I understand that this rug is made with natural hide and so there are bound to be color variations from rug to rug but I expected the tones of the hide strips to be much more beige/taupe like in the photos. There are a few beige strips here and there but the overwhelming majority are gray strips which make the overall color of the rug to be much more cool toned than what I was expecting. I don't really want the hassle of a return so I will keep it but I'm disappointed.