# Royal Mahogany in a dark and moody room

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.

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/royal-mahogany-dark-moody

## The floor
- Royal Mahogany, DuraSeal stain on red oak: Stain · on red oak · 2-1/4 in strip
- Every color and detail: https://www.powellflooring.com/sherwin-williams-minwax-duraseal-stain-colors/royal-mahogany

## Measured from its own picture
- LRV (light reflectance value, 0 black to 100 white): 5
- CIELAB (D65): L* 25.8, a* 7.8, b* 2.8, chroma 8.2, hue 20 degrees
- Undertone: a warm greige: gray with a little brown in it
- Royal Mahogany is calm and even from board to board (a spread of 1.6 in L*), so it reads as one quiet plane.

## Paint
- Walls: Worldly Gray (Sherwin-Williams SW 7043, LRV 57.2, +52.5 from the floor). A warm white or greige in the same soft family as Royal Mahogany (hue 82° against its 20°). Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/neutral-paint-colors/sw7043-worldly-gray/
- Or walls: Thunder (Benjamin Moore AF-685, LRV 47.6, +42.9 from the floor). A warm white or greige in the same soft family as Royal Mahogany (hue 92° against its 20°). 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 Royal Mahogany 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: 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). Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/oc-20/pale-oak
- Cabinets in Pale Oak 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 Gunstock stain sample. About 17 points lighter than Royal Mahogany in L* (43 against 26).
- Rug or fabric, tone on tone: pewter (#887f7f). 4 in chroma, half the warmth of Royal Mahogany (8), and 28 points lighter in L*.
- Rug or fabric, across the wheel: eucalyptus (#708b8b). Hue 200°, straight across the color wheel from the 20° of Royal Mahogany, softened to balance it.
- Rug or fabric, grounding: dove gray (#b3acac). A light note at L* 71, 45 points from the 26 of Royal Mahogany, so a rug keeps its edge.
- Metal: aged brass. A warm metal that agrees with the greige undertone of Royal Mahogany (hue 20°).
- Metal: champagne bronze. A paler warm metal, quieter than brass beside Worldly Gray and Greek Villa.
- Metal: brushed nickel. A soft satin nickel, quieter than chrome, for the greige of Royal Mahogany.

## Room by room
- 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.
- Bedroom: Thunder walls, pewter bedding, nightstands in a mid brown wood, brushed nickel on the lamps.
- Entry: A dove gray runner on the Royal Mahogany floor, Pale Oak on the door, a champagne bronze mirror.

## What to avoid
- 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.
- Stark blue whites everywhere: a greige floor like Royal Mahogany turns muddy beside them. Keep the whites a little warm.

## The room it suits
- 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.
- Hardness: Northern red oak: Janka 1,290 lbf (the force to press a steel ball halfway into the wood; a higher number dents less under heels and chair legs)
- Finish: Stain on site, then clear coats (the color is in the wood, so a worn floor can be sanded and stained again)

## 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.