# Jacobean in a dark and moody room

Jacobean, a DuraSeal stain, is a dark stain on red oak with a warm greige undertone (measured from its own picture: LRV 8). Here it is with Thunder walls, Swiss Coffee trim and Crushed Ice on the cabinets, 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/jacobean-dark-moody

## The floor
- Jacobean, DuraSeal stain on red oak: Stain · on red oak · 2-1/4 in strip
- Every color and detail: https://www.powellflooring.com/sherwin-williams-minwax-duraseal-stain-colors/jacobean

## Measured from its own picture
- LRV (light reflectance value, 0 black to 100 white): 8
- CIELAB (D65): L* 34.2, a* 6.6, b* 10.8, chroma 12.7, hue 58.5 degrees
- Undertone: a warm greige: gray with a little brown in it
- Jacobean has a gentle movement from board to board (a spread of 2.8 in L*): calm, but not flat.

## Paint
- Walls: Thunder (Benjamin Moore AF-685, LRV 47.6, +39.5 from the floor). A warm white or greige in the same soft family as Jacobean (hue 92° against its 59°). Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/af-685/thunder
- Or walls: Repose Gray (Sherwin-Williams SW 7015, LRV 58.2, +50.1 from the floor). A warm white or greige in the same soft family as Jacobean (hue 97° against its 59°). Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/neutral-paint-colors/sw7015-repose-gray/
- Trim and ceilings: Swiss Coffee (Benjamin Moore OC-45, LRV 81.9). 74 points over Jacobean in LRV and warm enough (chroma 5.7) to read white, not blue, beside its greige undertone. Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/oc-45/swiss-coffee
- Cabinets: Crushed Ice (Sherwin-Williams SW 7647, LRV 65.5). A light color with some life in it, so cabinets float off Jacobean (a 57 point step in LRV). Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/white-paint-colors/sw7647-crushed-ice/
- Cabinets in Crushed Ice or Swiss Coffee: a dark floor needs light cabinets to float above it.

## Wood, rugs and metals
- Wood a step lighter: a honey tone, like our Cherry stain sample. About 17 points lighter than Jacobean in L* (51 against 34).
- Rug or fabric, tone on tone: mushroom (#9f948e). 6 in chroma, half the warmth of Jacobean (13), and 28 points lighter in L*.
- Rug or fabric, across the wheel: eucalyptus (#899faa). Hue 239°, straight across the color wheel from the 59° of Jacobean, softened to balance it.
- Rug or fabric, grounding: fog gray (#ccc2bd). A light note at L* 79, 45 points from the 34 of Jacobean, so a rug keeps its edge.
- Metal: aged brass. A warm metal that agrees with the greige undertone of Jacobean (hue 59°).
- Metal: champagne bronze. A paler warm metal, quieter than brass beside Thunder and Swiss Coffee.
- Metal: brushed nickel. A soft satin nickel, quieter than chrome, for the greige of Jacobean.

## Room by room
- Living room: Thunder walls and Swiss Coffee trim over the Jacobean floor, velvet in mushroom with a eucalyptus pillow, aged brass lamps on low.
- Kitchen: Cabinets in Crushed Ice so they float off the Jacobean floor, Swiss Coffee walls and trim, champagne bronze pulls.
- Bedroom: Repose Gray walls, mushroom bedding, nightstands in a honey tone, brushed nickel on the lamps.
- Entry: A fog gray runner on the Jacobean floor, Crushed Ice on the door, a champagne bronze mirror.

## What to avoid
- Walls at the lightness of Jacobean: Urbane Bronze (Sherwin-Williams SW 7048, LRV 8.1) sits within a point of its LRV of 8, so wall and floor would blur into one.
- Wood that almost matches Jacobean: a tone like our Dark Walnut sample, 1.7 apart (CIEDE2000), reads as a near miss. Go clearly darker or lighter.
- Stark blue whites everywhere: a greige floor like Jacobean turns muddy beside them. Keep the whites a little warm.

## The room it suits
- At LRV 8, Jacobean is 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, Jacobean 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.
- Hardness: Northern red oak: Janka 1,290 lbf (the force to press a steel ball halfway into the wood; a higher number dents less under heels and chair legs)
- Finish: Stain on site, then clear coats (the color is in the wood, so a worn floor can be sanded and stained again)

## 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 USDA Forest Products Laboratory Wood Handbook (2021), Table 5-3b, at 12 percent moisture.