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Vision board · Traditional
Early American, a DuraSeal stain, is a mid dark stain on red oak with an amber undertone (measured from its own picture: LRV 14). Here it is with Sea Salt walls, Greek Villa trim and Palladian Blue on the cabinets, chosen by the numbers.
AI assisted The rooms are AI generated, simulated photos. The floor, the paint colors and every number are real.
CutPile Photoreal Rendering
CutPile Photoreal Rendering
CutPile Photoreal Rendering
Read from its own picture, not from a name.
An amber undertone, warm and a little orange. LRV is light reflectance value, the share of light a surface sends back, the same scale paint makers print on every chip: 0 is black, 100 is white.
Early American has a gentle movement from board to board (a spread of 2.3 in L*): calm, but not flat.
The shaded band is within 30 points of the floor. A wall inside it blurs into the floor; BS 8300 asks for at least 30 points between surfaces that meet.
Named colors with the maker's code and LRV, each linked to its page.
Its undertone leans green (hue 133°), which quiets the orange in Early American (hue 57°) instead of echoing it.
See it at Sherwin-WilliamsIts undertone leans green (hue 163°), which quiets the orange in Early American (hue 57°) instead of echoing it.
See it at Benjamin Moore71 points over Early American in LRV and warm enough (chroma 5.3) to read white, not blue, beside its amber undertone.
See it at Sherwin-WilliamsA light color with some life in it, so cabinets float off Early American (a 47 point step in LRV).
See it at Benjamin MooreCabinets in Palladian Blue or Greek Villa: a dark floor needs light cabinets to float above it.
| Role | Color | Maker and code | LRV | From the floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Floor | Early American | DuraSeal stain on red oak | 14 | |
| Walls | Sea Salt | Sherwin-Williams SW 6204 | 63.2 | +50 |
| Or walls | Palladian Blue | Benjamin Moore HC-144 | 60.4 | +47 |
| Trim and ceilings | Greek Villa | Sherwin-Williams SW 7551 | 84.2 | +71 |
| Cabinets | Palladian Blue | Benjamin Moore HC-144 | 60.4 | +47 |
Contrast, not a match.
The palette put to work around Early American.
The near misses, by the numbers.
About Early American and color, answered from the numbers above.
Sea Salt (Sherwin-Williams SW 6204, LRV 63.2): its undertone leans green (hue 133°), which quiets the orange in Early American (hue 57°) instead of echoing it. It sits 50 LRV points from the floor (LRV 14), more than the 30 points that keep a wall and a floor reading apart. Or Palladian Blue (Benjamin Moore HC-144, LRV 60.4).
Greek Villa (Sherwin-Williams SW 7551, LRV 84.2): 71 points over Early American in LRV and warm enough (chroma 5.3) to read white, not blue, beside its amber undertone.
Palladian Blue (Benjamin Moore HC-144, LRV 60.4): a light color with some life in it, so cabinets float off Early American (a 47 point step in LRV). Cabinets in Palladian Blue or Greek Villa: a dark floor needs light cabinets to float above it.
Contrast, not a match: a step darker: a charcoal wood (like our Ebony stain sample), or a step lighter: a light natural wood (like our Silvered Gray stain sample). A wood like our Nutmeg sample is only 1.4 apart (CIEDE2000) and reads as a near miss.
Living room: Sea Salt walls, Greek Villa trim and crown, a patterned rug in mist blue and espresso on the Early American floor, furniture in a charcoal wood, unlacquered brass lamps. Kitchen: Cabinets in Palladian Blue so they float off the Early American floor, Greek Villa walls and trim, aged brass pulls.
Mid dark: LRV 14 and L* 44, measured from its own picture, with an amber undertone. At LRV 14, Early American 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.
Walls at the lightness of Early American: Rosemary (Sherwin-Williams SW 6187, LRV 13.6) sits within a point of its LRV of 14, so wall and floor would blur into one. Wood that almost matches Early American: a tone like our Nutmeg sample, 1.4 apart (CIEDE2000), reads as a near miss. Go clearly darker or lighter.
Light, size and wear, from the floor's own record.
At LRV 14, Early American 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 2.25 inches a board, Early American lays about 64 boards across a 12 foot room, the busy, tailored look of a classic strip floor.
A sand and finish of red oak strip floors in any room above grade.
What only this floor's data can say.
The same look in waterproof vinyl or laminate: Dodge City, Shaw Floors Great Plains, only 2.6 apart in color (CIEDE2000).
The nearest of our other stains is Nutmeg (1.4 apart, CIEDE2000, from our own photographs on red oak).
A stain we put on your own oak floor.
DuraSeal
Early American
Stain on red oak
Stain · on red oak · 2-1/4 in strip
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Powell Flooring, 1811 Union Valley Rd, West Milford, NJ 07480
Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm · Open later by request
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 USDA Forest Products Laboratory Wood Handbook (2021), Table 5-3b, at 12 percent moisture.
A picture's lightness depends a little on how it was lit, so the floor's LRV is read from the evenly lit field the visualizer lays and rounded. See the real floor before you choose paint: visit the showroom, or ask for a free measure and estimate.
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