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Duchateau Riverside Collection - Thames: Issue with sample vs photos

last year

I currently have a large sample board of Riverstone Thames. The color looks like a mixture of browns with a gray over wash. However, the photos online look completely different. I know that pictures online are not accurate representations but the pictures vs the actual board are so far off. Has anyone installed this floor and if so, can you please share some photos?

Online Photo


Online Photo


Sample Board Flat on Ground



Sample Board against the wall

Comments (13)

  • last year

    What material is that? it looks cold.

  • last year

    European Oak, UV Oil Finish

  • last year
    last modified: last year

    I used DuChateau Riverstone in the Sava stain color when we built in 2021. Very happy with the floors. We have 3 dogs and the floors have performed much better than I expected. They show no/less wear compared to the site finished red oak floor in our previous house.

    Do not use the marketing pictures to make decision!

    You can not judge a floor by the sample board. The sample board could be an old dye lot or just faded because it has been sitting near a window in the showroom that gets lots of sun.

    You need to order one or two boxes of the current dye lot and when your supplier does that, he should hold/reserve enough material in that same dye lot to complete your project. You don't want someone else buying out the last of that perfect dye lot while you make a decision. Take a few days to decide and then either buy or release the floors you have on hold.



  • PRO
    last year

    You're asking for more photos, which you already admitted will not approximate the actual floor color. Propping the sample board on the wall doesn't help either--you're not cladding the wall (vertical plane), you're cladding a horizontal plane. Light hits planes differently and changes the color.

    Most websites selling anything with a color will have a disclaimer advising you not to rely on internet photos.

    Chispa gave you great advice--get samples of the current dye lot to see what is coming out of the factory now, not what came out last year.

  • PRO
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Don't do that floor. Sorry........don't.

    Dark, dry, dreary cold in hue,flat.

    The Du Chateau ( all the boards )tend to look better much lighter. Floors that deep and dark need just a bit of luster.

    Not to mention gray floors had a moment and its passed : ) and past.

    More this ala Chispa above. That's a forever floor

    and not a fad floor



  • PRO
    last year

    To echo everyone above- the sample is probably more accurate than the photos on their website, but nothing will be as good as a current box of flooring. It’s I small cost (buying and shipping a box) to get the floor you will want. Too big an investment to guess at. I also question the color in general.

  • PRO
    last year

    I love gray but not that floor at all so what is driving that choice for flooring ? There is only one way to choose flooring and that is you buy a box and lay it out in your space with your stuff and your lighting . IMO that floor is very busy when layed and the sample does not even look like the same piece when shown and I agree no point in leaning it on the wall. Remeber in your space you have furniiture , some pattern maybe and your lighting all have to work together

  • last year

    Just get a box ... it is an insignificant expense when compared to the cost of your whole build.

    I actually had two finalists for my floor, the Duchateau and one from Legno Bastone. I ordered a box of each, laid them out and that made it very easy to decide which would work best. Threw out the box of the Legno Bastone.

  • PRO
    last year
    last modified: last year

    You're warned......look very closely at the picture. Individual boards

    Online and your whole board side by side



    Your sample just happens to be a board created with more uniform boards/tones. Probably intentional for SIZE of sample boards at what? 2' x 3'?? and a better look or simply accidental in the number of boards need for distributors at retail level across a nation.

    Seems it has extremely wide variation, and your board doesn't reflect the whole. So NOT nice, I posted it twice.......my bet is the online bedroom shot IS the reality.....I wouldn't touch it.



  • last year

    Please note that I don’t need to be “warned”. I am very well aware that the board does not represent the photo or even 99% of the actual flooring. I am also aware that manufacturers (and every other person posting a photo) alter the color and image. There is nothing posted online that is actually a true representation, and even if it were, it still would not look the same in my home, with my lighting, my furniture, etc. I asked my original question to see if anyone had installed the floor to get a feel for the color and variation, not to ask for opinions on the color, or if I should use the floor, etc, and certainly not to be ”warned” by a “Pro”.

  • PRO
    last year
    last modified: last year

    "I asked my original question to see if anyone had installed the floor to get a feel for the color and variation, not to ask for opinions on the color, or if I should use the floor, etc, and certainly not to be ”warned”

    The "warning" Is that the variation is there. Perhaps you'd prefer it be less or different and the only way to know with certainty is to buy two boxes.

    The entirety of your board, seems less represented, but IS in the online picture in a limited but quite accurate way, that was my only point....look especially at the board 3/4 of left to right at the foot of the bed...and about 4 boards to right of bed.



  • PRO
    last year
    last modified: last year

    " ...get samples of the current dye lot to see what is coming out of the factory now, not what came out last year. "

    It has to be from the original recipe. They have to stick with it and not make any changes unless they want to send out new showroom replacements to hundreds of dealers. I produce each job one at a time as all floors are made to order. My original sample board production is kept in a dark room with serious attention paid to underlying raw color. In other words, a great variety.

    Pictures should never be used as any kind of guide with the exception of the amount or lack of character, mostly knots.