How to Make Mahogany
Warm, deep red-brown - the classic colour of mahogany furniture and rich wood finishes.
Recipe: Red + Yellow + small Blue (4:3:1)
Combine red and yellow in a 4:3 ratio - the red dominant, yielding a warm vermilion or scarlet. Then add blue at about an eighth of the total volume. The blue cools the orange-red into a warm red-brown. The earth-pigment shortcut: use red iron oxide (PR101, sold as English Red, Indian Red, or Mars Red depending on brand) cut with yellow ochre and a touch of burnt sienna. For deeper, dark mahogany add a tiny drop of ultramarine; for African mahogany lean cooler (more blue, less yellow); for Cuban / Honduran lean warmer (more red, less blue).
What Is Mahogany?
Mahogany is one of the most recognisable wood-tone browns. It is warm, red-leaning, and saturated, sitting between chestnut and burnt sienna on the warm-brown axis. The name comes from the tropical hardwood (Swietenia mahagoni, Honduran or Caribbean mahogany), whose freshly cut heartwood is exactly this shade before oxidation deepens it. In paint, mahogany is the go-to shade for wood-effect furniture finishes, oil-painted hardwood interiors, and classic Old Master red-brown drapery. In acrylic and oil, the cleanest route to mahogany is red iron oxide pigment (Color Index PR101) cut with a touch of cadmium red and yellow ochre rather than mixing from primaries. In food colouring, mahogany appears in autumn-themed buttercream, gingerbread-house roof tiles, and Thanksgiving fondant. Wikipedia lists the canonical web mahogany at #C04000; some sources cite #4A0100 as deep mahogany - the lighter Wikipedia value is the more searched and the value the site uses.
Variations of Mahogany
Light Mahogany
#A04000
Red + Yellow (4:3) + Blue + White (10%)
African Mahogany
#8B3A1F
Red + Yellow + Blue (3:2:2), cooler
Honduran Mahogany
#A0301B
Red + Yellow + Blue (5:3:1), warmer
Making Mahogany in Different Media
Acrylic Paint
Full guide →Red iron oxide (PR101) plus yellow ochre at 3:1, with a drop of ultramarine to deepen toward true mahogany. Golden Heavy Body Red Iron Oxide and Winsor & Newton Galeria Burnt Sienna are the most useful single tubes for mahogany. Mix on a palette knife to avoid overmixing.
Oil Paint
Full guide →Burnt sienna plus alizarin crimson plus ultramarine, glazed in thin layers. Old Master mahogany drapery is built up with transparent glazes over a warm underpainting, not mixed flat. Adding linseed oil and a small amount of damar varnish increases the luminosity of the glazed layers.
Watercolour
Full guide →Daniel Smith Burnt Sienna mixed wet-in-wet with a touch of Quinacridone Burnt Orange and a drop of French Ultramarine. Watercolour mahogany glows when applied as concentrated washes over a yellow-ochre underwash that has fully dried.
Food Colouring
Full guide →5 drops red gel + 3 drops yellow gel + 1 drop blue gel per cup of frosting, plus a quarter teaspoon of Dutch-process cocoa for depth. AmeriColor Maroon plus Lemon Yellow is the closest single-tube combination for mahogany without the blue.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- 1Using cool red (alizarin crimson) as the dominant red - shifts the mix toward purple-brown rather than warm mahogany. Use cadmium red medium or red iron oxide.
- 2Adding too much blue - even a small overdose of ultramarine cools the mix to chestnut or burnt umber. Add blue one drop at a time and stop when the orange first reads as red-brown.
- 3Treating mahogany as one shade - Honduran, Cuban, and African mahoganies are visibly different. Decide which reference photo you are working from before mixing.
- 4Adding black to deepen - black greys mahogany faster than any other brown shade. Use ultramarine or burnt umber instead.
Try It in the Mixer
Caramel
RGB(213, 121, 112)
Paint mode uses an approximate RYB subtractive model. Results are a close approximation - actual pigment mixing varies by brand and opacity.
Pre-loaded with the Mahogany recipe. Adjust the sliders to fine-tune.
Related Shades
Colour recipes are approximations. Real pigment mixing varies by brand, opacity, and surface. Always test on a sample first.