Black paint works alright.
The last picture was taken at ~8 PM, which is why it has a yellow/brown tint. Everything turned out pretty good. I think I did three coats on everything. I laid down heavy coats and used a nylon scrubbing brush to even everything out. The backing didn't really take the color so you can still see gray through the fibers if you look hard enough. It's a little stiffer overall but wouldn't be noticeable to someone not familiar with the original texture.