Barcelona is a pale limed oak, a white-grey board with the grain pulled out in white and a cool, washed finish. It is the paler and more striated of the two whitewashed boards in the 7mm range; Paris is smoother...

Blackbutt in the 7mm range is a light to mid golden tan with fine straight grain and the dark gum vein streaks that mark the species, and it is a fair likeness: real blackbutt lays pale gold with a faint...

Set the name aside. Ocean Breeze is a mid warm grey-brown, a smooth taupe with soft grain and low contrast, and there is nothing blue or coastal about it. Bass Timber lists the same board as Ossa. If a pale...

Paris is a pale cool grey-white oak with soft grain, the smoother of the two whitewashed boards in the 7mm range. Barcelona has heavier white striation and reads a shade colder; Paris is quieter and a touch warmer, closer to...

Siena is the warmest board in the 7mm range, a mid warm terracotta-tan with an apricot cast and smooth, even grain. The name is apt: it sits close to the burnt-sienna end of the timber palette, warmer and redder than...

Spotted Gum in the 7mm range is a mid honey-brown with the wavy fiddleback figure and black gum vein marks that make the species recognisable, and a clear spread between honey and deeper brown planks. Of the six 7mm colours,...

Guardian Blackbutt is a soft warm golden-tan with a smooth face and very little contrast from plank to plank. Australian blackbutt in solid timber lays paler than this, with more olive in it and more gum vein showing, so expect...

Read this one from the swatch rather than the name. Guardian Spotted Gum is a greyed taupe-brown with pale cream boards mixed through it, and the plank-to-plank variation is the widest in the range. Real spotted gum lays honey, amber...

Guardian Fertile Oak is the warmest of the three golden boards, a mid caramel-tan that sits a step deeper and slightly redder than Blackbutt. The grain is fine and the surface is smooth, so the warmth comes from the colour...

Guardian Chester Oak is a light warm greige-tan with soft open grain and mild variation between boards. It is the gentlest of the pale decors here, warmer than Natural Oak Grey and less washed out than White Oak, which makes...

Guardian Natural Oak is the board with the most character in the mid range: a mid greige-brown carrying knots, open grain and a visible shift in tone between planks. Set it beside Chester Oak and this one is clearly deeper...

Guardian Natural Oak Grey is the grey version of Natural Oak and the name is accurate: a light to mid grey with a brown undertone still running underneath it, and the same knots and open grain. It is cooler than...

Guardian Grey Oak is the clearest true grey in the range: a mid cool grey with strong striated grain and enough contrast between boards to keep it from looking flat. Estate Grey is the paler, more silvery alternative and Dark...

Guardian Dexter Oak is a mid grey-brown with heavy open grain, visible knots and the sharpest plank-to-plank variation in the range after Spotted Gum. Some boards come through noticeably paler and some clearly darker, and that spread is the point...

The name will send you the wrong way, so here is what Dark Oak actually is: a mid-dark cool grey with strong silvery limed grain running through it. There is no brown in it worth speaking of, and it is...

Guardian White Oak is the palest board in the range, a near off-white warm-neutral greige with the finest grain and the lowest contrast of the fourteen. It is lighter than Chester Oak and warmer than Estate Grey, and it is...

Concrete Beige is the only non-timber decor in the Guardian range, and it is worth saying plainly that it reads as pale grey concrete rather than as a beige. The warmth is there but it is faint. The surface is...

Guardian Homestead Chestnut is the warmest and most rustic board in the range, a mid-dark olive-brown with strong grain, open knots and a golden plank coming through here and there. It leans more olive than the red-brown the name suggests,...