washed out color on table legs

Hi. I'm doing some (a lot of) recolors of the Cats & Dogs rustic classic dining table. The color on the legs of the original is washed out. I've tried changing the specular so it is the same solid pale grey as that of the table top, but it doesn't seem to make much difference.

Any suggestions on how to address this problem so it looks better?

Here is a package with the new specular. The first 3 swatches are mine and the last 3 are Maxis.

Thanks in advance.