Danvers, Mass.-based Downs Hardwood Floors Owner Phillip Downs isn't shy about his general disdain for straight gray stains, so he was pleased when two years ago the gray wood floor trend in his North Shore neighborhood was replaced by a popular mixture of gray and brown known as "greige." "It looks like sand," he says of the mixture. "Houses along the water have especially taken to it." Downs creates a 50/50 mixture of Bona DriFast Gray and Golden Oak stains to achieve the look, which has the added benefit of less bleedback on the area's typical white oak floors. "There's a little bit more workability because the brown neutralizes some of the gray," he says.