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[Oznell]

This Maria Killam video helps if you are looking for a pale neutral wall color to NOT clash with floor undertones.

She said that there are 3 broad categories of wood ( or vinyl plank) floors. 

First--  Wood or LVP floors that are the many shades of brown, with maybe a little 'orange' or 'pink' undertones.  These are the easiest to coordinate with the undertones of the neutral painted walls above them

Second-- Wood floors that are gray-ish, in outright color or undertone.  A lot of floors were finished this way in the all-encompassing 'gray trend' of the recent past.  If you want a neutral wall, it may be a little harder to find one with undertones that don't fight with the floor.

Third--   Wood floors that are very ruddy ( red) in undertones, wood floors that are VERY gray, or wood floors that are variegated.  They're more complicated to address with paint colors, and she suggested you need a sophisticated overall design plan to make it all coordinated.

But, for the first two options, she gave a couple of actual neutral paint colors, that should go with each category quite well.

For the first category, wood floors that are pale to dark brown, with maybe orange or pink undertones, a complex cream paint.  Never stark white!

Her recommendations:

"Feather Down"    by Benjamin Moore

"Neutral Ground"  by Sherwin Williams 

She used one of those (she didn't specify which one) to go with her medium brown floors in her new house.   They have the necessary palest pinkish-beige undertones ( they don't read as 'pinkish beige', however) to go with many brown floors.

For the second, grayish category of wood floor:

"Pale Oak".     Benjamin Moore 

"Egret White".   Sherwin Williams

These paint colors aren't actually gray.  These two are the palest of taupes or greige paint colors that should be OK with many tricky gray and gray undertone planks.

Of course, these recommendations apply if someone is considering a *neutral* wall color to go with their wood floors.  If an actual *color* is wanted to go with the wood floors, that's a whole other discussion of shades and undertones.

The whole world of undertones-- violet, green, blue, et al, is not addressed enough, and I appreciate Maria boiling down a few paint possibilities for people weary of staring at paint chips and guessing!

 

It's much more extensive than you could ever cover in a short video, but her blog is a good start.  This video comes up when you google:

Colour Rescue - Which Wall Colour Goes With My Wood or LVP Floors.   Maria Killam 

[jackthebear]

Pale Oak 

I painted my kitchen DR, and LR in it, neutral color

I might look at the others for my kitchen cabinets I will be painting 

TY

[SaveTheTurtles]

Interesting and totally makes sense.

[Desertdi]

I refuse to decorate (or buy a car) in a color that I can't WEAR

[Oznell]

@jackthebear ,  I've heard very nice things about "Pale Oak" --  looks soft and versatile.   In fact, it's been compared to another B. Moore creamy greige, "Baby Fawn", the color we went with on our cabinets.   I think I've read that "Pale Oak" is just a smidge lighter, but very similar.  

Ha, ha, @Desertdi ,  you're being witty, as usual.   I wonder though, if a lot of people couldn't wear the clothing version of "Feather Down", for example.  I can wear cream, as long as it has at least a slight rosy under-tint.  If the undertone is yellow, I'm sunk...

I like your working theory though.  I read somewhere that people often decorate with the colors that look good on them.  It's true in my case in my living room-  light robin's egg walls, taupe couch, cream and blush accents.

[jackthebear]

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@Oznell wrote:

@jackthebear ,  I've heard very nice things about "Pale Oak" --  looks soft and versatile.   In fact, it's been compared to another B. Moore creamy greige, "Baby Fawn", the color we went with on our cabinets.   I think I've read that "Pale Oak" is just a smidge lighter, but very similar.  

Ha, ha, @Desertdi ,  you're being witty, as usual.   I wonder though, if a lot of people couldn't wear the clothing version of "Feather Down", for example.  I can wear cream, as long as it has at least a slight rosy under-tint.  If the undertone is yellow, I'm sunk...

I like your working theory though.  I read somewhere that people often decorate with the colors that look good on them.  It's true in my case in my living room-  light robin's egg walls, taupe couch, cream and blush accents.

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will take a look at Baby Fawn,