade—you are looking at a faded lavender-slate. If you are expecting brown and you end up with purple, no amount of decorative pillows will fix the disappointment. You have to know what your windows are doing before you buy the first gallon.

Artificial lighting matters just as much as daylight. If you screw in standard 4000K or 5000K daylight LED bulbs, Cinnamon Slate will look cold, gray-purple, and sterile. To get the rich, cocooning effect that made this color famous, you must use warm 2700K bulbs. The yellow and amber wavelengths in a 2700K lamp feed the red pigments in the paint, keeping it squarely in that soft, brown-velvet territory once the sun goes down.

Bathrooms and Powder Rooms: Testing the Extremes

Bathrooms are the proving ground for dark paints. When we renovated the family bathroom in our 1970s split-level, I learned very quickly that dark colors work brilliantly over white wainscoting because the white reflects the artificial light while the color creates intimacy up top. Cinnamon Slate excels in this specific format. Paired with crisp white subway tile and warm brass fixtures, the upper walls look intentional and polished.

Where homeowners run into trouble in bathrooms is with lighting exposure and vanity undertones. If you have an older bathroom with an uncomplimentary beige countertop or yellowed oak vanity, Cinnamon Slate won't magically modernize it. In cool or overcast daylight, a small bathroom without direct sunlight can turn muted, flat, and noticeably cool. The wall color begins to pick up a slate-gray cast, and next to older beige fixtures, it can look mismatched.

In our current 1960s ranch, the kids' bathroom gets used hard every single morning and evening. For spaces like this, sheen advice is non-negotiable. Dark walls in a bathroom must be eggshell. A flat or matte finish will absorb moisture and show water drip marks immediately, while semi-gloss on drywall will bounce glare and highlight every tape seam the drywaller left behind in 1974. Eggshell gives you just enough resin to wipe away toothpaste splatters without turning the wall into a mirror.

Bedrooms: The Restful Retreat

If you ask me where Cinnamon Slate shines brightest, my answer is always the bedroom. We spend our waking hours in bedrooms when the light is low—first thing in the morning and right before sleep. Unlike trendy stark grays that feel institutional at 10:00 PM, Cinnamon Slate wraps around the room like wool flannel. In the main bedroom, paired with soft linen bedding, pale oak furniture, and warm bedside pottery lamps, the color establishes a restful silence that few pale paints can match.

It also bridges age groups surprisingly well. In a nursery, mothers often worry that an LRV 19 paint is too somber, but when balanced with light wood dressers, woven storage, and ivory textiles, it feels grounded and calm rather than juvenile. It won't be a color your child outgrows in three years. In a teenager's room, it handles the visual clutter of open bookshelves, white metal desks, and corkboards without feeling fussy or childish.

Kitchens, Islands, and Millwork

In our second house, we lived with pure white kitchen cabinets for eleven years. By year five, every single edge around the trash pullout and the silverware drawer looked worn, and scrubbing them clean became my Saturday morning chore. Darker cabinetry hides the scuffs of daily family life far better, but jet black or navy can feel harsh against traditional wood flooring. Cinnamon Slate on cabinetry is one of the smartest applications of this color because it introduces weight without coldness.

On full shaker cabinets, it looks best set against plain white kitchen walls, white subway tile backsplashes, and warm light oak flooring. The oak pulls the red-brown note forward, keeping the room from looking clinical. If doing all your cabinets feels daunting, using it strictly on a kitchen island under warm pendant lights is a foolproof way to anchor the room while keeping surrounding perimeter cabinetry white or cream.

When painting woodwork, trim, or cabinetry, do not use wall paint. Cabinet doors need a dedicated cabinet-grade enamel in a satin sheen. A satin finish gives enough lustre to resist fingerprint oils and cleans easily with a damp microfiber cloth, without showing every slight brushstroke. Matte black hardware looks modern and understated, but unlacquered brass or aged bronze brings out the rich undertone in a way that feels timeless.

Living Rooms, Sunrooms, and Exteriors

Can you use Cinnamon Slate in main living areas? Yes, but only if your room has generous windows. A living room with southern or western sun will make this color feel organic, especially alongside linen sofas, textured jute rugs, and leafy indoor plants. In a sunroom surrounded by white-framed glass, the color provides a moody backdrop that makes outdoor greenery and terracotta pots pop with intense color.

Utility spaces also benefit from deliberate color choices. In a bright laundry room with butcher-block counters and white cabinetry, Cinnamon Slate turns an uninspiring chore room into a finished corner of the house. Outside, on horizontal siding or exterior accents, the full power of natural sun prevents the violet undertone from taking over, creating an earthy, sophisticated facade that pairs naturally with white trim and dark navy front doors.

Where It Fails: The Muddy Hallway Trap

Now for the honest truth. The one-star reviews for Cinnamon Slate are never about the paint's formulation or hide; Benjamin Moore makes excellent paint. The failures happen when someone puts this color into a dark hallway, an enclosed den, or a windowless room lit by a solitary overhead fixture. With an LRV of 19, there is simply not enough light bouncing around in a closed-in space to keep the pigment alive. The mauve collapses into a flat, drab, putty-like mud.

In our first house, I made this mistake in a back stairwell with a low-wattage fixture and no windows. I thought a deep color would add instant character. What it actually added was shadows and an oppressive gloom that looked dated within six months. If your room has no natural daylight and you rely on a single ceiling light, step up to a much lighter greige like Balboa Mist (OC-27), or commit to adding directional accent lamps pointed directly at the walls to give the color something to reflect.

Durability, Cleaning, and the Resale Equation

Let's talk about the practical side of living with an LRV 19 paint for five years. Dark walls show scuffs differently than white walls. When a vacuum handle bumps a dark wall painted in standard flat paint, it leaves a shiny burnish mark that cannot be washed away. To avoid this, choose a premium matte finish with high stain-resistance for bedrooms and dining rooms. In our house, quality matte paint has held up against dogs brushing along the hallway and fingerprints near doorways, wiping scrubbed clean with just warm water and a drop of dish soap.

When we sold our second house, our real estate agent walked through every room with a critical eye. A master bedroom painted in a grounded, sophisticated tone like Cinnamon Slate was an asset because it photographed as warm and inviting in real estate listings. But that only works when the paint is confined to rooms that make sense: master suites, formal dining rooms, powder rooms, or kitchen islands. If you paint every hallway and secondary room in this color, prospective buyers will feel like the house is smaller and darker than the square footage indicates. Use it as a deliberate statement, not an all-over neutral.

Is Cinnamon Slate considered a purple or a brown paint?

It is officially categorized in the red deck family. In real life, it behaves as a grayed-out mauve that swings between cinnamon brown in warm direct sunlight and dusty lilac under cool north light.

What is the best paint finish for living rooms and bedrooms?

Use a washable matte finish on living room and bedroom walls. It keeps the dark LRV 19 color looking velvety and prevents artificial light glare from highlighting wall imperfections.

Will Cinnamon Slate make my small bedroom look smaller?

Yes, an LRV 19 paint absorbs light and draws walls inward. However, in a bedroom or powder room, this enclosed effect feels cozy, quiet, and deliberate rather than cramped.

What light bulbs should I use with Cinnamon Slate?

Stick to 2700K warm white bulbs. Cool 4000K or 5000K daylight LEDs will strip the red-brown undertones out of the wall and leave you with a cold, chalky violet.