# Natural White Oak in a modern farmhouse room

Natural White Oak, from the Shaw Floors Natural Classics White Oak 7" line, is a mid tone white oak hardwood with a golden undertone (measured from its own picture: LRV 38). Here it is with Cloud White walls, Swiss Coffee trim and Caviar 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-white-oak-modern-farmhouse

## The floor
- Natural White Oak, Shaw Floors Natural Classics White Oak 7": Engineered hardwood · White oak · 7 in (SKU SW765-01147)
- Price: $9.79 per sq ft · $285.08 a carton. Material only. Delivery and installation extra.
- Every color and detail: https://www.powellflooring.com/floors/shawfloors/natural-classics-white-oak-7/natural-white-oak

## Measured from its own picture
- LRV (light reflectance value, 0 black to 100 white): 38
- CIELAB (D65): L* 68.2, a* 9.5, b* 23.9, chroma 25.8, hue 68.3 degrees
- Undertone: a golden undertone, warm without leaning red
- Natural White Oak has a gentle movement from board to board (a spread of 2.0 in L*): calm, but not flat.

## Paint
- Walls: Cloud White (Benjamin Moore OC-130, LRV 85.1, +46.9 from the floor). A soft neutral with a touch of warmth (hue 106°), so Natural White Oak stays golden without turning yellow. Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/oc-130/cloud-white
- Or walls: Dover White (Sherwin-Williams SW 6385, LRV 82.5, +44.3 from the floor). A soft neutral with a touch of warmth (hue 93°), so Natural White Oak stays golden without turning yellow. 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). 44 points over Natural White Oak in LRV and warm enough (chroma 5.7) to read white, not blue, beside its golden undertone. Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/oc-45/swiss-coffee
- Deep note: Caviar (Sherwin-Williams SW 6990, LRV 3). Deep and quiet, 35 points darker than Natural White Oak in LRV, a frame for a golden floor. Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/neutral-paint-colors/sw6990-caviar/
- Lower cabinets or an island in Caviar, uppers and trim in Swiss Coffee. The floor at LRV 38 sits between the two (3 and 82).

## Wood, rugs and metals
- Wood a step darker: a warm gray brown wood, like our Warm Gray stain sample. About 20 points darker than Natural White Oak in L* (48 against 68), far enough to read as a choice.
- Wood a step lighter: black or painted pieces. Natural White Oak is lighter than any wood stain we photographed (L* 68), so contrast comes from black, painted or upholstered pieces.
- Rug or fabric, tone on tone: walnut brown (#5d4e40). 12 in chroma, half the warmth of Natural White Oak (26), and 34 points darker in L*.
- Rug or fabric, across the wheel: storm blue (#596b78). Hue 248°, straight across the color wheel from the 68° of Natural White Oak, softened to balance it.
- Rug or fabric, grounding: mocha (#65584d). A deep note at L* 38, 30 points from the 68 of Natural White Oak, so a rug keeps its edge.
- Metal: matte black. Black works with every undertone; beside Natural White Oak at LRV 38 it gives the room its outline.
- Metal: aged brass. A warm metal that agrees with the golden undertone of Natural White Oak (hue 68°).
- Metal: unlacquered brass. A warm metal that agrees with the golden undertone of Natural White Oak (hue 68°).

## What to avoid
- Walls at the lightness of Natural White Oak: Jockey Hollow Gray (Benjamin Moore HC-108, LRV 39.5) sits within a point of its LRV of 38, so wall and floor would blur into one.
- Wood that almost matches Natural White Oak: a tone like our Natural sample, 4.8 apart (CIEDE2000), reads as a near miss. Go clearly darker or lighter.
- Creamy yellow walls: yellow on yellow flattens the golden undertone of Natural White Oak (hue 68°).

## The room it suits
- At LRV 38, Natural White Oak 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 7 inches a board, Natural White Oak lays about 21 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: 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: Engineered (a real wood face over a stable core, so it moves less with the seasons)

## 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.