# Light Maple in a dark and moody room

Light Maple, from the Robbins Timber Legends 7-1/2" Red Maple line, is a dark maple hardwood with an amber undertone (measured from its own picture: LRV 8). Here it is with Coventry Gray walls, Swiss Coffee trim, and Upward 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/light-maple-dark-moody

## The floor
- Light Maple, Robbins Timber Legends 7-1/2" Red Maple: Engineered hardwood · Maple · 7.5 in (SKU HPEM681W)
- Price: $7.99 per sq ft · $223.72 a carton. Material only. Delivery and installation extra.
- Every color and detail: https://www.powellflooring.com/floors/robbins/timber-legends-7-1-2-red-maple/light-maple

## Measured from its own picture
- LRV (light reflectance value, 0 black to 100 white): 8
- CIELAB (D65): L* 34.2, a* 13, b* 27.9, chroma 30.8, hue 65.1 degrees
- Undertone: an amber undertone, warm and a little orange
- Light Maple has a gentle movement from board to board (a spread of 2.6 in L*): calm, but not flat.

## Paint
- Walls: Coventry Gray (Benjamin Moore HC-169, LRV 48.2, +40.1 from the floor). Its undertone leans green (hue 129°), which quiets the orange in Light Maple (hue 65°) instead of echoing it. Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/hc-169/coventry-gray
- Or walls: Repose Gray (Sherwin-Williams SW 7015, LRV 58.2, +50.1 from the floor). Its undertone leans green (hue 97°), which quiets the orange in Light Maple (hue 65°) instead of echoing it. 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 Light Maple in LRV and warm enough (chroma 5.7) to read white, not blue, beside its amber undertone. Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/oc-45/swiss-coffee
- Cabinets: Upward (Sherwin-Williams SW 6239, LRV 57.4). A light color with some life in it, so cabinets float off Light Maple (a 49 point step in LRV). Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/blue-paint-colors/sw6239-upward/
- Cabinets in Upward 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 Golden Oak stain sample. About 17 points lighter than Light Maple in L* (51 against 34).
- Rug or fabric, tone on tone: mushroom (#a99280). 14 in chroma, half the warmth of Light Maple (31), and 28 points lighter in L*.
- Rug or fabric, across the wheel: eucalyptus (#8a9fab). Hue 245°, straight across the color wheel from the 65° of Light Maple, softened to balance it.
- Rug or fabric, grounding: blush (#d4c1b2). A light note at L* 79, 45 points from the 34 of Light Maple, so a rug keeps its edge.
- Metal: aged brass. A warm metal that agrees with the amber undertone of Light Maple (hue 65°).
- Metal: unlacquered brass. Left unsealed, it darkens with handling to a softer warm tone beside Coventry Gray walls.
- Metal: matte black. Black works with every undertone; beside Light Maple at LRV 8 it gives the room its outline.

## Room by room
- Living room: Coventry Gray walls and Swiss Coffee trim over Light Maple, velvet in mushroom with a eucalyptus pillow, aged brass lamps on low.
- Kitchen: Cabinets in Upward so they float off Light Maple, Swiss Coffee walls and trim, unlacquered brass pulls.
- Bedroom: Repose Gray walls, mushroom bedding, nightstands in a honey tone, matte black on the lamps.
- Entry: A blush runner on Light Maple, Upward on the door, an unlacquered brass mirror.

## What to avoid
- Walls at the lightness of Light Maple: 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 Light Maple: a tone like our Chestnut sample, 6.3 apart (CIEDE2000), reads as a near miss. Go clearly darker or lighter.
- Pink or peach beige walls: they pull more orange out of the amber undertone of Light Maple (hue 65°).

## The room it suits
- At LRV 8, Light Maple 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 7.5 inches a board, Light Maple lays about 20 boards across a 12 foot room, so the room reads open with few seams.
- Engineered hardwood: living spaces and bedrooms on every level, kept out of full baths.
- Hardness: Hard maple: Janka 1,450 lbf (the force to press a steel ball halfway into the wood; a higher number dents less under heels and chair legs)
- Construction: Engineered hardwood (a real wood face over a stable core, so it moves less with the seasons)
- Finish: Urethane

## 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.