# Quietude in a warm modern room

Quietude from the Shaw Floors Sanctuary Hickory line is a mid dark hickory hardwood with an amber undertone (LRV 18, measured from its own picture). Here it’s paired with Pale Oak 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/quietude-warm-modern

## The floor
- Quietude, Shaw Floors Sanctuary Hickory: Engineered hardwood · Hickory · 6.38 in (SKU SW715-07094)
- Price: $8.59 per sq ft · $218.19 a carton. Material only. Delivery and installation extra.
- Every color and detail: https://www.powellflooring.com/floors/shawfloors/sanctuary-hickory/quietude

## Measured from its own picture
- LRV (light reflectance value, 0 black to 100 white): 18
- CIELAB (D65): L* 49.9, a* 9.7, b* 19.8, chroma 22.1, hue 63.9 degrees
- Undertone: an amber undertone, warm and a little orange
- The grain and color of Quietude move from board to board (a spread of 3.6 in L*), which helps hide everyday wear.

## Paint
- Walls: Pale Oak (Benjamin Moore OC-20, LRV 68.6, +50.3 from the floor). Its undertone leans green (hue 95°), which quiets the orange in Quietude (hue 64°) instead of echoing it. Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/oc-20/pale-oak
- Or walls: Sea Salt (Sherwin-Williams SW 6204, LRV 63.2, +44.9 from the floor). Its undertone leans green (hue 133°), which quiets the orange in Quietude (hue 64°) instead of echoing it. Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/green-paint-colors/sw6204-sea-salt/
- Trim and ceilings: Swiss Coffee (Benjamin Moore OC-45, LRV 81.9). 64 points over Quietude 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 Quietude (a 39 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 darker: a charcoal wood, like our Ebony stain sample. About 21 points darker than Quietude in L* (29 against 50), far enough to read as a choice.
- Wood a step lighter: a pale, bleached wood, like our Natural stain sample. About 17 points lighter than Quietude in L* (67 against 50).
- Rug or fabric, tone on tone: blush (#d0bdb0). 10 in chroma, half the warmth of Quietude (22), and 28 points lighter in L*.
- Rug or fabric, across the wheel: mist blue (#afc4d1). Hue 244°, straight across the color wheel from the 64° of Quietude, softened to balance it.
- Rug or fabric, grounding: espresso (#392e26). A deep note at L* 20, 30 points from the 50 of Quietude, so a rug keeps its edge.
- Metal: aged brass. A warm metal that agrees with the amber undertone of Quietude (hue 64°).
- Metal: unlacquered brass. Left unsealed, it darkens with handling to a softer warm tone beside Pale Oak walls.
- Metal: matte black. Black works with every undertone; beside Quietude at LRV 18 it gives the room its outline.

## Room by room
- Living room: Pale Oak walls and Swiss Coffee trim around Quietude, a blush rug with an espresso border, a coffee table in a charcoal wood, aged brass lamps.
- Kitchen: Cabinets in Upward so they float off Quietude, Swiss Coffee walls and trim, unlacquered brass pulls.
- Bedroom: Sea Salt walls, bedding in blush with one mist blue pillow, nightstands in a pale, bleached wood.
- Entry: An espresso runner on Quietude, Upward on the front door, a matte black mirror.

## What to avoid
- Walls at the lightness of Quietude: Gauntlet Gray (Sherwin-Williams SW 7019, LRV 17.4) sits within a point of its LRV of 18, so wall and floor would blur into one.
- Wood that almost matches Quietude: a tone like our Fruitwood sample, 3.0 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 Quietude (hue 64°).

## The room it suits
- At LRV 18, Quietude is mid 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 6.38 inches a board, Quietude lays about 23 boards across a 12 foot room.
- Engineered hardwood: living spaces and bedrooms on every level, kept out of full baths.
- Hardness: Hickory: Janka 1,820 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 National Wood Flooring Association species guide, Technical Publication A200 (2004), its relative hardness chart.