# Centennial Grey in a warm modern room

Centennial Grey, from the Shaw Floors Alpine Hickory line, is a mid dark hickory hardwood with a warm greige undertone (measured from its own picture: LRV 21). It pairs with Greek Villa walls, Alabaster trim and Caviar as the deep note, chosen by the numbers.

A vision board by Powell Flooring, 1811 Union Valley Rd, West Milford, NJ 07480, 973-728-9717. AI assisted: the rooms are AI generated, simulated photos; the floor, the paint colors and every number are real.
Page: https://www.powellflooring.com/vision-boards/centennial-grey-warm-modern

## The floor
- Centennial Grey, Shaw Floors Alpine Hickory: Engineered hardwood · Hickory · 6.38 in (SKU SW710-05077)
- Price: $6.09 per sq ft · $185.62 a carton. Material only. Delivery and installation extra.
- Every color and detail: https://www.powellflooring.com/floors/shawfloors/alpine-hickory/centennial-grey

## Measured from its own picture
- LRV (light reflectance value, 0 black to 100 white): 21
- CIELAB (D65): L* 52.4, a* 4.6, b* 7.1, chroma 8.4, hue 57.2 degrees
- Undertone: a warm greige: gray with a little brown in it
- Centennial Grey has a gentle movement from board to board (a spread of 2.6 in L*): calm, but not flat.

## Paint
- Walls: Greek Villa (Sherwin-Williams SW 7551, LRV 84.2, +63.7 from the floor). A warm white or greige in the same soft family as Centennial Grey (hue 94° against its 57°). Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/white-paint-colors/sw7551-greek-villa/
- Or walls: Revere Pewter (Benjamin Moore HC-172, LRV 55.1, +34.6 from the floor). A warm white or greige in the same soft family as Centennial Grey (hue 95° against its 57°). Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/hc-172/revere-pewter
- Trim and ceilings: Alabaster (Sherwin-Williams SW 7008, LRV 82.2). 62 points over Centennial Grey in LRV and warm enough (chroma 5.3) to read white, not blue, beside its greige undertone. Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/white-paint-colors/sw7008-alabaster/
- Deep note: Caviar (Sherwin-Williams SW 6990, LRV 3). Deep and quiet, 18 points darker than Centennial Grey in LRV, a frame for a greige floor. Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/neutral-paint-colors/sw6990-caviar/
- Lower cabinets or an island in Caviar, uppers and trim in Alabaster. The floor at LRV 21 sits between the two (3 and 82).

## Wood, rugs and metals
- Wood a step darker: a dark walnut tone, like our Golden Brown stain sample. About 19 points darker than Centennial Grey in L* (33 against 52), far enough to read as a choice.
- Wood a step lighter: a pale, bleached wood, like our Natural stain sample. About 15 points lighter than Centennial Grey in L* (67 against 52).
- Rug or fabric, tone on tone: fog gray (#cec6c2). 4 in chroma, half the warmth of Centennial Grey (8), and 28 points lighter in L*.
- Rug or fabric, across the wheel: graphite (#354a53). Hue 237°, straight across the color wheel from the 57° of Centennial Grey, softened to balance it.
- Rug or fabric, grounding: charcoal (#3a3532). A deep note at L* 22, 30 points from the 52 of Centennial Grey, so a rug keeps its edge.
- Metal: aged brass. A warm metal that agrees with the greige undertone of Centennial Grey (hue 57°).
- Metal: champagne bronze. A paler warm metal, quieter than brass beside Greek Villa and Alabaster.
- Metal: brushed nickel. A soft satin nickel, quieter than chrome, for the greige of Centennial Grey.

## Room by room
- Living room: Greek Villa walls and Alabaster trim around Centennial Grey, a fog gray rug with a charcoal border, a coffee table in a dark walnut tone, aged brass lamps.
- Kitchen: Caviar on the island or the lower cabinets, Alabaster uppers, champagne bronze pulls, Centennial Grey underfoot.
- Bedroom: Revere Pewter walls, bedding in fog gray with one graphite pillow, nightstands in a pale, bleached wood.
- Entry: A charcoal runner on Centennial Grey, Caviar on the front door, a brushed nickel mirror.

## What to avoid
- Walls at the lightness of Centennial Grey: Retreat (Sherwin-Williams SW 6207, LRV 20.9) sits within a point of its LRV of 21, so wall and floor would blur into one.
- Wood that almost matches Centennial Grey: a tone like our Warm Gray sample, 5.1 apart (CIEDE2000), reads as a near miss. Go clearly darker or lighter.
- Stark blue whites everywhere: a greige floor like Centennial Grey turns muddy beside them. Keep the whites a little warm.

## The room it suits
- At LRV 21, Centennial Grey is mid dark: it is at its best in a big room with good light and warm lamps, and it shows dust, pet hair and fine scratches more than a mid tone.
- At 6.38 inches a board, Centennial Grey lays about 23 boards across a 12 foot room.
- Engineered hardwood: living spaces and bedrooms on every level, kept out of full baths.
- Hardness: Hickory: Janka 1,820 lbf (the force to press a steel ball halfway into the wood; a higher number dents less under heels and chair legs)
- Construction: Engineered (a real wood face over a stable core, so it moves less with the seasons)

## Sources
- Paint names, codes, hex and LRV as Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore publish them (each color links to its page).
- BS 8300-2:2018 asks for a difference of at least 30 LRV points between adjacent surfaces, such as a floor and a wall, so the surfaces read apart.
- The floor measured from its own picture in CIELAB (D65); the wood tones from our own photographs of 37 stains on oak.
- Janka hardness from the National Wood Flooring Association species guide, Technical Publication A200 (2004), its relative hardness chart.