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Vision board · Dark and moody
Royal Mahogany, a DuraSeal stain, looks very dark on red oak, with a warm greige undertone (measured from its own picture: LRV 5). Here it is with Worldly Gray walls, Greek Villa trim and Pale Oak cabinets, chosen by the numbers.
AI assisted The rooms are AI generated, simulated photos. The floor, the paint colors and every number are real.
CutPile Photoreal Rendering
CutPile Photoreal Rendering
CutPile Photoreal Rendering
Read from its own picture, not from a name.
A warm greige: gray with a little brown in it. LRV is light reflectance value, the share of light a surface sends back, the same scale paint makers print on every chip: 0 is black, 100 is white.
Royal Mahogany is calm and even from board to board (a spread of 1.6 in L*), so it reads as one quiet plane.
The shaded band is within 30 points of the floor. A wall inside it blurs into the floor; BS 8300 asks for at least 30 points between surfaces that meet.
Named colors with the maker's code and LRV, each linked to its page.
A warm white or greige in the same soft family as Royal Mahogany (hue 82° against its 20°).
See it at Sherwin-WilliamsA warm white or greige in the same soft family as Royal Mahogany (hue 92° against its 20°).
See it at Benjamin Moore80 points over Royal Mahogany in LRV and warm enough (chroma 5.3) to read white, not blue, beside its greige undertone.
See it at Sherwin-WilliamsA light color with some life in it, so cabinets float off Royal Mahogany (a 64 point step in LRV).
See it at Benjamin MooreCabinets in Pale Oak or Greek Villa: a dark floor needs light cabinets to float above it.
| Role | Color | Maker and code | LRV | From the floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Floor | Royal Mahogany | DuraSeal stain on red oak | 5 | |
| Walls | Worldly Gray | Sherwin-Williams SW 7043 | 57.2 | +53 |
| Or walls | Thunder | Benjamin Moore AF-685 | 47.6 | +43 |
| Trim and ceilings | Greek Villa | Sherwin-Williams SW 7551 | 84.2 | +80 |
| Cabinets | Pale Oak | Benjamin Moore OC-20 | 68.6 | +64 |
Contrast, not a match.
The palette put to work around Royal Mahogany.
The near misses, by the numbers.
About Royal Mahogany and color, answered from the numbers above.
Worldly Gray (Sherwin-Williams SW 7043, LRV 57.2): a warm white or greige in the same soft family as Royal Mahogany (hue 82° against its 20°). It sits 53 LRV points from the floor (LRV 5), more than the 30 points that keep a wall and a floor reading apart. Or Thunder (Benjamin Moore AF-685, LRV 47.6).
Greek Villa (Sherwin-Williams SW 7551, LRV 84.2): 80 points over Royal Mahogany in LRV and warm enough (chroma 5.3) to read white, not blue, beside its greige undertone.
Pale Oak (Benjamin Moore OC-20, LRV 68.6): a light color with some life in it, so cabinets float off Royal Mahogany (a 64 point step in LRV). Cabinets in Pale Oak or Greek Villa: a dark floor needs light cabinets to float above it.
Contrast, not a match: a step lighter: a mid brown wood (like our Gunstock stain sample). A wood like our Antique Brown sample is only 5.0 apart (CIEDE2000) and reads as a near miss.
Living room: Worldly Gray walls and Greek Villa trim over the Royal Mahogany floor, velvet in pewter with a eucalyptus pillow, aged brass lamps on low. Kitchen: Cabinets in Pale Oak so they float off the Royal Mahogany floor, Greek Villa walls and trim, champagne bronze pulls.
Very dark: LRV 5 and L* 26, measured from its own picture, with a warm greige undertone. At LRV 5, Royal Mahogany 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.
Walls at the lightness of Royal Mahogany: 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 Royal Mahogany: a tone like our Antique Brown sample, 5.0 apart (CIEDE2000), reads as a near miss. Go clearly darker or lighter.
Light, size and wear, from the floor's own record.
At LRV 5, Royal Mahogany 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 2.25 inches a board, Royal Mahogany lays about 64 boards across a 12 foot room, the busy, tailored look of a classic strip floor.
A sand and finish of red oak strip floors in any room above grade.
What only this floor's data can say.
The same look in waterproof vinyl or laminate: Algon, Shaw Floors Cottage Chic, only 4.8 apart in color (CIEDE2000).
The nearest of our other stains is Antique Brown (5.0 apart, CIEDE2000, from our own photographs on red oak).
A stain we put on your own oak floor.
DuraSeal
Royal Mahogany
Stain on red oak
Stain · on red oak · 2-1/4 in strip
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Powell Flooring, 1811 Union Valley Rd, West Milford, NJ 07480
Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm · Open later by request
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.
A picture's lightness depends a little on how it was lit, so the floor's LRV is read from the evenly lit field the visualizer lays and rounded. See the real floor before you choose paint: visit the showroom, or ask for a free measure and estimate.
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