# Midnight Oak in a dark and moody room

Midnight Oak, from the COREtec Originals Premium line, is a very dark vinyl plank with a warm greige undertone (measured from its own picture: LRV 5). Here it is with Amazing Gray walls, Greek Villa trim and Alabaster 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/midnight-oak-dark-moody

## The floor
- Midnight Oak, COREtec Originals Premium: Waterproof vinyl plank · WPC · 9 in (SKU VV810-03019)
- Price: $8.89 per sq ft · $235.32 a carton. Material only. Delivery and installation extra.
- Every color and detail: https://www.powellflooring.com/floors/coretec/coretec-originals-premium-vv810/midnight-oak

## Measured from its own picture
- LRV (light reflectance value, 0 black to 100 white): 5
- CIELAB (D65): L* 25.4, a* 5, b* 10.7, chroma 11.8, hue 64.9 degrees
- Undertone: a warm greige: gray with a little brown in it
- Midnight Oak has a gentle movement from board to board (a spread of 2.0 in L*): calm, but not flat.

## Paint
- Walls: Amazing Gray (Sherwin-Williams SW 7044, LRV 46.9, +42.3 from the floor). A warm white or greige in the same soft family as Midnight Oak (hue 81° against its 65°). Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/neutral-paint-colors/sw7044-amazing-gray/
- Or walls: Thunder (Benjamin Moore AF-685, LRV 47.6, +43 from the floor). A warm white or greige in the same soft family as Midnight Oak (hue 92° against its 65°). Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/af-685/thunder
- Trim and ceilings: Greek Villa (Sherwin-Williams SW 7551, LRV 84.2). 80 points over Midnight Oak 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/sw7551-greek-villa/
- Cabinets: Alabaster (Sherwin-Williams SW 7008, LRV 82.2). A light color with some life in it, so cabinets float off Midnight Oak (a 78 point step in LRV). Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/white-paint-colors/sw7008-alabaster/
- Cabinets in Alabaster or Greek Villa: a dark floor needs light cabinets to float above it.

## Wood, rugs and metals
- Wood a step lighter: a mid brown wood, like our Aged Barrel stain sample. About 16 points lighter than Midnight Oak in L* (42 against 25).
- Rug or fabric, tone on tone: taupe (#877e77). 5 in chroma, half the warmth of Midnight Oak (12), and 28 points lighter in L*.
- Rug or fabric, across the wheel: slate blue (#748894). Hue 245°, straight across the color wheel from the 65° of Midnight Oak, softened to balance it.
- Rug or fabric, grounding: dove gray (#b2aba5). A light note at L* 70, 45 points from the 25 of Midnight Oak, so a rug keeps its edge.
- Metal: aged brass. A warm metal that agrees with the greige undertone of Midnight Oak (hue 65°).
- Metal: champagne bronze. A paler warm metal, quieter than brass beside Amazing Gray and Greek Villa.
- Metal: brushed nickel. A soft satin nickel, quieter than chrome, for the greige of Midnight Oak.

## Room by room
- Living room: Amazing Gray walls and Greek Villa trim over Midnight Oak, velvet in taupe with a slate blue pillow, aged brass lamps on low.
- Kitchen: Cabinets in Alabaster so they float off Midnight Oak, Greek Villa walls and trim, champagne bronze pulls.
- Bedroom: Thunder walls, taupe bedding, nightstands in a mid brown wood, brushed nickel on the lamps.
- Entry: A dove gray runner on Midnight Oak, Alabaster on the door, a champagne bronze mirror.

## What to avoid
- Walls at the lightness of Midnight Oak: Black (Benjamin Moore HC-190, LRV 4.6) sits within a point of its LRV of 5, so wall and floor would blur into one.
- Wood that almost matches Midnight Oak: a tone like our Ebony sample, 4.6 apart (CIEDE2000), reads as a near miss. Go clearly darker or lighter.
- Stark blue whites everywhere: a greige floor like Midnight Oak turns muddy beside them. Keep the whites a little warm.

## The room it suits
- At LRV 5, Midnight Oak is very 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 9 inches a board, Midnight Oak lays about 16 boards across a 12 foot room, so the room reads open with few seams.
- Midnight Oak is waterproof, so it belongs in kitchens, baths, mudrooms and basements as well as living spaces.
- Wear layer: 20 mil (about 0.51 mm of clear protection over the printed wood, the part that takes the traffic)
- Core: WPC, a wood plastic composite core (a little softer and quieter underfoot)
- Finish: UV Acrylic
- Water: Waterproof (the maker's word) (wet mopping is fine; a flood is not)

## 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.