# Natural Appeal in a modern farmhouse room

Natural Appeal from the Robbins Natural Forest 5" White Oak line is a mid tone white oak hardwood with an amber undertone, measured from its own picture at LRV 33. Here it is with Chantilly Lace walls, Swiss Coffee trim, and Gauntlet Gray 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/natural-appeal-modern-farmhouse

## The floor
- Natural Appeal, Robbins Natural Forest 5" White Oak: Solid hardwood · White oak · 5 in (SKU WNSK911X)
- Price: $6.75 per sq ft · $158.63 a carton. Material only. Delivery and installation extra.
- Every color and detail: https://www.powellflooring.com/floors/robbins/natural-forest-5-white-oak/natural-appeal

## Measured from its own picture
- LRV (light reflectance value, 0 black to 100 white): 33
- CIELAB (D65): L* 63.9, a* 10.4, b* 19.5, chroma 22.1, hue 61.9 degrees
- Undertone: an amber undertone, warm and a little orange
- The grain and color of Natural Appeal move from board to board (a spread of 3.3 in L*), which helps hide everyday wear.

## Paint
- Walls: Chantilly Lace (Benjamin Moore OC-65, LRV 90, +57.3 from the floor). Its undertone leans green (hue 125°), which quiets the orange in Natural Appeal (hue 62°) instead of echoing it. Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/oc-65/chantilly-lace
- Or walls: Dover White (Sherwin-Williams SW 6385, LRV 82.5, +49.8 from the floor). Its undertone leans green (hue 93°), which quiets the orange in Natural Appeal (hue 62°) instead of echoing it. Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/white-paint-colors/sw6385-dover-white/
- Trim and ceilings: Swiss Coffee (Benjamin Moore OC-45, LRV 81.9). 49 points over Natural Appeal 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
- Deep note: Gauntlet Gray (Sherwin-Williams SW 7019, LRV 17.4). Deep and quiet, 15 points darker than Natural Appeal in LRV, a frame for a amber floor. Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/neutral-paint-colors/sw7019-gauntlet-gray/
- Lower cabinets or an island in Gauntlet Gray, uppers and trim in Swiss Coffee. The floor at LRV 33 sits between the two (17 and 82).

## Wood, rugs and metals
- Wood a step darker: a mid brown wood, like our Nutmeg stain sample. About 21 points darker than Natural Appeal in L* (43 against 64), far enough to read as a choice.
- Wood a step lighter: black or painted pieces. Natural Appeal is lighter than any wood stain we photographed (L* 64), so contrast comes from black, painted or upholstered pieces.
- Rug or fabric, tone on tone: walnut brown (#534439). 10 in chroma, half the warmth of Natural Appeal (22), and 34 points darker in L*.
- Rug or fabric, across the wheel: storm blue (#4d616c). Hue 242°, straight across the color wheel from the 62° of Natural Appeal, softened to balance it.
- Rug or fabric, grounding: mocha (#5a4d45). A deep note at L* 34, 30 points from the 64 of Natural Appeal, so a rug keeps its edge.
- Metal: matte black. Black works with every undertone; beside Natural Appeal at LRV 33 it gives the room its outline.
- Metal: aged brass. A warm metal that agrees with the amber undertone of Natural Appeal (hue 62°).
- Metal: unlacquered brass. Left unsealed, it darkens with handling to a softer warm tone beside Chantilly Lace walls.

## Room by room
- Living room: Chantilly Lace walls and Swiss Coffee trim, a walnut brown rug with a mocha edge on Natural Appeal, a coffee table in a mid brown wood.
- Kitchen: Gauntlet Gray on the island, Swiss Coffee cabinets above, matte black pulls, Natural Appeal underfoot.
- Dining room: A table in a mid brown wood on Natural Appeal, black or painted chairs, aged brass pendants.
- Bedroom: Dover White walls, walnut brown linen, a storm blue quilt, unlacquered brass on the lamps.

## What to avoid
- Walls at the lightness of Natural Appeal: Acacia Haze (Sherwin-Williams SW 9132, LRV 32.2) sits within a point of its LRV of 33, so wall and floor would blur into one.
- Wood that almost matches Natural Appeal: a tone like our Silvered Gray sample, 3.3 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 Natural Appeal (hue 62°).

## The room it suits
- At LRV 33, Natural Appeal is a mid tone: it holds its color in a sunny room and hides everyday dust and pet hair better than a very dark or very light floor.
- At 5 inches a board, Natural Appeal lays about 29 boards across a 12 foot room.
- Solid hardwood: living spaces and bedrooms above grade, kept out of baths and basements.
- Hardness: White oak: Janka 1,360 lbf (the force to press a steel ball halfway into the wood; a higher number dents less under heels and chair legs)
- Construction: Solid hardwood (one piece of wood top to bottom, sanded and refinished for decades)
- Finish: Urethane with AIOx

## 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.