# Special Walnut in a traditional room

Special Walnut, a DuraSeal stain, is a dark stain on red oak with a red undertone (measured from its own picture: LRV 10). Here it is with Balboa Mist walls, Alabaster trim and Palladian Blue 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/special-walnut-traditional

## The floor
- Special Walnut, 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/special-walnut

## Measured from its own picture
- LRV (light reflectance value, 0 black to 100 white): 10
- CIELAB (D65): L* 37.3, a* 11.5, b* 15.3, chroma 19.1, hue 52.9 degrees
- Undertone: a red undertone, the family of cherry and red oak
- Special Walnut is calm and even from board to board (a spread of 1.7 in L*), so it reads as one quiet plane.

## Paint
- Walls: Balboa Mist (Benjamin Moore OC-27, LRV 65.5, +55.8 from the floor). Its undertone leans green (hue 94°), which quiets the red in Special Walnut (hue 53°) instead of echoing it. Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/oc-27/balboa-mist
- Or walls: Sea Salt (Sherwin-Williams SW 6204, LRV 63.2, +53.5 from the floor). Its undertone leans green (hue 133°), which quiets the red in Special Walnut (hue 53°) instead of echoing it. Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/green-paint-colors/sw6204-sea-salt/
- Trim and ceilings: Alabaster (Sherwin-Williams SW 7008, LRV 82.2). 73 points over Special Walnut in LRV and warm enough (chroma 5.3) to read white, not blue, beside its red undertone. Source: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/color/color-family/white-paint-colors/sw7008-alabaster/
- Cabinets: Palladian Blue (Benjamin Moore HC-144, LRV 60.4). A light color with some life in it, so cabinets float off Special Walnut (a 51 point step in LRV). Source: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/hc-144/palladian-blue
- Cabinets in Palladian Blue or Alabaster: a dark floor needs light cabinets to float above it.

## Wood, rugs and metals
- Wood a step darker: a charcoal wood, like our True Black stain sample. About 16 points darker than Special Walnut in L* (21 against 37), far enough to read as a choice.
- Wood a step lighter: a honey tone, like our Golden Pecan stain sample. About 16 points lighter than Special Walnut in L* (53 against 37).
- Rug or fabric, tone on tone: mushroom (#ad9b92). 9 in chroma, half the warmth of Special Walnut (19), and 28 points lighter in L*.
- Rug or fabric, across the wheel: eucalyptus (#90a8b2). Hue 233°, straight across the color wheel from the 53° of Special Walnut, softened to balance it.
- Rug or fabric, grounding: fog gray (#d9cac3). A light note at L* 82, 45 points from the 37 of Special Walnut, so a rug keeps its edge.
- Metal: unlacquered brass. A warm metal that agrees with the red undertone of Special Walnut (hue 53°).
- Metal: aged brass. A warm metal that agrees with the red undertone of Special Walnut (hue 53°).
- Metal: matte black. Black works with every undertone; beside Special Walnut at LRV 10 it gives the room its outline.

## What to avoid
- Walls at the lightness of Special Walnut: Peppercorn (Sherwin-Williams SW 7674, LRV 9.7) sits within a point of its LRV of 10, so wall and floor would blur into one.
- Wood that almost matches Special Walnut: a tone like our Provincial sample, 1.4 apart (CIEDE2000), reads as a near miss. Go clearly darker or lighter.
- Pink or peach beige walls: they pull more orange out of the red undertone of Special Walnut (hue 53°).

## The room it suits
- At LRV 10, Special Walnut is 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, Special Walnut 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.